Built during 1942-43 as an Eighth Air Force bomber base, Metfield had three concrete runways, 39 pan plus 15 loop hardstandings, and two dispersed T2 hangars. It was first occupied by the 353rd Fighter Group, equipped with P-47s, from August 1943 to April 1944. The station then became home to the 491st Bomb Group, equipped with B-24s, from May to August 1944. A devastating accident occurred at Metfield on 15 July 1944 when the bomb store exploded, killing at least five ordnance men, damaging 11 B-24s, and rocking the countryside for several miles around. Transferred to the European Division of Air Transport Command in October 1944, the station was used until May 1945 as a general transport base. More significantly, it was one of the stations used by the 1409th Army Air Force Base Unit, which operated B-24s and other transport types for secret missions to Sweden, carrying special materials and ferrying personnel. Handed over to the RAF in 1945, the site was effectively abandoned by the Air Ministry and began the process of return to agriculture. This speeded up after the airfield was sold during 1964-65. The runways and perimeter tracks were removed, and the huge crater made by the 1944 bomb store explosion was filled in, during the late 1960s.