HONOUR GUARD FROM USAF MILDENHALL & RAF COLTISHALL AT RAF TIBENHAM MEMORIAL RC FLYING EVENT - 2021

RAF TIBENHAM AIRFIELD

Although tibenham is now a private gliding club - three times (one day in each month of may & july & september) a year a nice gentleman called phillip goff organises and hires the field out for his fellow radio controlled model aircraft flyers to pursue their beloved hobby of flying many various types of rc model aircraft including scale and sports jets - scale ww2 fighters & bombers - scale ww1 fighters & bombers - civilian aircraft - helicopters etc etc,
Being very patriotic (as you can imagine) phil stops all flying at midday (12 noon) for a minutes silence and then gives a very powerfull speech remembering those fine young americans that left this airfield on operations and gave the ultimate sacrifice of loosing their lives in combat - also including all the other nationalities that flew from all the airbases in the uk and never returned,
At the same time we pay remembrance to the model flyers that have flown at these events for many years that have now passed on,
on this occasion the wonderful young personnel from the near by american airbase of mildenhall put on a remembrance ceremonial march including some fine gentleman from the spirit of coltishall association who marched and peter moy the trumpeter played the last post,

a special touch also was the scottish piper called alistar mc clymont playing his pipes,

RFC - Tibenham was used as a Royal Flying Corps landing ground during the First World War and was known as RFC Tibenham.
No. 51 Squadron RFC and 75 Sqn RFC allegedly used the landing ground.

USAAF use
The airfield was built up during 1941/42 as a standard heavy bomber airfield with a main runway 6,000 ft long (1,800 m) (03-21) and two secondary runways 4,200 feet (1,300 m) in length (08-26, 15-33). It had an enclosed perimeter track containing 36 frying-pan type hardstands and fourteen loops. Two T-2 hangars were constructed on the eastern side of the airfield and adjacent to the technical site. Accommodations were constructed for about 2,900 personnel. Tibenham was assigned USAAF designation Station 124.

445th Bombardment Group (Heavy)
Tibenham became home to the 445th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force. The 445th arrived from Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa on 4 November 1943. The 445th was assigned to the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Circle-F".
The group flew B-24 Liberators as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign.
By far, the 445th's most notorious mission is the Kassel Mission of 27 September 1944. In cloud, the navigator of the lead bomber miscalculated and the 35 planes diverted from the rest of the 2nd Air Division and proceeded to Göttingen some 35 miles (56 km) from the primary. After the bomb run, the group was attacked from the rear by an estimated 150 Luftwaffe planes, resulting in the most concentrated air battle in history.

The 361st Fighter Group intervened, preventing a complete destruction of the Group. Twenty-nine German fighters and 26 American planes (25 B-24 bombers and 1 P-51 Mustang) went down in a 15-mile (24 km) radius. Only four 445th planes made it back to the base; two made emergency landings at RAF Manston, two crashed in France, one in Belgium, another crashed near RAF Old Buckenham—representing an 88.5% total casualty rate.
The 445th Bomb Group flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945. It departed Tibenham and returned to Fort Dix AAF New Jersey on 28 May 1945.
James Stewart, the film actor, was 703rd Squadron Commander with the 445th when it arrived at Tibenham. He flew 10 operational missions with the 445th Bomb Group before being transferred to the 453rd Bomb Group at RAF Old Buckenham in March, 1944

Postwar use -
The Americans left in late May 1945 and on 15 July the airfield reverted to the Air Ministry becoming a Maintenance Unit satellite.
Although part of the airfield was sold off in 1952, the main runway was lengthened in 1955 for possible use by jet aircraft. However it was never utilized and Tibenham was closed in 1959, being sold during 1964/65.

Current use -
Since 1960 the airfield has been used for peaceful recreation by the sailplanes / gliders of the Norfolk Gliding Club.
The control tower was used until 1975 as a club house by the Gliding Club. Later that year the club moved into a new home which was constructed nearby. It was said that the old control tower was haunted; and at least four members of the Gliding Club were afraid to enter the building, even in daytime. It was reported that a person in flying clothes, similar to those worn by the USAAF combat crews, had been seen on several occasions wandering through the darkened rooms. The old control tower was demolished in 1978

A memorial to the Liberator crews stands on the airfield.

FILMED AT THE SECOND WORLD WAR LIBERATOR BOMBER BASE OF RAF TIBENHAM - NR16 1NT

FILMED ON 16 - 7 - 2021,