Raydon
RAYDON: Military aerodrome
Note: The first picture, taken by the author in July 2015, clearly shows the WW2 site, and, on the north side of the airfield - the RAYDON WINGS site (see below) can also be clearly seen.
The second picture (2018) was obtained from Google Earth ©
Military user: WW2: 8th USAAF 66th Fighter Wing
353rd Fighter Group
350, 351 & 352 Sqdns (P.51 Mustangs)
Location: E of B1070, NE of Raydon, NW of Great Wenham, 3nm SE of Hadleigh
Period of operation: 1943 to 1958
Runways: WW2: 09/27 1829x46 hard 17/35 1280x46 hard
05/23 1280x46 hard
NOTES: In late WW2 the 8th USAAF typically posted about 2900 personnal at their bomber bases, but in this case even though it was a fighter base, 2842 personnel were based here in late 1944. I suppose this makes sense to somebody but I would expect many more people were needed to look after bombers. Is the answer obvious in that the USAAF fielded many more fighters at each fighter base than bombers at bomber bases? There is another interesting aspect apparently contained in some notes of the period. These state the main runway could be widened to 400 yards, (366 metres), and the others to 250 yards, (229 metres). But why I would ask - were runways of such huge widths even considered at that time? For large formation take-offs possibly?
RAYDON WINGS: Private airfield
Operated by: Raydon Wings Ltd
Location: 2.5nm SE of Hadleigh, 4nm SW of Ipswich
Note: This map is reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014.
Runway: 09/27 820x27 grass
NOTE: Several years ago I made this note: "I’d place a pretty hefty bet, (up to £1 in fact), that this grass strip is situated on the WW2 RAYDON military aerodrome." In 2015 I could confirm this.
Valerie Stabenow
This comment was written on: 2019-06-13 05:45:39My dad was Senior Flight Control Officer at Raydon for the duration of the war. Thank you for posting this!
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