One of the interesting things about living in Cambridgeshire is seeing the uniforms of U.S. servicemen and women stationed here in England. Many of these men and women serve in the U.S. Air Force, on Royal Air Force Bases, across East Anglia and the East of England. However, it wasn’t too many decades past when U.S. Army and Navy personnel were commonly seen in England as well, especially during the Second World War. Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entering the war in December 1941, there were high-level contacts at the General Staff level between the United States and United Kingdom. In fact, as early as March 1941, the United States, United Kingdom and Canada had agreed on: “The early defeat of Germany as the predominant member of the Axis with the principal military effort of the United States being exerted in the Atlantic and European area; and a strategic defensive in the Far East.” – this was the Europe First policy which was the basis of the Allied war effort throughout the Second World War. So when the attack on Pearl Harbor came and the United States found itself at war with the Axis Powers: Germany, Japan, and Italy, it was only a short amount of time before U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Corps (the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force) personnel began arriving in droves across England.
It was on January 26, 1942 that the first U.S. combat troops arrived in England. As U.S. forces arrived in England, they were handed a publication titled: “Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain”. Along with all sorts of useful advice to help with the large influx of Americans, servicemen were told never to insult the monarchy, and that “the British don’t know how to make a good cup of coffee, but you don’t know how to make a good cup of tea. It’s an even swap.” It is important to note that individual Americans were serving with UK and Canadian units across England in units like the Eagle Squadrons, but the organized landing of forces of the U.S. Army did not occur until January 1942.
As the staging of forces continued from January thousands of men and equipment were staged across the United Kingdom. These forces launched the first allied amphibious operation from England, the invasion of North Africa, named Operation Torch. 18,500 U.S. Army combat troops were transported from their staging bases in the United Kingdom to Oran, North Africa. These men were part of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One), the 1st Armored Division (Old Ironsides), and the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Fighting would rage across North Africa, and many of these men would find themselves fighting from Sicily to the Italian mainland until the end of the War.
U.S. Troops embarked in a landing craft for Operation Torch. This artistic work was created by the Government of the United Kingdom before 1957 and is in the public domain.Map from “Operation Torch” by S. W. Roskill, from “The War at Sea 1939-1945”, Chapter XII. In the public domain.
The close proximity of Cambridgeshire and East Anglia to the industrial heart of Germany led to the development of numerous air fields for medium and heavy bombers, as well as fighter, cargo, and airborne support aircraft, arriving from the United States to work with RAF Bomber Command in the strategic bombing campaign against the Axis Powers.
In June 1944, the long-awaited invasion of France was launched from staging points across England, with U.S., British, Commonwealth, and Allied troops storming the beaches of Normandy in Operation Overlord. These forces would drive on to liberate France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and invade Germany, meeting the Soviet Allies on the Elbe. Amazingly, onboard over 1,200 aircraft and 5,000 ships, 160,000 allied troops were landed in France on June 6, 1944. By the end of August, 3 million allied troops were transported from England to France, a staggering feat of human achievement.
Mid-June 1944, a view of the immense logistical operation on Omaha Beach, Normandy France. The photo is the property of the U.S. Coast Guard and is in the public domain.
By the end of the war, 1.5 million U.S. servicemen and women had been stationed in England, or passed through to combat operations in Europe.
The military cooperation and deep relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, which continues to this day, remained at the end of the Second World War. NATO was formed in response to new threats from the Soviet Union and its Allies, and the United Kingdom remained critical to Allied efforts through the Cold War. Today, almost two decades after the end of the Second World War, the presence of U.S. servicemen and women across Cambridgeshire is a point of pride for those of us who live here, reminded of our shared military history.
In western Cambridgeshire, tucked away among the muddy fields, hedges and paths is a still active RAF station with a long and fascinating history. Royal Air Force Station Molesworth, almost always shortened to RAF Molesworth, was first constructed in 1917 and remains in use today by the U.S. Air Force.
One can almost picture the B.E.2s of the Royal Flying Corps which operated out of Molesworth during the Great War, conducting training and preparations for flyers preparing to transfer with their aircraft to France. The No. 75 Squadron occupied the airfield for sometime during this period. However, the airfield was abandoned after the war ended and went into disuse. Some of the buildings which had supported the air station where incorporated into the local farms near Bington, Old Weston, and Molesworth.
