DAY-22: In Search Of History
Day – 22: Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Starting Location: Heathrow Airport, London, England, UK
Interim Location: Deopham Green, England, UK
Interim Location: Deopham Green, England, UK
Ending Location: Heathrow Airport, London, England, UK
Early this morning we followed the flights of our Ireland traveling companions. Both flights were scheduled for early arrivals into Dublin this morning.
American Airlines FL #208 flight track from Chicago for Chris' arrival into Dublin.
Aer Lingus FL #138 flight track from Boston for Pat's & Jack's arrival into Dublin.
This morning we were up, out and on the road by 8 AM. We had one mission for the day and that was to find the World War II airfield from where Diane's father had flown in 1944-45 on bombing raids into Germany. His unit had been the 728th Bombardment Squadron of the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) based at an airfield near Deopham Green in 1944-1945.
Our drive would take us 125 miles northeast of the airport toward the small town of Attleborough.
Travel along the highways of London and its outlying communities is always a challenge on work days but today we were headed in the favorable direction encountering very few slow-downs en-route. The opposite lanes were not so lucky as just a short distance along the M25 (aka Washington's I-495) we saw a burning car. Obviously such an incident is devastating to the car's owner and occupants it is also devastating to rush-hour traffic as in only one of four lanes open for traffic.
We arrived in Attleborough around 11 AM and went in to the local Lidl Grocery store in search of cookies, pastries, etc. (truth be known, we were in search of rest rooms). We found and purchased the pastries but as for the rest rooms it would take a short walk to the town square to find the public loos.
By 11:30 we were back on track in search of the airfield at Deopham Green. Internet research had provided GPS coordinates for the airfield and by using a composite of a new GPS images and a 1944 image we were able to locate remnants of the airfield.
Here is a photo from then and Google Map screen prints from now. Easily recognizable are the parking aprons (the figure eight looking patterns) and a few segments of concrete runway that remain. With a little imagination you can see the triangular outline of the field on the new Google images.
A memorial marker honoring the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) is located at the airfield site near Deopham Green.
Portions of the three runways (approximately 030/210, 090/270 & 150/330), and some of the squadron parking aprons remain, but all the property is now used by a commercial farming enterprise. Nevertheless we were able to go to the memorial and actually walk out on the runways and parking aprons that had been in use for only a couple of years 1944-1945 as the war in Europe entered its final months.
Diane's father's unit, the 728th Bombardment Squadron was part of the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) stationed at the Deopham Green field. The group and its squadrons flew missions deep into Germany, including raids on Frankfurt, Regensberg, Kassel and Schweinfurt to name a few. They also participated in support of the D-Day invasions at Normandy with bombing of German emplacements. A staggering statistic for the group is that from Deopham Green 250 missions were launched during the two year period of operation with 110 aircraft lost either over Germany or in many cases in crash landings after reaching the coast of Britain as the damaged aircraft could fly no longer or simply ran out of fuel.
One last stop took us to the village of Hingham where the British had erected a memorial at St. Andrews Church honoring the 452nd Bombardment Group.
With our mission complete for the day we returned to our hotel but not before a short ride through Cambridge. We had intended to park and have a late lunch at The Eagle Pub but we could never find a park. Cambridge is a walking and bicycle friendly city. There were times when we thought we might have actually turned onto pedestrian walkways as we would see no other cars. We made our escape without attracting too much attention and by 4:30 were back at the hotel. Soon thereafter we had turned in our Volvo to Enterprise and moved on to plan for our departure to Dublin.
In preparation for the upcoming trip the washers and driers were humming with loads being done for all of us.
Dinner was simple tonight, pizza and drinks in the hotel bar. Then it was back to the rooms to pack for tomorrow's travels and check-in for the flight to Dublin. Heh BA, what's with the steep "extra baggage charges" ($91/bag)?
Last but not least, looks like we have established a SMART group connection via the "WhatsApp" App; just one more way for us to confuse ourselves with 21st century technology.
Early this morning we followed the flights of our Ireland traveling companions. Both flights were scheduled for early arrivals into Dublin this morning.
American Airlines FL #208 flight track from Chicago for Chris' arrival into Dublin.
This morning we were up, out and on the road by 8 AM. We had one mission for the day and that was to find the World War II airfield from where Diane's father had flown in 1944-45 on bombing raids into Germany. His unit had been the 728th Bombardment Squadron of the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) based at an airfield near Deopham Green in 1944-1945.
Our drive would take us 125 miles northeast of the airport toward the small town of Attleborough.
Travel along the highways of London and its outlying communities is always a challenge on work days but today we were headed in the favorable direction encountering very few slow-downs en-route. The opposite lanes were not so lucky as just a short distance along the M25 (aka Washington's I-495) we saw a burning car. Obviously such an incident is devastating to the car's owner and occupants it is also devastating to rush-hour traffic as in only one of four lanes open for traffic.
We arrived in Attleborough around 11 AM and went in to the local Lidl Grocery store in search of cookies, pastries, etc. (truth be known, we were in search of rest rooms). We found and purchased the pastries but as for the rest rooms it would take a short walk to the town square to find the public loos.
By 11:30 we were back on track in search of the airfield at Deopham Green. Internet research had provided GPS coordinates for the airfield and by using a composite of a new GPS images and a 1944 image we were able to locate remnants of the airfield.
Here is a photo from then and Google Map screen prints from now. Easily recognizable are the parking aprons (the figure eight looking patterns) and a few segments of concrete runway that remain. With a little imagination you can see the triangular outline of the field on the new Google images.
A memorial marker honoring the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) is located at the airfield site near Deopham Green.
Portions of the three runways (approximately 030/210, 090/270 & 150/330), and some of the squadron parking aprons remain, but all the property is now used by a commercial farming enterprise. Nevertheless we were able to go to the memorial and actually walk out on the runways and parking aprons that had been in use for only a couple of years 1944-1945 as the war in Europe entered its final months.
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| B-17 Similar to those flown by the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) |
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| 728th Bombardment Squadron Emblem |
One last stop took us to the village of Hingham where the British had erected a memorial at St. Andrews Church honoring the 452nd Bombardment Group.
With our mission complete for the day we returned to our hotel but not before a short ride through Cambridge. We had intended to park and have a late lunch at The Eagle Pub but we could never find a park. Cambridge is a walking and bicycle friendly city. There were times when we thought we might have actually turned onto pedestrian walkways as we would see no other cars. We made our escape without attracting too much attention and by 4:30 were back at the hotel. Soon thereafter we had turned in our Volvo to Enterprise and moved on to plan for our departure to Dublin.
In preparation for the upcoming trip the washers and driers were humming with loads being done for all of us.
Dinner was simple tonight, pizza and drinks in the hotel bar. Then it was back to the rooms to pack for tomorrow's travels and check-in for the flight to Dublin. Heh BA, what's with the steep "extra baggage charges" ($91/bag)?
Last but not least, looks like we have established a SMART group connection via the "WhatsApp" App; just one more way for us to confuse ourselves with 21st century technology.
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