RAF Boreham

Infobox Military Structure
name= Royal Air Force Station Boreham
USAAF Station 161
location= Located Near Boreham, Essex, England
coordinates=coord|51|46|47|N|000|31|15|E|


caption= Boreham airfield photographed on 20 April 1944
type= Military airfield
code=JM
built=1943
builder=
materials=
height=
used=1944-1945
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=United States Army Air Forces
garrison=Ninth Air Force
commanders=
occupants=394th Bombardment Group
315th Troop Carrier Group
battles= European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945 Location map|Essex
caption= RAF Boreham, shown within Essex
lat= 51.7610
long= 0.5482
width= 200

RAF Boreham was a World War II airfield in England. It is located 3 miles NE of Chelmsford in Essex. During the war it was used by the United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force as USAAF station 161, code JM.

Overview

Although the site had been requisitioned in 1942 for a bomber airfield, the main construction work did not start until the spring of 1943 when the 861st engineer Battalion (Aviation) arrived on 13 May. Bad weather hindered progress of the construction and airfield was opened in March 1944.

The airfield consisted of three runways of 6,000 ft (16-34), 4,200 ft (03-21), and 4,200 ft (09-27). 50 loop type hardstands were constructed along with two T-2 hangars. Accommodations for 2,658 were constructed.

USAAF Use

394th Bombardment Group

The first use of Boreham airfield was by the 394th Bombardment Group, arriving from Kellogg AAF, near Battle Creek, Michigan on 10 March 1944. Operational squadrons of the group were:

* 584th Bomb Squadron (K5)
* 585th Bomb Squadron (4T)
* 586th Bomb Squadron (H9)
* 587th Bomb Squadron (5W)

Their group marking was a white diagonal band across the fin and rudder. When the first Martin B-26 Marauders of the Group arrived some hardstands and buildings were still being built. Operations commenced only 12 days after the majority of the group arrived with the initial mission being flown on 23 March.

In the weeks that followed, the 394th was repeatedly sent to attack bridges in occupied France and the Low Countries, which led to its dubbing itself 'The Bridge Busters'. A total of 96 missions, on which 5,453 tons of bombs were dropped, were flown from Boreham before the 394th was moved on 24 July to RAF Holmsley South in the New Forest.

315th Troop Carrier Group

Following the departure of the 394th, the airfield was used temporarily by the IX Troop Carrier Command as an emergency airfield beginning in September 1944. Boreham however, remained relativley empty until assigned to the Air Disarmament Command - formed to carry out occupation and disarming of Luftwaffe installations. The small number of personnel involved relinquished the airfield in January 1945.

Boreham then passed to the 315th Troop Carrier Group in March 1945, which flew 80 C-47 Skytrains to drop men of the British 6th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity, the assault on the Rhine River. The group was devastated by the ground fire encountered with six of the C-47s being brought down and another seven so badly damaged that they had to make emergency landings in friendly territory.

Postwar Governmental Use

The airfield was closed in 1945. The Essex County Council made use of some of the domestic site Nissen huts to house the homeless and the land was used by Co-Partnership Farms.

In July 1990. the Essex Police Air Support Unit began operating their Aérospatiale Twin Squirrel from the airfield, and in 1992 a hangar to house this helicopter was constructed beside the control tower. The runways and 40 loop hardstands still remained and the south-west hangar was in use as a store. Pioneer Aggregates has an interest in part of the site and much of the airfield has been subjected to extensive gravel extraction.

Civil Use

With the facility released from military control, in 1946, the West Essex Car Club developed the 4.76 kilometre perimeter track for motor racing which continued until 1952. In 1955 the Ford Motor Company bought the airfield to use as a test facility for trucks, as well as the base for their Competitions Department where they prepared their cars for their pretty successful rally challenge. There are now 12 different test areas, including a rough road track of 2.4 kilometres.

All that now remains of Boreham airfield is the control tower, used by the Essex Police Helicopter Unit and the Essex Air Ambulance, a T2 hangar, short concreted lengths of the 03 and 34 runway ends, along with a small section of the perimeter track around the south part of the airfield which connects the runway ends. The remaining parts of the former runways, perimeter track and hardstands are now grassy areas.

ee also

* List of RAF stations
* USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II
* 394th Bombardment Group
* 315th Airlift Wing

References

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle ISBN 0900913800
* Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle ISBN 1854092723
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
* ControlTowers.co.uk http://www.controltowers.co.uk/B/Boreham.htm
* ArmyAirForces.com 394th Bombardment Group (Medium) http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=215
* [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present]

External links

* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=574000&Y=212000&width=700&height=400&gride=574000&gridn=212000&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&pc=&zm=1&scale=25000 Aerial Photo of RAF Boreham from Multimap.Com]