Eye

Airfield
Eye, home of the 490th Bomb Group, photographed from the air. Image via Mark Brown, AFA. Written on slide casing: 'Eye from air.' media-395641.jpg FRE 6819 Eye, home of the 490th Bomb Group, photographed from the air. Image via Mark Brown, AFA. Written on slide casing: 'Eye from air.' Roger Freeman Collection

IWM, Roger Freeman Collection

Object Number - FRE 6819 - Eye, home of the 490th Bomb Group, photographed from the air. Image via Mark Brown, AFA. Written on slide casing: 'Eye from air.'

Eye air base was not a Class A base but was constructed to a less demanding standard by the 827th and 859th Battalions of U.S. Army Engineers in 1943 and was finished in early 1944. Unusually, a group of its hardstandings were on the other side of the road that serviced the base and so local traffic had to be stopped whenever aircraft were moving to and from those hardstandings. The B-24 Liberators of the 490th Bomb Group, and then their B-17s had to be mindful, when approaching the NW-SE runway from the south, of the ancient church at Eye, which carried a red obstruction light. NOTE: sold 1962-63; returned to agriculture and new industrial estate and business park since 1960s; Bomb Group natural gas pumping Station 1970s-date; EPR world's 1st poultry-litter fuelled power generating plant 1992-date; PP natural gas fired power Station being planned 2014. Second World War aircraft: B-24 1943-44; B-17 1944-45.

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 848th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 851st Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 17119139 / O-698513
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 848th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
Douglas Cooper
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 849th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 19101065 / O-776877
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 850th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-757610
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: All Er Nothin
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 849th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Heavenly Body
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group 849th Bomb Squadron
Nose Art for 43-37861, "Lee Mee Bee III"
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Lee Mee Bee III
  • Unit: 490th Bomb Group

Revisions

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Sources

Connected up all of the aircraft record that have 'Eye 490BG' in their biography field.

Date
ContributorJMMortenson
Changes
Sources

Family photo collection.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Eighth Then And Now (London, 1978)

Eye: Gallery (87 items)