Rackheath

Airfield
Aerial photograph of Rackheath airfield looking south, the administrative site, barracks sites and technical site with a T2 hangar is on the right, the bomb dump and ammunition dump are at the bottom, the fuel store, firing butts and second T2 hangar are on the left, 16 April 1946. Photograph taken by No. 541 Squadron, sortie number RAF/106G/UK/1428. English Heritage (RAF Photography). eh-431.jpg RAF_106G_UK_1428_RS_4077 Aerial photograph of Rackheath airfield looking south, the administrative site, barracks sites and technical site with a T2 hangar is on the right, the bomb dump and ammunition dump are at the bottom, the fuel store, firing butts and second T2 hangar are on the left, 16 April 1946. Photograph taken by No. 541 Squadron, sortie number RAF/106G/UK/1428. English Heritage (RAF Photography). Historic England

IWM, English Heritage Collection

Object Number - RAF_106G_UK_1428_RS_4077 - Aerial photograph of Rackheath airfield looking south, the administrative site, barracks sites and technical site with a T2 hangar is on the right,...

First allocated to the Eighth Air Force as a bomber base in August 1942, Rackheath was then earmarked as a fighter base but, because of delay in construction, was never used as such. Built during 1943, the station had three concrete runways, 50 loop hardstandings and two dispersed T2 hangars. The 467th Bomb Group, equipped with B-24s, occupied Rackheath from March 1944 to July 1945. During that period it flew 212 combat missions and, during the last few months of the war, led the Eighth Air Force in bombing accuracy. Witchcraft , a B-24H of the Group, held the record of 130 combat missions, the most for this type of bomber in the Eighth Air Force. Returned to the RAF and closed in 1945, the airfield quickly reverted to agriculture, with most of the concrete surfaces broken up for aggregate. However, the technical site became the Rackheath Industrial Estate, with several of the wartime buildings modified or extended. The Control Tower has been preserved and renovated as offices.

Connections

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People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron 791st Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner
Black and white posed headshot of man wearing a uniform of a jacket, shirt, tie and hat. There are silver wings on the upper left-side of the jacket, and a WWII-era Air-Force silver officer insignia badge on the center of hat.  There is an aviation insignia pin and on the jacket lapel, and a single bar on the shoulder lapel. Subject is looking right in lens and is smiling
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 859th Bomb Squadron 788th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-6686692
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Bombardier
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 788th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Tail Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 859th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-702882
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 789th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 13193913
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Blonde Bomber
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 790th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Go Getter | Fate's Fortune
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 789th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Wild Irish Rose
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 790th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: The Old Goat
  • Unit: 466th Bomb Group 492nd Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron 858th Bomb Squadron
The nose art of a B-24 Liberator (4Z-V+) nicknamed "Wolves Inc." of the 791st Bomb Squadron, 467th Bomb Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: '467th B.G., 4Z-V+.'
  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Wolves Inc.
  • Unit: 467th Bomb Group 789th Bomb Squadron 791st Bomb Squadron

Revisions

Date
ContributorRob in Norwich
Changes
Sources

Rob Edwards: Use start and finish dates from the memorial on Rackheath Industrial estate. Construction year from the text contant of this record.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

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)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Rackheath
http://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?view=map&location=rackheath+…
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/east_anglia/norfolk/rackheath_industrial_est…

Rackheath: Gallery (122 items)