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Map sources for RAF Wattisham at grid reference TM024518

RAF Wattisham (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGUW) was a Royal Air Force station south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England.

Wattisham opened on 5 April 1939 as a medium bomber station, the squadrons there being equipped with Bristol Blenheim bombers. On 4 September 1939, just 29 hours after the declaration of war, bombers from Wattisham took off on the first attack of the war, against enemy shipping in Wilhelmshaven harbour.

In 1942 the Blenheims left to be replaced with Bristol Beaufighters, but some time after October 1942 the base was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces.

Wattisham was assigned USAAF designation Station 377, and work began on building concrete runways with the intention of adapting the airfield for heavy bomber use. However plans were apparently changed when it was evident that there would be sufficient heavy bomber airfields available for the USAAF, and it was decided that Wattisham would remain an air depot and also house a fighter unit.

Work ceased on the runways leaving only the E-W with a concrete surface and short stretches of the other two. The main SW-NE runway was finished off with steel matting while the remaining NW-SE runway continued to be grass-surfaced for most of its length.

The 4th Strategic Air Depot (originally the 3rd Advanced Air Depot and then 3rd Technical Air Depot) serviced many types of aircraft but, by late 1943, was concentrating on fighter types. An additional technical area with four T2 hangars, some eighteen hardstands and a taxiway loop joining the airfield perimeter track, was constructed on the south side of the airfield. An engineering complex in temporary buildings was built around this area chiefly in the village of Nedging Tye.

The 4th Strategic Air Depot installation was officially named Hitcham, which was actually the name of a village two miles to the north-west of the site, to differentiate it from the fighter station using the same airstrip. The base was, by 1944, responsible for the maintenance of all American fighters in the UK. In May 1944 USAAF fighters in the form of P-38 Lightning and later P-51 Mustangs arrived.

North American P-51B-5 Mustang Serial 42-7040 from the 434th Fighter Squadron in June 1945. This P-51B was previously assigned to the 361st FG at RAF Bottisham and was a replacement for low-hour P-51s reassigned from the group.

Along with the depot maintenance mission, Wattisham also hosted an Eighth Air Force fighter group, the 479th Fighter Group, arriving from Santa Maria AAF, California on 15 May 1944. The group was part of the 65th Fighter Wing of the VIII Fighter Command. Aircraft of the group had no cowling color markings as did other Eighth Air Force fighter groups and were marked only with colored tail rudders. The initial inventory of P-38s, many of which were hand-me-downs from other groups painted in olive drab camouflage, used geometric symbols on the tail to identify squadrons, white for camouflaged aircraft and black for unpainted (natural metal finish) Lightnings.

The group consisted of the following squadrons:

• 434th Fighter Squadron (L2)
• 435th Fighter Squadron (J2)
• 436th Fighter Squadron (9B)

The 479th FG escorted heavy bombers during operations against targets on the Continent, strafed targets of opportunity, and flew fighter-bomber, counter-air, and area-patrol missions. Engaged primarily in B-17/B-24 escort activities and fighter sweeps until the Normandy invasion in June 1944.

The group patrolled the beachhead during the invasion. Strafed and dive-bombed troops, bridges, locomotives, railway cars, barges, vehicles, airfields, gun emplacements, flak towers, ammunition dumps, power stations, and radar sites while on escort or fighter-bomber missions as the Allies drove across France during the summer and fall of 1944. The unit flew area patrols to support the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July and the airborne attack on Holland in September.

The 479th Fighter Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for the destruction of numerous aircraft on airfields in France on 18 August and 5 September and during aerial battle near Münster on 26 September. The unit continued escort and fighter-bomber activities from October to mid-December 1944. It converted to P-51s between September 10 and October 1, using both types on missions until conversion was completed.

The group participated in the Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944-Jan 1945) by escorting bombers to and from targets in the battle area and by strafing transportation targets while on escort duty. From February to April 1945 it continued to fly escort missions, but also provided area patrols to support the airborne attack across the Rhine in March.

The unit returned to Camp Kilmer New Jersey in November 1945, and was inactivated on December 1945. Among the notable pilots of the 479th were its second group commander, Col. Hubert Zemke, and an ace, Major Robin Olds.

Legacy

The United States Air Force 479th Tactical Fighter Wing at George AFB California (1952-1971) was bestowed the lineage, honors and history of the World War II USAAF 479th Fighter Group. The 479th TFW deployed personnel and aircraft to Key West NAS Florida in response to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and deployed squadrons frequently to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Later, the 479th Tactical Training Wing at Holloman AFB New Mexico (1977-1991) provided pilot training.

The 479th Fighter Group at Moody AFB Georgia (2000-present) curretly stands on active duty today.

In 1946 the base was returned to RAF hands. In 1949 new runways were laid, By 1950 Gloster Meteor fighters arrived, replaced in the mid-fifties by Hawker Hunters. In 1958, following another renovation, the Black Arrows display team was added to Wattisham's roster. In 1960 the English Electric Lightning arrived, and in 1974 McDonnell Douglas Phantoms, which served through to 1992, when Wattisham stood down as a fighter base. During the cold war, Wattisham operated it's 'QRA' or Quick Reaction Alert Sheds where live armed jets were on standby to intercept the Soviet Tupolev Tu-95 (Bear) aircraft. It was also a major 'Blacktop' diversion runway.

Today Wattisham is used by the Army Air Corps, flying Westland WAH-64 Apache, Westland Lynx and Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopters. An RAF Search and Rescue flight of Sea King helicopters from 22 Sqn also operates from here. Additionally, the police helicopter unit for Suffolk Constabulary also operates from Wattisham. Also Anglia Gliding Club still operates here (and is in fact the oldest serving member of Wattisham)

• List of RAF stations
• USAAF Eighth Air Force - World War II

• Freeman, Roger A., Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now, 1978
• Freeman, Roger A., The Mighty Eighth, The Colour Record, 1991
• 479th Fighter Group on www.littlefriends.co.uk
• www.controltowers.co.uk Wattisham
• Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983
• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present

• History of Wattisham
• Another history
• Airport information for EGUW at World Aero Data