Woodbridge During the Second World War 

RAF Bentwaters

RAF Bentwaters was the last of the five hundred RAF fighter stations built during the war. It was constructed in 1944 as a base for the USAF and took its name from that of some cottages in Rendlesham which were demolished in the process. By the time it was complete it no longer required by the USAF and in Nov 1944 it was taken over by RAF Fighter command and became the last RAF airfield to be activated during the Second World War.

The first RAF squadrons to be stationed there flew Mustangs, American fighter aircraft supplied under lend lease arrangements. With their long range, the Bentwaters fighters were able to escort RAF bombers on daylight operations as the land war in Western Europe moved towards and into Nazi Germany. Piston-engined Mustangs from Bentwaters scored the RAF's first victories over the Luftwaffe's jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me262, and the rocket-propelled ME 163.

After the war the RAF used Bentwaters airfield for flying training on the Hawker Tempest Mk V and then the Gloster Meteor the RAF's first jet fighter but in July 1950 flying operations ceased. Seven months later control of the base was handed over to the USAF.
 

The Twin Bases

The USAF operated out of the twin bases until 1993 and for most of the time they were home to one of the USAF's most active and premier flying organizations, the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. From its arrival in England, the 81st was always an important front-line unit in NATO. At its peak in the 1980's the Wing was the largest in the free world, with some 130 aircraft in six fighter squadrons flying from its two bases in England and four Forward Operating Locations in Germany.  

The Wing flew many different aircraft from the twin bases. They include the deafening Phantoms and finally the A-10A tank buster which sounded like a bee.  They were all supported by a vast array of ground-based personnel, providing everything from aircraft maintenance and logistical support to civil engineering and recreational activities. The personnel were military and civilian, American and British.  Most of the Americans lived on the bases but there were some who choose to live in the surrounding towns and villages.  

In 1966 a private company built 150 houses at Bury Hill, Melton, for the American servicemen and their families. The estate was leased to USAF but when the lease came up for renewal in 1977 terms could not be agreed and the properties were offered for sale in January 1978.

When the Americans arrived the bases were little more than a neglected collection of corrugated-metal Nissen huts. When they left state-of-the-art military airfields, complete not only with advanced military buildings and facilities, but also with an entire American community to include roads, housing, shopping, schools and recreational facilities.

The twin bases were handed back to the MOD who sold the Bentwaters site to Seabrook Holdings. A proposal to use the airfield for commercial cargo floundered as a well organised public protest and the property was spilt into two and resold. The air field and the associated buildings are now known as Bentwaters Park and the domestic site on the other side of the A1152 is known as Rendlesham Park.

The airfield buildings on Bentwaters Park are leased to various small companies and the airfield pavements and runways are occasionally used for special events. Many of the communal buildings on the domestic site have been demolished and 550 new houses have been built. 

The MOD retained the Woodbridge airbase and it is now a training base for the Army Air Corps regiments based at Wattisham Airfield, which are equipped with the WAH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter. The rest of base had undergone a major redevelopment and is now home to the British Army’s 23 Engineer regiment, and has been renamed “Rock Barracks”.
 

Four airfields in East Anglia played a leading part in the Second World War.

·        RAF bombers from Wattisham carried out the first British attacks on 4th September 1939.

·        Martlesham, the Air Ministry's pre-war experimental establishment, was the northern most airfield of No.11 Group, Fighter Command, in the Battle of Britain. Among the many RAF squadrons stationed there during 1941/2 were two of the 'Eagle' squadrons of Americans who had enlisted before the USA entered the war.

The number of airfields in East Anglia increased greatly after the American 8th Army Air Force began to arrive in 1942. The 356^th Fighter Group moved into Martlesham in 1943. The 493^rd Bombardment Group began operating from Debach on D-Day in 1944, by which time 31 Bomb Groups and 14 Fighter Groups of the 8^th Army Air Force were based in the region.

At Sutton Heath there was one of the three emergency runways constructed on the east coast of England for damaged aircraft returning from operations over Europe. The other two were in Carnaby in Yorkshire and Manston in Kent.

Last edited 19 Sept 21