RAF Woodchurch: Difference between revisions

This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use. This article was last edited by Bwmoll3 (talk | contribs) 17 years ago. (Update timer)

RAF Woodchurch was a World War II airfield in England, located a mile north of Woodchurch village in Kent.

During the war the United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force 373d Fighter Group was stationed there with Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Fighters.

The USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporary Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) along the channel coast prior to the June 1944 Normandy invasion to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France. Woodchurch was originally planned to support light bombers and thereby would need a bomb store near the site. However, in a review of airfield building plans, this original requirement was dropped so Woodchurch was of similar specification to other ALGs in the district.

The creation of the two runways required the closing of minor country roads and the laying of approximately 4,100ft of metal wire Sommerfeld Track for the east/west runway (11-29) and 5,000ft for the main north/south (01-19). Construction started in January 1943 with a three month schedule. While most of the metal for runways appears to have been down by March it was several more weeks before all the specified works had been carried out to construct an operational airfield.

A trial occupation began in late July 1943 with the arrival of Nos. 231 and 400 Squadrons with Mustangs. These units used Woodchurch airfield for operational sorties until mid-October when, as with RAF fighter squadrons on other Kent ALGs, they withdrew to airfields with hardened runways or better drainage.

RAF No. 5003 Airfield Construction Squadron descended during the winter of 1943-44 with a mission to upgrade Woodchurch to receive a full USAAF fighter group by April. The perimeter track was extended and additional aircraft standings created. Runway intersections were reinforced, marshalling areas and some additional hardstands were constructed. Aircraft cover was provided by five Blister hangars.

In the first week of April 1944, the 373rd Fighter Group arrived from Richmond AAF, Virginia. Operational fighter squadrons and fuselage codes were:

• 410th Figher Squadron (R3)
• 411th Figher Squadron (U9)
• 412th Figher Squadron (V5)

The 373d Fighter Group was part of the 303d Fighter Wing, XIX Tactical Air Command.

By early May some 70 P-47s were present. At this time US engineers extended runway 11-29 by 900ft using Pierced Steel Planking to the east across a minor road between New Street Farm and Stubbs Cross. The road was only closed when aircraft were taking off or landing.

The group entered combat on 8 May with a fighter sweep over Normandy. The usual mixture of escorts and fighter-homber work followed while the pilots of this organisation gained experience.

As with other Ninth Air Force P-47 units, once the invasion had taken place, support of the armies by ground-attack became their prime job. There was some contact with enemy aircraft and on 7 June six were credited as destroyed in an dogfight over Normandy. All told, 373rd pilots shot down 30 enemy air-craft while operating from Woodchurch. Losses amounted to 15 P-47s missing in action.

Movement to France took place in late July and most of the personnel and aircraft had left for Tour-en-Bessin (A-13) by the 31st.

Woodchurch did not miss out as a haven for disabled bombers. On June 29, a 458th Bomb Group Liberator landed without its nosewheel down, causing irrepairable damage to the aircraft and urgent work for the runway repair crew, and another ailing B-24 put down safely on July 19.

Legacy

After the 373d moved to the Continent in July, the group struck railroads, hangars, boxcars, warehouses, and other objectives to prevent enemy reinforcements from reaching the front at St Lo, where the Allies broke through on 25 Jul 1944. Bombed such targets as troops, gun emplacements, and armored vehicles to aid ground troops in the Falaise-Argentan area in Aug 1944.

During the Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944-Jan 1945, concentrated on the destruction of bridges, marshalling yards, and highways. Flew armed reconnaissance missions to support ground operations in the Rhine Valley in Mar 1945, hitting airfields, motor transports, and other objectives.

The 373d Fighter Group received a DUC for a mission, 20 Mar 1945, that greatly facilitated the crossing of the Rhine by Allied ground forces: without losing any planes, the group repeatedly dived through barrages of antiaircraft fire to bomb vital airfields east of the river; also attacked rail lines and highways leading to the Rhine, hitting rolling stock, motor transports, and other objectives.

Continued tactical air operations until 4 May 1945. Returned to the US, Jul-Aug 1945. Inactivated on 7 Nov 1945.

After the Americans moved to France, the airfield was derequisitioned in September, the RAF works unit. No. 5024 ACS, appeared in the following weeks to remove the Sommerfeld Track, the Americans having already lifted the re-usable PSP.

The area was fully returned to agriculture by the following year.

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

• Freeman, Roger A., UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now, 1994

• Aerial Photo of RAF Woodchurch from Multimap.Com

51°05′12″N 000°47′52″E / 51.08667°N 0.79778°E / 51.08667; 0.79778

This United States Air Force article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e