Unattributed photo of a wartime Avro B.E.2c, a reconnaissance plane and from the Great War, with ‘V” undercarriage, streamlined engine cowling, and the upper wing cut-out for the tail gunner to improve field of fire. Sadly, there are no photographs of B.E.2’s operating from RAF Molesworth during the war that I have been able to locate.
Despite the hopes of a generation, the horror of World War was to be experienced once again. As the United Kingdom found itself drawn into the conflict with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, it was not long before the Air Ministry decided to recommission the abandoned aerodrome at Molesworth. Through 1940, the runways were laid and the base infrastructure constructed to support bombers. The Royal Australian Air Force flew Vickers Wellington IVs, a medium bomber, from Molesworth from November 1941 until January of 1942 under the Royal Australian Air Force’s No. 460 Squadron. After the Australians, the RAF’s No. 159 Squadron occupied the airfield for a short time, but did not conduct flight operations from Molesworth.
It was the arrival of the U.S. Army Air Forces after America’s entry into the war that would transform Molesworth into one of the major bomber bases in England. Upgraded to a Class ‘A’ Airfield intended for use by the “heavies” – the four-engine bombers that would take the strategic bombing campaign to occupied Europe and Germany – Molesworth was radically altered and underwent major upgrades.
The first American tenants at RAF Molesworth were the 15th Bombardment Squadron, flying the Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston III light bomber. It was from Molesworth on 4 July 1942 that six aircraft from the 15th Bombardment Squadron joined a flight of RAF bombers to conduct a low-level attack against Luftwaffe airfields in the occupied Netherlands – the first U.S. Army Air Force bombers to attack mainland Europe. The date chosen was auspicious for President Roosevelt wanted to begin the strategic bombing campaign against Germany on the 4th of July. None of the four-engine “heavies” at the time were ready though, so the President’s intent was met with the light bombers launched from Molesworth. Sadly, three aircraft on the combined mission did not return from the bombing raid, two were A-20s from the 15th Bombardment Squadron. One of the four that survived was pictured at a later date, amazingly in color:
This Douglas A-20C HAVOC/BOSTON III, serial number AL672, was flown on the 4 July 1942 low-level attack against Luftwaffe positions in the Netherlands at the time part of the 15th Bombardment Squadron (light). This photograph was taken later in the war when AL672 was flying as a staff communications aircraft for the 8th USAAF out of RAF Bovingdon. Photograph from the U.S. Army Air Forces via the National Archives. Thanks to Roger Freeman: “The Mighty Eighth, the Colour Record” 1991.
The 15th Bombardment Squadron departed RAF Molesworth for operations in North Africa under the 12th Air Force in September 1942. It was at this time that the B-17 Flying Fortresses began arriving at RAF Molesworth, the four squadrons that would eventually comprise the 303rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) which would fly from Molesworth until the end of the war. The 303rd Bombardment Group, consisting of the 358th, 359th, 360th and 427th Bombardment Squadrons, was destined to become one of the legendary units of the Second World War under the 8th Air Force. The first mission by the 303rd Bomb Group was flown on 17 November 1942, targeting military targets in occupied France. On 27 January 1943, the 303rd began flying missions against Germany, taking part in the 8th Air Force’s first bombing mission against Germany proper – the U-boat facilities at Wilhelmshaven.
For the next two and a half years the 303rd would fly missions deep into German territory: to the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, against factories and shipyards, against rail-yards and distribution centres for the Wehrmacht. During the D-day invasion of Normandy, the 303rd bombed the Pas de Calais and then later supported the breakout from St. Lo in July 1944. It supported the army in the Battle of the Bulge and in the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945. On 25 April 1945, the 303rd flew its last mission from RAF Molesworth attacking the German armaments factory complex at Pilsen.
The RAF Molesworth control tower in April 1944. On the taxiway is a B-17G, tail number 42-97284 “Ain’t Misbehavin” – she would fly a total of 48 combat missions during the war. The “Triangle-C” marking on the vertical stabilizer was the RAF Molesworth designator. The Class A Airfield improvements: three converging airstrips with a concrete runway of at least 6,000 feet are visible in the distance. Photograph by Mr. Milton “Chic” Cantor, the photographer of the 303rd BG(H), with thanks to the 303rd “Hell’s Angels” historical society.
