RAF Deenethorpe: Difference between revisions

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Aerial Photo of Deenethorpe Airfield - 28 May 1945.

RAF Deenethorpe is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located 9 miles NE of Kettering in Northamptonshire.

USAAF Use

Deenethorpe was assigned USAAF designation Station 128.

401st Bombardment Group (Heavy)

The airfield was opened in October 1943 and was used by the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force 401st Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Great Falls AAB, Montana, arriving in November. The 401st was assigned to the 94th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bombardment Division. It's tail code was Triangle-S.

The 401st Bomb Group consisted of the following operational squadrons flying B-17s :

612th Bomb Squadron (SC)
613th Bomb Squadron (IN)
614th Bomb Squadron (IW)
615th Bomb Squadron (IY)

B-17s of the 615th Bomb Squadron at Deenethorpe. Boeing B-17G-80-BO Flying Fortress Serial 43-338077 is in foreground

The 401st BG operated chiefly against strategic targets, bombing industries, submarine facilities, shipyards, missile sites, marshalling yards, and airfields; beginning in October 1944, concentrated on oil reserves. The Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for striking telling blows against German aircraft production on 11 January and 20 February 1944.

In addition to strategic missions, group operations included attacks on transportation, airfields, and fortifications prior to the Normandy invasion and on D-Day, June 1944; support for ground operations during the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July, the siege of Brest in August, and the airborne attack on Holland in September 1944.

The Grop flew missions against enemy forces during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 - January 1945, by assaulting transportation targets and communications centers in the battle area; and support for the airborne attack across the Rhine in March 1945.

The worst accident occurred in December 1943 when a Fortress which failed to get off the ground careered over farmland and came to rest after crashing into a cottage on the edge of Deenethorpe village. The surviving members of the crew just had time to evacuate the wreckage and warn the villagers of the imminent explosion of the bomb load befroe it detonated damaging many houses in the village. The blast was felt in Kettering nine miles away

After V-E Day, the group returned to the United States, arriving at Souix Souix Falls AAF during August 1945 where it was deactivated The group had flowin 255 combat missions from Deenethorpe.

Postwar Use

After the war, Deenethorpe was used as a RAF Recruiting Center, and later for several years the control tower was used as a lookout post by the local Royal Observer Corps. It was finally sold in 1963 and largely returned to agriculture. Part of the old main runway is now used as a private airstrip.

References

Freeman, Roger A., Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now, 1978
www.controltowers.co.uk Deenethorpe
mighty8thaf.preller.us Deenethorpe
Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present [1]

Satellite Image of RAF Deenethorpe From Google Earth
Aerial Photo of RAF Deenethorpe From Multimap.Com

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 == USAAF Use ==
 Deenethorpe was assigned USAAF designation Station 128.
 === 401st Bombardment Group (Heavy) ===
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 The Grop flew missions against enemy forces during the [[Battle of the Bulge]], [[December]] 1944 - [[January]] [[1945]], by assaulting transportation targets and communications centers in the battle area; and support for the airborne attack across the [[Rhine]] in [[March]] 1945.
+The worst accident occurred in [[December]] 1943 when a Fortress which failed to get off the ground careered over farmland and came to rest after crashing into a cottage on the edge of Deenethorpe village. The surviving members of the crew just had time to evacuate the wreckage and warn the villagers of the imminent explosion of the bomb load befroe it detonated damaging many houses in the village. The blast was felt in Kettering nine miles away
-After [[V-E Day]], the group returned to the United States, arriving at [[Sioux Falls|Souix Souix Falls AAF]] during [[August]] [[1945]] where it was deactivated.
+After [[V-E Day]], the group returned to the United States, arriving at [[Sioux Falls|Souix Souix Falls AAF]] during [[August]] [[1945]] where it was deactivated  The group had flowin 255 combat missions from Deenethorpe.
 == Postwar Use ==
-After the war, Deenethorpe was used  by the Royal Observer Corps, then sold and returned to agriculture in [[1946]]
+After the war, Deenethorpe was used as a RAF Recruiting Center, and later for several years the control tower was used as a lookout post by the local Royal Observer Corps. It was finally sold in [[1963]] and largely returned to agriculture.  Part of the old main runway is now used as a private airstrip.
 ==See also==