RATTLESDEN AIRFIELD 1943

[General Savage]

Rattlesden was allotted to the US Army Air Force (USAAF) on 1st October 1942 and on 1st December 1942 the first Americans belonging to 451 and 452 bomb squadrons began arriving. They were there to fly some of the first B-26B Marauders to operate from Britain; these were delivered in February - March 1943.


With the 450th Bomb Squadron at Rougham, they formed the 322nd Bomb Group which became consolidated in April 1943 and formed an entity at Andrews Field to where the three squadrons all moved on 12th June 1943.

At the end of November 1943 the 447th Bomb Group arrived at Rattlesden from the USA and using B-17G's (Flying Fortress) entered the battle arena on 24th December 1943 by making a raid on V 1 sites in France.
On 19th April 1944 the 447th took a battering from enemy fighters losing 11 of its aircraft, their heaviest losses ever sustained in one raid and at a time when the 8th Airforce bombing offensive was at a peak. The 447th sustained further heavy losses on 12th May when seven B-17's failed to return from Leipzig.
Between December 1943 - May 1944 the group was primarily engaged in preparations for the invasion by attacking submarine pens, naval units, German industrial targets, ports and V 1 sites, as well as airfields and marshalling yards. In June 1944 they gave direct support to the Normandy invasion and then the breakout at St-Lo.
They assisted in the liberation of Brest in September 1944 and made supply drops to the French resistance.

They gave general support to the airborne landings of September before, in October, resuming their part in the strategic air offensive, concentrating on oil targets until December 1944 when they took part n the Ardennes battle by bombing marshalling yards, rail bridges and communications centres in the battle zone. Then the group resumed operations against oil, transport and communications targets until the end of hostilities.