The 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) flew a total of 364 missions from RAF Molesworth, comprising 10,271 sorties. The bombers shot down a confirmed 378 aircraft with 104 additional aircraft as probable kills. 817 men from the 303rd were killed in action and 754 become prisoners of war. After the war, the 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) departed Molesworth for the United States via North Africa.
22 May 1944: 303rd B-17s on a bombing mission to Kiel, Germany taken at 25,000 feet. Photo from the Peter M. Curry Collection.B-17s from the 303rd flying through intense anti-aircraft fire. Photo by Joseph Sassone with caption: “Flak so thick you could almost taxi around it.”
The airfield was returned to the Royal Air Force in July 1945 where it was used for jet trainers and Gloster Meteor IIIs were operated from Molesworth for a short period. On 10 October 1946 the training unit left and the airfield was placed in ‘care and maintenance’.
In 1951, the U.S. Air Force returned to RAF Molesworth, hosting the 582nd Air Resupply Group. The runways, taxiways and hardstands were all improved and the airfield became a critical logistics airbase for the Cold War. The 582nd provided air support – paratroop airdrops and resupply – to the U.S. Army’s 10th Special Forces Group which was stationed in Bad Tolz, Germany. The 582nd Air Resupply Group flew a variety of aircraft from Molesworth, from B-29s to C-119 Flying Boxcars and HU-16 Albatrosses. At the time, the 582nd was treated as a normal resupply group; however, its support to Army Special Forces, which were trained to infiltrate the Iron Curtain if needed, must be wondered at.
On 25 October 1956, the 582nd was reorganized and called the 42nd Troop Carrier Squadron Medium (Special). They flew HU-16s Albatrosses, C-47 Dakotas, C-119 Flying Boxcars, and C-54 Skymasters from RAF Molesworth until 3 May 1957 when the aircraft moved to RAF Alconbury. However the squadron had a short life at Alconbury and was inactivated on 8 December 1957. The C-54s and C-47s were transferred to Rhein-Main AB, Germany. The C-119s were sent to the 322nd Air Division at Evreux-Fauville AB, France. Of personal note, my grandfather was a C-119 pilot in the 322nd Air Division in Evreux-Fauville AB France at the time, a young U.S. Air Force lieutenant.
25 October 1955: HU-16 Albatross of the 582nd Air Resupply Group at RAF Molesworth. This image or file is a work of a U.S. Air Force Airman or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image or file is in the public domain.
RAF Molesworth went into a maintenance status for the next twenty years, finally being deactivated officially in 1973. Only marginal maintenance was performed at Molesworth by U.S. Air Force personnel stationed a few miles away at RAF Alconbury. That changed in June 1980 when RAF Molesworth was chosen to house nuclear weapons – the BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missiles or GLCMs – under the 303rd Tactical Missile Wing. The Ministry of Defence now worked on building the massive GLCM bunkers that have become a hallmark of the west Cambridgeshire countryside. All the World War II runways, taxiways and hardstands were removed. Only three large hangers from the World War II period remained. Old infrastructure from the 1950s was demolished and new buildings constructed. By December 1986, the 303rd Tactical Missile Wing was activated but when the United States and the Soviet Union signed the INF Treaty in 1987, all nuclear weapons were removed from RAF Molesworth by October 1988. In January 1989 the 303rd Tactical Missile Wing was deactivated.
1989: the GAMA (GLCM Alert and Maintenance Area) at RAF Molesworth is completed for the housing of short-range nuclear weapons. This image or file is a work of a U.S. Air Force AIrman or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image or file is in the public domain.
During the 1980s, regular protests occured at Molesworth due to the stationing of nuclear GLCMs at the facility – part of the peace camp can still be seen outside the main gates of RAF Molesworth. This was part of the European-wide effort to oppose NATO’s basing of tactical nuclear cruise missiles in Europe which was seen at the time as a dramatic escalation in the final years of the Cold War. It was only the removal of the cruise missiles that led to the end of the protests.
In 1990, the Royal Air Force announced that RAF Molesworth would house the U.S. European Command’s Joint Analysis Centre, which still operates at the base today, still controlled by the U.S. Air Force.
For more information on the 303rd Bombardment Group:
The 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy), the Hell’s Angels maintains an indepth and fascinating webpage: http://www.303rdbg.com where many more photos, additional details and stories on the brave men who flew from RAF Molesworth can be read and shared.
For an interesting article on the GLCM facility at RAF Molesworth:
Cambridge Military History 