8th Air Force in England (Gone but not forgotten)

Restored 8th AF, 100th BG, control tower at Thorpe Abbots, England.

One of the key people responsible for this great restoration is local Brit, Ken Everett (below).

The tower prior to restoration in 1977.

The new tower houses the 100th Bombardment Group Museum. One of the best this writer has visited. Ken Everett and a staff of British volunteers manage the museum and continue to add to the artifacts as they become available.

A view of the field from the tower. All that remains is part of the taxiway. The main runway and taxi strips have been converted into a field of rapeseed--currently in bloom.

If you look closely at the yellow rapeseed (canola), you can see a greener strip where the runway used to be. I suspect that the ground under the old runway was compacted and thus not as suitable for growth as the rest. As a result this portion of the crop is slower to mature.

This 3D map shows the 100th BG airbase as it once was. The tower location has been indicated by the red arrow and the existing portion of the taxiway by blue parenthesis.

Inside the 100th BG Museum at Thorpe Abbots is this stained glass reproduction of the 8th AF insignia.
The 100th BG Base in 1945. Picture courtesy of the 100 BG Museum.

Ron and Carol Batley attending the 100th BG Reunion at the Palm Springs Air Museum, Feb. 9, 2008. Ron is Chairman/Curator of the Thorpe Abbots 100th BG Museum.
Memorial to the 401st BG at Deenethorpe, England.

For the most part, these monuments are all that remain of more than one hundred 8th AF bases that once dotted the landscape of the East Midlands and East Anglia regions of England. And certainly not all of these bases are fortunate enough to have such recognition. Surviving Eighth Air Force veterans whose lives, significantly altered by the experience, are motivated to place these monuments in hopes that their contributions and place in history shall not be forgotten.

The American flag still flies at Deenethorpe. In the distance stand several new hangars. This is near the location of the old tower which was torn down a few years ago.

The 401st runway is still in use by Microflight Co. ultralights.
This ultralight pilot continues to honor those Americans of the 401st by painting the group identifier, triangle S, on the tail of his ultralight.

Memorial to the 303rd BG, Molesworth, England.

Memorial to the 384th BG, Grafton Underwood, England.

Memorial to the 305th BG, Chelveston, England.

The restored WWII tower at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England. This tower is back in use managing the airport at Duxford.

Hawker Hurricane at Duxford.
The "Sally B" flying B17 at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England. She is the official flagship of the American Air Museum in Britain and is permanently based at Duxford.

Below is the American Museum at Duxford.

PBY Catalina at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England. Probably never part of the 8th Air Force but it is such a beautiful plane I couldn't help but include it here.