North Pickenham
AirfieldIWM, English Heritage Collection
Built comparatively late during 1943-44 as an Eighth Air Force bomber base, North Pickenham was rather cramped as an airfield site so the main runway was shorter than typical. It had three concrete runways, 50 loop hardstandings and two dispersed T2 hangars. This station was first occupied by the 'hard luck’ 492nd Bomb Group from May to August 1944, operating B-24s, which was withdrawn from combat after losing 51 aircraft to enemy action during 64 missions. It was replaced by the highly successful 491st Bomb Group, also equipped with B-24s, which remained at North Pickenham until August 1945. The station was then used for a variety of purposes by the RAF and USAFE from 1945 to 1965, most notably as a Douglas Thor IRBM site during 1958-63, and as a Hawker Siddeley P1127 Kestrel trials airfield during 1964-65. It has since reverted mostly to agriculture plus turkey farming, a wind farm and light industry.
Connections
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People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 491st Bomb Group 855th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33522440
- Highest Rank: Corporal
- Role/Job: Airplane Armourer/MOS911
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 467th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron 859th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-810948
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 491st Bomb Group
- Service Numbers: 35393626
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 491st Bomb Group 854th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39130697
- Highest Rank: Corporal (RAF)
- Role/Job: Airplane Armorer/MOS911
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 859th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Katie Jean
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 857th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Heaven Can Wait
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 856th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Say When
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 858th Bomb Squadron 859th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Unit: 492nd Bomb Group 857th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Night Knight
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 566th Bomb Squadron 492nd Bomb Group 858th Bomb Squadron 856th Bomb Squadron
Revisions
The 492nd and 491st Bomb Groups in Norfolk Peter Bodle, Liberator Publishing.
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Roger Freeman, Airfields of the Eighth Then And Now (London, 1978)
Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Manual (2nd edn, London, 2001)
Michael Bowyer, Action Stations 1: Wartime Military Airfields of East Anglia 1939-1945 (Cambridge, 1979)
Owen Thetford, Aircraft of the Royal Air Force since 1918 (London, 1979)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_North_Pickenham
http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/north-pickenham
http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?246…