RAF Ashford

Infobox Military Structure
name= Royal Air Force Station Ashford
USAAF Station 417
location= Located Near Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom
coordinates=coord|51|07|48|N|000|48|51|E|


caption= Ashford ALG airfield, 11 May 1944
type= Military airfield (Advanced Landing Ground)
code=AF ?
built=1944
builder=
materials=
height=
used=1944
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=Royal Canadian Air Force
United States Army Air Forces
garrison= RACF (as part of RAF Fighter Command)
Ninth Air Force
commanders=
occupants=414 & 430 Squadrons, RCAF
406th Fighter Group
battles= European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945 Location map|Kent
caption= RAF Ashford, shown within Kent
lat= 51.1465
long= 0.8676
width= 200

RAF Ashford was a World War II airfield in England. It was located was 2½ miles south-west of Ashford, largely in the parish of Great Chart between the A28 and Chilmington Green in Kent.

During the war the United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force 406th Fighter Group was stationed there with Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Fighters. It was also the Headquarters of the 303d Fighter Wing, XIX Tactical Air Command.

Overview

The USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporary Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) along the channel coast prior to the June 1944 Normandy invasion to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France. Ashford was constructed by British Army service personnel. It involved clearing meadows and laying a wire mesh Sommerfeld Tracking for two runways which were 4,800ft and 3,750ft long and aligned 15-33 and 04-22 respectively. Sommerfeld Tracking taxiways paralleled the runways as far as possible, some 300-500 feet distant. As with other ALGs in the district- three months was the planned construction period and, in spite of bad weather delays, the task was completed by early spring 1943.

Royal Canadian Air Force Use

There was no immediate requirement for Ashford's use but in August 1943 a trial of the Kent ALGs found the RCAF Mustangs of Nos. 414 and 430 Squadrons in residence and they remained until October, flying offensive and defensive operations. During the Canadian tenure, a company of RCAF engineers arrived and put down a Prefabricated Bitumenised Surfacing (PBS) layer surface over the shorter secondary runway. PBS came in rolls which was overlaid over the wire mesh which it was hoped, would provide a smooth waterproof surface.

However, the covered PBS runway surface of Ashford generated a collection of large puddles, which caused aircraft to skid. Fourteen aircraft hardstands and part of the perimeter track were also made with this material. This was the only application of PBS to an ALG at which Ninth Air Force fighters were based.

In October 1943 two RAF Spitfire squadrons arrived, Nos. 65 and 122, but they soon departed when they found the runways at Ashford liable to damage Spitfire undercarriages. Further work on the runways providing aircraft parking areas and ordnance protection, was carried out early in 1944 to prepare Ashford for American use. US engineers added additional length to the runways and perimeter track. Additional hangars were also constructed

RAF units and aircraft

USAAF Use

406th Fighter Group

On 5 April the airmen of the 406th Fighter Group arrived, having crossed the Atlantic by troopship. The group arrived from Congaree AAF South Carolina. Operational fighter squadrons and fuselage codes were:

* 512th Fighter Squadron (L3) (yellow)
* 513th Fighter Squadron (4P) (red)
* 514th Fighter Squadron (O7) (blue)

The 406th Fighter Group was part of the 303d Fighter Wing, XIX Tactical Air Command.

Their accommodation was chiefly in tents set up on farmland and in orchards adjoining the site, but a number of farm buildings and requisitioned houses were also available. Little Chitmington Farm was used for the main stores. Arriving P-47s followed during the next few days and soon the ALG supported over 60, and eventually nearly 80, of these aircraft.

The 406th Fighter Group conducted its first operation on 9 May and was chiefly involved in fighter-bomber work. The 406th Fighter Group had several encounters with the Luftwaffe in the weeks following the Normandy landings, and at times, were caught at a disadvantage, German fighters accounting for 10 of the 25 P-47s lost white operating from Ashford. However, on 17 June the group turned the tables by bouncing an enemy fighter formation, shooting down five. Total claims of enemy aircraft while at Ashford stood at 21 destroyed. The 406th was also credited with destroying the first V-1 flying bombshot down by a US pilot.

At the beginning of July the 513th FS was selected as the first Ninth Air Force unit to be equipped with the British 5-inch rockets. First use of this weapon was not made until after the group had begun its movement to a landing ground in Normandy. This transfer began on 18 July when the 513th started to use ALG A-13 at Tour-en-Bessin. Other squadrons did not follow until a week later and the last remnants of the 406th did not depart RAF Ashford until 31 July.

Legacy

From the continent, the 406th Fighter Group continued to provide tactical air support for ground forces. Participated in the reduction of St Malo and Brest. Aided the Allied drive across France, receiving a DUC for operations on 7 September 1944 when the group destroyed a large column of armoured vehicles and military transports that were attempting to escape from southeastern France through the Belfort Gap.

The group operated closely with ground forces and flew interdictory missions during the drive to the Moselle-Saar region. Shifted operations from the Saar basin to the Ardennes and assisted the beleaguered garrison at Bastogne after the Germans had launched the counter-offensive that precipitated the Battle of the Bulge. The 406th operated almost exclusively within a ten-mile radius of Bastogne from 23-27 December 1944, a period for which the group received a second DUC for its attacks on tanks, vehicles, defended buildings, and gun positions. The 406th Fighter Group flew escort, interdictory, and close-support missions in the Ruhr Valley early in 1945 and thus assisted Allied ground forces in their drive to and across the Rhine until V-E Day, being finally stationed at Münster/Handorf Air Base (ALG Y-94), Germany.

With the end of hostilities, the group remained in Europe after VE Day, being assigned to the Nordholz Air Base, Germany (ALG R-56) near Hamburg as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe for occupation duty. The 406th was inactivated on 20 August 1946.

During the Cold War, the USAF successor to the unit, the 406th Fighter-Bomber Wing was activated at RAF Manston, also in Kent on 10 July 1952. Elements of the 406th remained in the United Kingdom for the next forty years at RAF Bentwaters and Zaragoza AB Spain before being inactivated as part of the post Cold War drawdown of American forces in Europe.

Today, the 406th Air Expeditionary Wing is actively serving as part of the Global War on Terrorism.

Bombing

The airfield was bombed during a night-time raid on 22 May 1944, at 12.35am. A 1,000lb High Explosive bomb was dropped in the tented area which accommodated the reserve flight pilots and other staff. There were 30 casualties, 14 being fatal. [cite web
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Post Invasion Use

With the move of the 406th to France, RAF Ashford was returned to the RAF which used part of it for open storage and, although still open for flying, no other combat unit moved in. However, several damaged aircraft landed at Ashford when returning from combat missions, including a B-24 Liberator.

In September 1944, the site was released for agricultural use and eventually a service unit moved in to clear the site. The problem was the overgrown steel mesh which could not be easily recovered. This was eventually spiked up and bulldozed into heaps which can still be seen today forming banks dividing various fields.

Civil Use

With the facility released from military control, Ashford was rapidly returned to agricultural use. There is little to indicate that an airfield ever existed at this location.

ee also

* List of RAF stations
* USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II
* RAF Manston
* Zaragoza Air Base
* 406th Air Expeditionary Wing

References

Notes

Bibliography

* "The Military Airfields of Britain", pp 30-31, Ken Delve, 2005, Crowood, ISBN 1861267290
* 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.
* ArmyAirForces.com 406th Fighter Group http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=227
* [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=597000&Y=140500&width=700&height=400&gride=597000.999936095&gridn=140500.88247094&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=grid&pc=&zm=1&scale=25000 Aerial Photo of RAF Ashford from Multimap.Com]