Air Force - Air Field England (1940-1945)

[@laverdanick]

323rd Bombardment Group B-26s. YU-F is 41-34742 Utah Gamecock of the 455th Bombardment Squadron. The 323rd Bombardment Group operated with B-26 Marauders, American medium bombers. They were the first Eighth Air Force Group to fly a medium level bombing mission with this aircraft on 16 July 1943. After flying a total of 33 missions with the Eighth, the Group were assigned to the Ninth Air Force, and they continued to fly strategic bombing missions over Europe throughout the war, staying at Earls Colne, Essex until 21 July 1944, at which point they moved to Beaulieu, England. The 323rd moved to an airfield adjacent to the village of Lessay, France on 26 August 1944 and then moved to an airfield near Chartres, France on 21 September 1944. On 13 October 1944, the 323rd moved to Laon/Athies Airfield from which the group flew missions in the Battle of the Bulge from December 23 -27, 1944 for which the Distinguished Unit Citation was conferred upon the group. On 9 February 1945, the gorup moved to Denain/Pouvy Airdrome where it was stationed until 15 May 1945.

[@cuttersgoose]

B26 marauders , the hot rod of bombers. The early ones had a real short wing span which gave them a high wing load, so they landed at high speeds, and didn’t fly well on one engine... so they redesigned the next model and added 5 feet to the end of the wings. These are the later versions.

[@davidbarrett1487]

Always interesting to look back, we must not forget the people of great courage who fought for us. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 The great spirit, something about those times.

[@ErnaldtheSaxon]

No more brother wars for international finance capital

[@seriousfun213]

This is amazing. Thank you so much!

[@Channel-os4uk]

Martin Marauders, I think

[@cuttersgoose]

Yup....the hot rod of bombers

[@tonysurridge3033]

What happened to the sound?,odd as this is a british pathe news item!.

[@kaptainkaos1202]

So many people complain about music, sounds, whatever added to videos. I think I like them with sound added. It seems quite 1 dimensional with just video.

[@neilewart4347]

Anyone know wh8ch airfield this was

[@trustnobody123]

Probably Earls Colne

[@fightersweep]

Earls Colne. Spent a lot of my time practically living on that airfield, so know it quite well.

[@trustnobody123]

@@fightersweep so much changed now. The pub went last month...

[@fightersweep]

@@trustnobody123 Bird in Hand gone? That's a shame. Spent many hours in that place with a glass of my favourite Ridley's Old Bob. Admittedly, it wasn't the busiest pub in the world, but did have the honour of having a few drinks with some 323rd veterans in there in 92.

[@trustnobody123]

@@fightersweep they sneaked in one day and bulldozered it down... Going to be offices. Had previously been empty after a small fire. Were you in Earls Colne in WW2?

[@mikes7639]

Tokyo bombers

[@cuttersgoose]

No... B25s were used in the Doolittle raid