Hollesley Heath
HOLLESLEY HEATH: Military airstrip (Temporary?)
Location: Roughly 6nm NNE of Felixstowe, 10.5nm E of Ipswich town centre
NOTES: Built by US Engineers in 1944 it seems. The story is that a RAF Lancaster landed here on its way into SUTTON HEATH (later WOODBRIDGE) and got stuck in a trench - one of many dug to prevent German invasion gliders landing here.
U.S. Army engineers were drafted in, (all black soldiers it appears), and both bulldozed the land flat and laid P.S.P. (Pierced Steel Plank) in just one night! The Lancaster was stripped down, inspected and flew out.
Is it possible that, after all this effort, the runway was never used again? Seems unlikely? Apparently evidence of the runway could be seen for many years later, and possibly even today?
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