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Originally a relief airfield for bi-planes in WWI, the airfield was expanded by Richard Costain Ltd and helped by a number of sub-contractors during the period 1942/43. Earmarked for an Eighth Heavy Bomb Group, nothing ever came of this and at the end of November 1943 the yet to be completed station was handed to the Ninth Air Force for use by one of its Fighter Groups. On the last day of November the 362nd Fighter Group arrived at Wormingford.
The Group was assigned to the 70th Fighter Wing. They did not fly their first mission until 8 February 1944. Their operational status at Wormingford was a short one and they left on 8 April 1944. During their stay the 362nd had mounted over 30 missions, losing five aircraft.
The next group to move in was that of the 55th Fighter Group with their P-38 Lightning’s having come from Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire. The 55th role as a fighter group was to be a short one due to some of the disadvantages of the aircraft. However the 55th would later become renowned for ground strafing and ground attack bombing. On D-Day the P-38 groups were given the task of acting as convoy escorts for the armada of ships moving to and from Normandy. The 55th was selected to serve with the occupation forces in Germany and in July 1945 they left Wormingford for Gielbelstadt airfield in Bavaria. The old airfield is now used by the Essex and Suffolk Gliding club for more peaceful forms of flying.
[edit] References
Excerpts from:
- 'Wormingford: Introduction', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: *Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 295-99.
- [1]. Date accessed: 06 September 2006.
[edit] External links
(Source: Wikipedia) |