RAF Upottery

Infobox Military Structure
name= Royal Air Force Station Upottery
USAAF Station 462
location= Located Near Honiton, Devon, England
coordinates=coord|50|53|02|N|003|09|10|W|


caption= Upottery airfield, 22 April 1944
type= Military airfield
code=UO
built=1943
builder=
materials=
height=
used=1944-1948
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=United States Army Air Forces
United States Navy
garrison=Ninth Air Force
Fleet Air Wing 7
commanders=
occupants=439th Troop Carrier Group
Patrol Bomber Squadrons 107th and 112th
battles= European Theatre of World War II
Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945 Location map|Devon
caption= RAF Upottery, shown within Devon
lat= 50.797475
long= -3.184954
width= 200

RAF Upottery was a World War II airfield in England. Also known as "Smeatharpe," the airfield is located 6 miles N of Honiton, largely in the parish of Smeatharpe, Devon. The USAAF Station Code for Upottery was 462, ID Code: "UO".

After the war, Upottery airfield was mostly reconverted into farmland. It received some attention in 2001 when it appeared in the first few episodes of the television mini-series "Band of Brothers". It was from Upottery that Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. 101st Airborne Division boarded Douglas C-47 transports and made their first combat jump into Normandy on 6 June 1944.

Overview

Upottery airfield was the furthest west of all airfields allocated by the British Air Ministry for American transport and reconnaissance units. Construction was not commenced until the summer of 1943 and conformed to the later standard for Class A with concrete runways 6,000ft at 19-27, 4,200 ft at 12-20 and 4.200ft at 15-33. The 50 hardstands were all loop type and two T-2 hangars were placed one on the south and one on the north side at the eastern end of the airfield. Accommodation for 2,500 was provided in a cluster of Nissen huts dispersed on seven sites in farmland to the north-east.

USAAF Use

Officially opened on 17 February 1944, the airfield was not reasonably complete until the early spring of that year when it was selected as one of the four in the West Country to which IX Troop Carrier Command would move the groups of 50th Troop Carrier Wing from the Nottinghamshire Newark-on-Trent area.

439th Troop Carrier Group

A few weeks later on 25 April 1944, the 439th Troop Carrier Group arrived from RAF Balderton with some 70 Douglas C-47 and C-53 Skytrain transports. The group's squadrons and fuselage codes were:

* 91st Troop Carrier Squadron (L4)
* 92d Troop Carrier Squadron (J8)
* 93d Troop Carrier Squadron (3B)
* 94th Troop Carrier Squadron (D8)

The 439th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 50th Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command.

US engineers had already put down areas of Pierced Steel Planking at each end of the main runway for use in glider marshalling. Large numbers of camp beds were placed in the hangars to receive and conceal, as far as possible, paratroops of 101st Airborne Division who assembled at the airfield early in June.

Two serials of aircraft, one of 45 and the other of 36, were despatched late in the evening of 5 June to drop the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the first hour of the invasion behind Utah Beach.

Difficult weather conditions and heavy anti-aircraft fire were encountered and three aircraft failed to return. A reinforcement mission with gliders was flown on the following day, with 50 C-47s towing 30 Horsa and 20 Wacos. Like the other troop carrier groups involved, the 439th later received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its work during these two days.

The C-47s were busy hauling a variety of materials into Normandy as soon as satisfactory landing grounds were available. Return flights often brought back wounded army personnel.

In July, the 439th was required to despatch 50 aircraft and crews to Orbetello airfeld in Italy to participate in the Invasion of Southern France. The 91st, 92nd and 94th TCSs were despatched south, leaving the 93rd TCS to shoulder the work in the ETO.

To facilitate hauling ammunition to advancing ground forces, it operated out of RAF Ramsbury and RAF Membury from 7-22 August, with the detachment to Italy returning three days later.

The group was then alerted to move to France as the vanguard of the 50th TCW. In the event, its official transfer came on 8 September when it was one of the first two IX TCC groups to move onto an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) on the continent. The movement of personnel and equipment to Juvincourt, France (ALG A-68) took several days but the air echelon was to return to its first UK home, RAF Balderton the following week to take part in Operation 'Market' where it dropped paratroops of 82nd Airborne Division near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the airborne attack on Holland,

Legacy

From France, the 439th participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne on 7 December 1944. Each aircraft of the group towed two gliders with troops of 17th Airborne Division and released them near Wesel when the Allies made the air assault across the Rhine on 24 March 1945.

The group continually hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear-zone hospitals when not engaged in airborne operations.

It converted from C-47's to Curtiss C-46 Commandoes which were used to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and Belgium after V-E Day. The group returned to Baer Army Airfield, Indiana during July 1945 and trained with C-46's. It was later inactivated on 10 June 1946.

US Navy Use

Upottery came under RAF control in October but does not appear to have been much used until VPB-103, Fleet Air Wing 7 from the US Navy at nearby RAF Dunkeswell moved in on 7 November with their PB4Y Liberators while the main runway at Dunkeswell was being repaired.

Early in 1945. two US Navy Patrol Bomber Squadrons, the 107th and 112th took up permanent station to fly anti-submarine patrols over the eastern Atlantic and Bay of Biscay, remaining until June 1945 when they returned to the United States.

Postwar RAF Use

The RAF took over Upottery in July 1945 and the airfield was used for storage of surplus materials by Maintenance Command until the end of 1948. The RAF withdrew their holding party in November that year and the airfield was returned to the farming community from which it was requisitioned.

Civil Use

Upon its release from military use, the airfield was largely returned to agriculture. Some sections of runways remain and also some dilapidated buildings. Part of the airfield is used by a small flying club and another section is occasionally used for stock car racing.

ee also

* List of RAF stations
* USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II
* 101st Airborne Division
* 439th Airlift Wing

References

* Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle ISBN 0900913800
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
* [http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=251] ArmyAirForces.com 439th Troop Carrier Group
* [http://www.controltowers.co.uk/T-V/Upottery.htm] Upottery Airfield at ControlTowers.co.uk
* [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html] USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present

External links

* [http://worldwar2airfields.fotopic.net/c290772.html Photos of Upottery from worldwar2airfields.fotopic.net]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/ST1891710072 Photos of Upottery from the Geograph British Isles project]
* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=319000&Y=110000&width=700&height=400&gride=319000.000000696&gridn=110000.88616382&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=grid&pc=&zm=0&scale=10000&out.x=6&out.y=5 Aerial Photo of RAF Upottery from Multimap.Com]