Harrington
Airfield
IWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Object Number - FRE 2137 - An A-26 Invader of the 492nd Bomb Group at Harrington. Image via A Pecquet. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Harrington Spring 1945.'
Harrington was built by the 826th and 852nd Engineer Battalions of the US Army in 1943. Completed in 1944, it was the furthest Eighth Air Force combat airfield from the east coast.The Eighth's Special Operations Group was based at the airfield, first known as the 801st Bomb Group and then, from August 1944, the 492nd Bomb Group. The crews in their black-painted Liberators supported the resistance in occupied Europe. The USAAF left in July 1945, and the airfield was unused until the 1960s, when it became one of the RAF's Thor missile sites, part of Britain's nuclear deterrent. The site is now home to a museum which explores the history of the airfield.
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: 492nd Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 406th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16113666 / O-822921
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 490th Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 850th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-703846
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 406th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 11093466 / O-762896
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 36th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-1574610 and 32206722 on enlisting
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron 492nd Bomb Group
- Service Numbers: 18074114
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 850th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Unit: 801st Bomb Group 850th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: The Uninvited
- Unit: 482nd Bomb Group 36th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Libra
- Unit: 486th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 833rd Bomb Squadron 834th Bomb Squadron 857th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Cancer
- Unit: 406th Bomb Group 458th Bomb Group 486th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 801st Bomb Group 406th Bomb Squadron 834th Bomb Squadron 835th Bomb Squadron
Revisions
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Eighth Then And Now (London, 1978).
