A wooden plaque in St Mary's church, Brome, dedicated to those of the USAF base at Brome, 1942 - 1945.
The inscription reads:
In memory of those from the
American Army Air Force
who gave their lives while
serving at the Brome Air Base
1942 - 1945
"Under the shadow of the Almighty"
Psalm 91"By the end of WW2 no fewer than 32 aerodromes had been constructed in Suffolk and all but five had been built after 1939. Up to six trains a day are reported to have been running from bombed-out London to East Anglia to bring rubble which was used as hardcore for runways and ancillary buildings. In mid-1942, the first parties of American engineers arrived to help build some of the American airfields such as Debach, Eye and Raydon and an overall workforce of 60,000 men are believed to have been engaged on airfield construction. Each airfield cost about £900,000 to build. RAF Eye covers an area of approximately 135 hectares and is located between Brome in the north, Yaxley in the south-west and Eye in the south-east, and about 18 kilometres (11 miles) to the north-east of Stowmarket in Suffolk. It is contained within the triangle formed by the A140 in the west, the B1077 in the east and Castleton Way in the south and situated on a flat plateau with only slight undulation, falling gently towards the river valleys to the east and south. The lowest point is in the south-east and the highest (some nine metres higher) to the west of the centre. These variations are however almost imperceptible.
The northern part of the airfield was built over the site of a former medieval green. The footpath which leads from New Road in the north-west and linked with what is now the B1077 road just north of the old Potash Lane in the south-east was closed, and all buildings within the aerodrome construction site were demolished. Low Barn, situated near the south-eastern edge of the flying field just within its boundary, no longer exists. Yaxley Plantation was reduced to a narrow strip and a small unnamed wood to the south of it was entirely cleared. A similar fate was met by a cluster of houses marked on the 1886 Ordnance Survey map (and still in place in 1938) as The Potash and Potash Cottages, located just south of the triangle formed between the main and the NW/SE secondary runways roughly where the Eye Power Station was later to be built. By 1943, when the RAF took an aerial view of the newly constructed runways, the hamlet had vanished without a trace but the track linking it with the B1077 road, marked on the map as Potash Lane, had become the access road into the aerodrome's Technical site. Today it is the access road into the Brome Industrial Estate. A recently constructed new road leading through the Mid Suffolk Business Park a short distance further to the south was named Potash Lane, presumably after the demolished hamlet. Potash Farm survived just outside the western perimeter, although it would no longer seem to exist today. Chestnut and Langton Grove farms in the south-east and Whitehouse Farm in the south-west are however still in the farming business.
The aerodrome, initially known as Brome Airfield, was not a standard Class A base but constructed to a less demanding standard. Station 134, as it had been designated, was one of the last wartime bases to be built in East Anglia. It was built by US Army engineers, starting in September 1942 and involving several battalions: the 829th Battalion arrived in September 1942, followed in December by the 827th Battalion, with the former being replaced by the 859th Battalion in May of the following year. The main work was reportedly carried out during the summer of 1943, when the 827th Battalion set records in pouring concrete and the 859th made their mark in building construction. British contractors were later also taken on board. Interestingly, some of the construction equipment could still be found abandoned on the site for many years after the war as is evidenced by photographs taken by airfield architect and book author Paul Francis in the mid-1980s.
In the winter of 1943 the airfield, which by then had three concreted runways with a screeded (rather than the more usual tarmac) finish and 50 aircraft dispersals (a group of eight was situated west of the main A140 road), was declared operational and consequently turned over to the Air Forces on 7 December. By 1 April 1944 the entire aerodrome had been completed and after its official opening on 1 May 1944, the USAAF's 8th Air Force's 3rd Bombardment Division's 93rd Bombardment Wing's 490th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at Mountain Home AAF Idaho, moved in almost immediately. The operational flying squadrons of the group were:
848th Bombardment Squadron
849th Bombardment Squadron
850th Bombardment Squadron
851st Bombardment Squadron
Additional USAAF Station units assigned to RAF Eye were:
477th Sub-Depot
18th Weather Squadron
329th Station Complement Squadron
1240th Quartermaster Company
1276th Military Police Company
1448th Ordnance Supply & Maintenance Company
814th Chemical Company
2116th Engineer Fire Fighting Platoon
The 490th Bombardment Group (BG) entered combat in June 1944, initially flying B-24 Consolidated Liberator bomber aircraft in mainly tactical missions in support of the ground forces fighting near Caen in July and near Brest in September 1944, and bombing airfields and coastal defences in northern France before and during the invasion of Normandy. The group also participated in missions aimed at bombing airfields and coastal defences in northern France before and during the invasion of Normandy, and in destroying V-weapons sites, bridges, railway lines, vehicles and road junctions. After their re-equipment with B-17s in September 1944, the crews were able to fly longer distances and subsequently participated in the bombing of a number of strategic industrial sites in Germany such as enemy oil plants and tank factories, marshalling yards and aerodromes in Berlin, Hamburg, Merseburg, Münster, Kassel, Hannover and Köln (Cologne), and in attacks of supply lines as well as military installations during the Battle of the Bulge (fought from December 1944 until January 1945). In early March 1945, interdictory targets were attacked and missions were again flown in support of the advancing ground forces.
