Ridgewell
RIDGEWELL: Military aerodrome later gliding site
Notes: The first picture is by the author, taken through perspex. The second and third pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Military users: 1942: RAF Bomber Command
90 Sqdn (Short Stirlings)
1943: 8th USAAF 1st Bombardment Wing 381st Bomb Group
532, 533, 534 & 535 Sqdns (Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress)
Operated by: 1980s to -: Ridgewell & Oatley Gliding Club
Location: NE of Tilbury Green, SW of Ovington, SE of Ashen & Pennel Ash villages, 5nm SE of Haverhill, 7nm NNW of Halstead
Period of operation: Military: 1942 to 1957 (Others say closed in 1945)
Runways: WW2: 10/28 1829x46 hard 06/24 1280x46 hard
17/35 1280x46 hard
For gliding in 2008 it seems a grass runway 05/23 was in use
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for doing the research and coming up with the following items.
Photo One, date unknown, although somewhat out of focus, really is a 'corker' giving us today the sheer spectacle of B-17s lining up to take-off on a raid.
Photo Two, from the American Air Museum, is of a B-17, (8771), being repaired in February 1945, after being hit by a falling bomb dropped by another B-17 flying above. Must have been for the pilots, flying in close formation, almost impossible to be looking out for such a threat? Especially when over the target. That crew must have been so thankful it didn't go off! Also illustrates how much battle damage a B-17 could take - and keep flying!
Photo Three is of the B-17G 'Green Hornet' dated 30th May 1944, from the American War Museuem.
Photo Four shows a staged naming ceremony of a B-17G, on the 23rd April 1944, with some very famous British celebrities taking part. The USAAF top brass were very keen on staging these events, on their bases.
Photo Five is of the Station HQ from the Mighty Eighth Air Manual by Roger A Freeman. The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: At the end of 1944, 2894 USAAF personnel were based here.
This airfield site is now apparently in SUFFOLK. As pointed out elsewhere the sheer amount of fiddling about with the County boundaries in England and Wales does raise many questions as to the motives for these endless rearrangements. Which it is very hard to believe are for honest and honourable purposes? See 'Comment' below.
SOME ASTONISHING FACTS AND FIGURES
In their excellent book ESSEX: A Hidden Aviation History, Paul Bingley and Richard E. Flagg have this to tell us: "By May 1942, elements of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) newly established 8th Air Force had arrived in England. It was for the Americans that Essex airfields were now being planned, constructed and opened."
My note: Plus many other airfields mostly in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
"In early June, Ridgewell and Earls Colne joined the list of twenty-eight British airfields that were to be transferred from the RAF to the 8th Air Force. They were required to accommodate the 3,700 aircraft then scheduled for American fighter and bomber operations. However, it was calculated that up to 127 airfields would eventually required, many of which were still to be constructed."
What interests me is why the RAF decided, in the 1920s and 30s, that Lincolnshire and south Yorkshire especially would be the best areas to base so many of their bomber squadrons. It simply doesn't make any sense - not least for having far worse weather and fog problems. East Anglia was a so much better option.
They also tell us this: "Over a million man hours, a million cubic yards of concrete, 6 miles of water mains, 24 miles of drains and more than 500 buildings had gone into constructing Ridgewell. Yet although the airfield had been allocated to the Americans, it was immediately handed to a homeless RAF squadron. On 29 December, the Short Stirlings of No.90 Squadron began circling the new airfield. The first bomber to land promptly swung off the main runway and damaged its undercarriage. Ridgewell's career as 'Essex's only long-term heavy bomber base' was off to an inauspicious start."
Steve Jessup
This comment was written on: 2019-07-07 18:24:16Ridgewell is definitely in Essex. As is the adjacent village of Ashen even though its postal address is Sudbury Suffolk.. After the 381st left in 1945 Ridgewell was returned to the RAF and was used for storage and disposal of munitions. The units based there for this were 94 and 98 Maintainence Units. This lasted until 1957. Ridgewell Oatly Gliding Club operated at Ridgewell during the 1980's (The Oatly part of the name came from the initials of the adjacent villages of Ovington, Ashen, Tilbury and Little Yeldham) In 1991 the Essex Gliding Club (of which I am a member) purchased the airstrip and moved there from North Weald as the latter was becoming unsuitable for gliding due to increased powered aircraft operations and to airspace restrictions. Essex Gliding Club is still operating from there today (2019)
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