Also known as Station 144 · Old Buckenham Airport
The story of RAF Old Buckenham
The group entered combat on 5 February 1944 against an airfield at Tours. It joined Big Week against the German aircraft industry later that month. Its targets included aircraft plants at Gotha, rail centres at Hamm and oil refineries at Gelsenkirchen. On D-Day it bombed shore defences between Le Havre and Cherbourg. The film star James Stewart was group operations officer here in spring 1944. The actor Walter Matthau also served at the base. The group flew its last mission in April 1945 and went home in May.
The Air Ministry used the airfield as a satellite for maintenance units until it closed on 20 June 1960. Much of the concrete was ground up and sold. Part of the site is now Old Buckenham Airport, an active general aviation field. A black granite memorial in the shape of a B-24 tailplane lists the base's 366 dead. The 453rd Bomb Group Museum opened on the airfield on Remembrance Sunday 2015.
Flying units
| Unit | Years | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|
| 453rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), USAAF | 1943–1945 | Consolidated B-24 Liberator |
What survives
- Several original buildings and concrete pads, part of today's airport
- Black granite memorial to 366 servicemen, in a memorial garden since 2012
- Memorial room at Old Buckenham village hall, dedicated in 1983
The museum on the airfield
| Museum | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 453rd Bombardment Group MuseumAttleborough, Norfolk | Free | — | Old Buckenham's 453rd BG museum: modest, moving, and forever associated with its operations officer, one Major James Stewart of Hollywood. |