422nd Night Fighter Squadron
Squadron
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Ford
Military site : airfield
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P-61A-5-NO #42-5547 "Borrowed Time" 422nd Night Fighter Squadron - 9th AF From Left to Right: TSGT Joseph Moe (CC), F/O Edward Kopsel (R/O), 1LT Herman Ernst (P) The team of Ernst & Kopsel gained ace status by shooting down five German aircraft and one V1 Buzz Bomb.
Originally a Royal Flying Corps station at the end of the First World War, the airfield was unused from 1920-1930, and a civil airfield from 1930-1936. Re-used as RAF Ford 1937-39, and operated by the Royal Navy 1939-40, it was allocated for Eighth Air Force tactical fighter units in 1943. It was used as an Eighth Air Force forward fighter base and emergency alternate landing base 1943-1944. In Royal Navy use in the post war period, it was partly demolished and reduced but otherwise developed as airfield and two industrial estates 1950s-60s. The site has partly been used as Ford Prison since 1960, with some use of the airfield in the 1970s.
Detailed history
Not yet known
English Heritage's record description
Not yet known
Service
Units
People
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Herman Ernst
Military | First Lieutenant | Night Fighter Pilot
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Edward Kopsel
Military | Flight Officer | Radar Observer
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Joseph Moe
Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | Aircraft Crew Chief
Aircraft
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42-5547 Borrowed Time
P-61 Black Widow
Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 27 September 2014 18:02:16 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / Chris Ashworth, Action Stations 9: Military Airfields of the Central South and South-east (Cambridge, 1985) |
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