In the 158 missions flown by the 490th BG only 22 aircraft were lost, and it was hence the group with the lowest loss rate of all the 8th USAAF bombardment groups. Considering that each aircraft carried a crew of ten men, a considerable number of lives were nevertheless lost. On 5 November 1944, the B-17G 43-37884 of Clarry Bridwell (pilot), Floyd Norman, Dick Colyer, Wendell Cole, Jack Provolt, Ed Longer, John Porterfield and Bob Joyce (all killed in action) and Paul Finot (POW) was damaged in a mid-air collision over Ludwigshafen, crashing at Neustadt. B-17G 43-37886 was shot down by flak over Merseburg on 25 November 1944, killing crewmember Bob Newsome. Pilot Frank Delmerico and John Fitzgerald, Everett Gille, Herman Savely, Bill Henthorn, Omar Scheidt, George Lee, Clifton Callahan were taken prisoner. The pilot of B-17G 43-39130, Bill Audette, as well as Ray Akeny, Bob Neuenschwander, Ted Chapin, Roy McGhee and Virgil Dupler were killed when on 19 December 1944 their aircraft was shot down by an enemy jet and crashed at Strehla. Crewmembers Les Harvard, George Gilbert, Chas Johnston and Bill Shipp were taken prisoner.
In addition to the losses occurring during missions, the group's operations history also documents 47 non-combat related accidents, some fatal, involving engine failures, landing, take-off and taxiing accidents as well as mid-air collisions. The probably worst accident was the collision of two of the group's aircraft which on the occasion of a training session on 5 January 1945 flew into each other in mid-air over Rougham in Suffolk, killing Harry Adelman (pilot), Chas Elder (co-pilot), Art Saye (navigator), Virgil Walton (engineer/top turret gunner), Harry Bennett (tail gunner), Don Turrle (radio operator) and Harvey Smetzer, and injuring the on-board instructors Major Ed Blum and Lt Ernie Langholz (who had to have his hand amputated) and Bombardier Lt Harry Hatrell, all flying in B-17G 43-38050. The other aircraft involved was B-17G 43-38111. Don Wood (pilot), John Smith (co-pilot), Forest Redman (navigator), Warren Allen, Chas Todt (engineer/top turret gunner), Elmer Hammond (tail gunner), Cliff Kwasigroh (radio operator), Ed Sarazewski and the on-board flying instructor Lt Paul McGee all lost their lives. Another crew had a very lucky escape when on 29 July 1944 their B-24 Liberator called "My Mama Done Told Me" crashed in front of the Swann Inn at Brome, a public house dating from the 17th century, on its approach to the aerodrome. The aircraft exploded and burned out next to the pub. Fortunately, both the crew and the building survived and the Swan Inn is still in business today.
After 8 May 1945 - Victory of Europe (V-E) Day - the 490th BG helped ferrying food supplies to flood-stricken areas of Holland and in the transport of French, Belgian and Spanish prisoners of war out of Austria and to Allied centres. The unit finally returned to Drew Field, Florida, on 3 September 1945, and was disbanded shortly afterwards. A community-led project is currently underway to fund a memorial stone which will be installed near the southern edge of the flying field. A memorial plaque commemorating all USAAF personnel serving at the aerodrome can be seen inside St Mary's church in Brome."
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