Great Sampford
GREAT SAMPFORD: Military aerodrome
Note: This picture (2018) was obtained from Google Earth ©
The layout of the WW2 aerodrome can be clearly seen.
Military users: RAF (1942 to 44) Fighter Command 12 Group (?)
65, 133 (Eagle) & 616 Sqdns (Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires)
1944: Balloon Command No.24 Balloon Centre
Note: It appears that the USAAF also had a presence here. Is anything known?
Location: Just SE of Wimbish Green village, 7nm SE of Saffron Walden
Period of operation: 1942 to 1945
Runways: Steel matting 05/23 1463 grass (Ext to 1828m) 12/30 960 grass
NOTES:
In his most excellent book The War in the West, (the second in a trilogy), and without any doubt the best account I have read about WW2, James Holland tells us this story. As an aside he points out that when the Americans arrived on 'our' side of the Atlantic, although very well equipped, fed and watered, they had very little idea of what to expect in combat. But how could they? They had no eperience whatsover of war on this scale, and had to learn the hard way - by experience.
"As part of this build-up and transition, the American fighter pilots serving with RAF Fighter Command, (My note: Don't forget those pilots were regarded as being traitors by the USA not so long before!), were to be moved across into the Eighth Air Force too. Jim Goodson, who had been flying Hurricanes with 416 Canadian Squadron, had found himself posted to 133 Eagle Squadron towards the end of August, along with two of his fellow Americans, Ray Fuchs and 'Whitey' White, and none of them had been particularly happy about it."
"Taking a train to Audley End, a lonely halt south of Cambridge, they eventually got a ride to Debden in Essex, a secrtor station, only to be told that 133 Squadron was at a satelliite, Great Sampford, a rough grass field with a small collection of wooden huts. 'There was nothing great about Great Sampford,' noted Goodson. ' We were dumped off in front of the barracks reserved for officers and the van immediately headed back for the civilization of the main base at Debden. We couldn't blame it.' "
"The place seemed rather deserted. Eventually they found Don Gentile, one of the 133 pilots, who confessed that he was all alone there."
'Where are the others?' Goodson asked.
'Don't you know? None of them came back.'
"Gentile explained. The squadron had just moved to Great Sampford. Earlier that day, 26 September, they had been escorting B-17s but had been bounced by German fighters on the way back when they were already short of fuel. Pilot Officer Roy Beaty had managed to reach England and had crash-laneded in a small field, but all the other eleven had either been shot down or had landed in France and been taken prisoner."
This pretty much demonstrates the effectiveness of most USAAF fighter pilots when they entered the European war. They had a hell of a lot to learn, and they did learn remarkably quickly within a military regime.
In late 1944 809 RAF personnel were stationed here although it seems probable more might have been stationed here when Fighter Command used this airfield as a satellite for RAF DEBDEN, presumably mainly operating Spitfires?
This airfield was used by Horsas landing away on exercises in 1944 so I assume the extension of runway 05/23 was made to allow them to be towed out again? This would almost certainly involve 38 Group Stirlings as tugs, perhaps Halifaxs and even Albermarles?
Paul Doyle
This comment was written on: 2021-05-06 20:49:39When was the Horsa glider crash into a lorry at Great Sampford (in 1944?)
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