Ridgewell
AirfieldAir Ministry Dwg. 151/45 The Eighth in the East
Plan title
Built during 1941-42 as an RAF bomber station, Ridgewell operated as a satellite to RAF Stradishall until May 1943. It had three concrete runways, initially 36 pan hardstandings, and two dispersed T2 hangars. Taken over by the Eighth Air Force in June 1943 as home to the 381st Bomb Group, equipped with B-17s, the hardstandings were increased to 50 pans and five loops. The 381st Bomb Group flew a total of 296 missions and lost 131 B-17s while based at Ridgewell, although at least two specially-named B-17s 'Rotherhithe’s Revenge' and 'Stage Door Canteen' each completed over 100 missions. After the 381st Bomb Group left in June 1945, the station was handed back to the RAF and used as a Maintenance Unit munitions store until 1957. Although most of the site has since been sold, demolished and returned to agriculture, MOD retained the hangars as an extra storage facility for the USAFE at Wethersfield and Alconbury until the early 1990s. A small, private collection of SWW memorabilia is currently displayed in and around the old Hospital building by the Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Association. Essex Gliding Club is also now based at Ridgewell Airfield, which is all-grass and limited to glider & glider-tug flights only.
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: 381st Bomb Group 533rd Bomb Squadron
- Role/Job: Squadron Supply
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 533rd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35608948
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-736708
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35258662
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner / Flight Engineer
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 38377433
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Happy Bottom
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Ol Swayback
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 533rd Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Pella Tulip
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: The Joker II
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group
Revisions
Connected aircraft records that have 'Ridgewell' in their biography fields.
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)