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Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | This article includes a list of general references but lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2013) |
| RAF Mendlesham USAAF Station 156   | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stowmarket, Suffolk in England | |||||||||||
 Aerial photo of Mendlesham Airfield, 18 January 1947 | |||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||
| Code | MZ | ||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Fighter Command 1943-44 * No. 12 Group RAF Eighth Air Force RAF Maintenance Command | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
  RAF Mendlesham Shown within Suffolk | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°13′59″N 1°07′05″E / 52.233°N 1.118°E | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1943 | ||||||||||
| In use | December 1943 - June 1954 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 210 feet (64 m)[1] AMSL | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Royal Air Force Mendlesham, or more simply RAF Mendlesham, is a former Royal Air Force station located 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-east of Stowmarket, Suffolk, England.
Mendlesham airfield was built in 1943 and opened in late December of that year. Three RAF fighter squadrons manned by Czechoslovak pilots moved in as part of No. 134 (Czech) Airfield RAF[2] - No. 310 flying Supermarine Spitfire LFIXs and No. 312 flying Spitfire LFIXbs on 19 February 1944. No. 313 flew in on 20 February with Spitfire IXs. No.310 finally moved out on 28 March 1944; Nos. 312 & 313 left on 4 April 1944.[1]
In March 1944, Mendlesham was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force. It was assigned USAAF designation Station 156.
From 30 March 1944 though 11 July 1945, Mendlesham served as headquarters for the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing, 3d Bombardment Division, Eighth Air Force.
The first USAAF tenant was the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force 34th Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Blythe AAF California. The 34th was assigned to the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Square-S". Its operational squadrons were:
The group flew both Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign.
The 34th flew 170 operations from the station, the first sixty-two while flying B-24 Liberators and the remainder with B-17G Fortresses. The change-over was made during the summer of 1944 when, in common with other groups assigned to the 93rd Combat Wing, the 3rd Division standardized on the Fortress. The group helped to prepare for the invasion of Normandy by bombing airfields in France and Germany, and supported the landing in June by attacking coastal defenses and communications. Continued to take part in the campaign in France by supporting ground forces at Saint-Lô, 24–25 July, and by striking V-weapon sites, gun emplacements, and supply lines throughout the summer of 1944.
The group converted to B-17s in September 1944 and engaged primarily in the bombardment of strategic objectives from October 1944 to February 1945. Targets included marshalling yards in Ludwigshafen, Hamm, Osnabrück, and Darmstadt; oil centers in Bielefeld, Merseburg, Hamburg, and Misburg; factories in Berlin, Dalteln, and Hanover; and airfields in Münster, Neumünster, and Frankfurt. During this period the group also supported ground forces during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. In March 1945, with few industrial targets remaining and with Allied armies advancing across Germany, the 34th turned almost solely to interdicting enemy communications and supporting Allied ground forces.
Before V-E Day, it carried food to flooded areas of the Netherlands (Operation Chowhound), and after V-E Day transported prisoners of war from German camps to Allied centers. The 34th Bomb Group returned to Sioux Falls AAF, South Dakota on 28 August 1945 and was inactivated.[3][4]
After the war, the field was used as the sub-site of No. 94 Maintenance Unit RAF[2] being used as an ammunition storage depot. It was reduced to inactive status in June 1954 and sold.
With the end of military control the former technical site of Mendlesham, which was to the southwest of the airfield was developed into an industrial estate. Large, expansive buildings were constructed over the area, around the T2 hangar that still exists. The balance of the airfield was returned to agricultural use; the runways, hardstands and perimeter track were largely removed for aggregate and today are fields, although parts of the perimeter track and the 02/20 runway remain as single-track farm access roads. No evidence of the wartime control tower remains. The NE end of the 20 runway has a small portion remaining at full width. A few wartime buildings are in use by farmers. Only the faintest hint of a perimeter track remains visible. A small but impressive memorial bronze plaque, subscribed to by the men of the 34th Group before their departure and erected in 1949 on the old airfield next to the A140 road, was stolen in April 2010 and presumably melted down for scrap. In January 2014 an appeal was made to raise £35,000 to replace it in the more secure location of St Mary's Church in Mendlesham.
Some aerospace-related use still remains though: one portion of runway 08/25, although now covered with grass, is now in use by local microlight pilots and by Suffolk Coastal Floaters hang-gliding club along with a blister-type hangar at the EOR.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Royal Air Force Mendlesham, or more simply RAF Mendlesham, is a former Royal Air Force station located 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-east of Stowmarket, Suffolk, England.
Mendlesham is a village in Suffolk with 1,569 inhabitants as of 2024. It lies 5 miles (8 km) north east of Stowmarket and 73.135 miles (117.699 km) from London. The place-name 'Mendlesham' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Melnesham and Mundlesham. The name means 'Myndel's village'. Mendlesham is known for its large street fair which is held on every May Day bank holiday. Mendlesham has a popular community newsletter, and a good primary school. There is one public house in the village called 'The King's Head'; though previously a second public house, 'The Fleece Inn' was open at the western end of Front Street, where it meets Old Station Road. The building once containing The Fleece is now a residential property. The village has a fish and chip shop and Mendlesham Bakery, a 'Premier Stores' convenience store with a Post Office counter.. Nearby at grid reference TM123640 is the Mendlesham transmitting station which broadcasts Kiss 105-108 (previously Vibe FM) on 106.4 MHz and the Digital One digital radio multiplex, and which was formerly used for VHF 405 line transmissions of Anglia Television. The mast stands at the corner of the former WWII airfield, RAF Mendlesham. This was used by the RAF and US Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1955, and once held a memorial to the US 34th Bomb Group. The memorial has now been moved to the churchyard of St. Mary's in Mendlesham. Although some of the land has reverted to agriculture or is an industrial estate, one airstrip is now used by the Suffolk Coastal Floaters Hang Gliding Club. There are two churches in the village, a small URC chapel and the grand medieval church of St Mary the Virgin, built at a time when the village had a much larger population, as well as a Baptist chapel in Mendlesham Green. Unlike many Anglican churches today, there is a mass (Communion) service held every day at St Mary's. In 1531 , the Mendlesham Christian Brethren were a group of Protestant dissenters, and two decades later, Adam Foster became a Marian martyr, after he refused to attend a Roman Catholic mass. He was condemned to be burnt at the stake by John Hopton, the Bishop of Norwich. Mendlesham had the second station on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, which ran from 1904 to 1952. Mendlesham Manor is an Elizabethan Manor House. Close to Mendlesham is the hamlet of Mendlesham Green, which contains Mendlesham Green Baptist Church. The village was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.
Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington (IATA: BEQ, ICAO: EGXH) is a Royal Air Force station located 6 mi (9.7 km) south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. It was used as a bomber station during the Second World War and through the Cold War, hosting Handley Page Victors and Hawker Siddeley (Blackburn) Buccaneers. RAF Honington has been the RAF Regiment depot since 1994.
Royal Air Force Burtonwood (or RAF Burtonwood) is a former Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces station that was located in Burtonwood, 2 miles (3.2 km) Northwest of Warrington in Cheshire, England. The base was opened in 1940 in response to the Second World War by the RAF and in 1942 it was transferred to the United States of America for war operations. The base was home to 18,000 American servicemen at the end of the war. In 1946 the base was transferred back to the United Kingdom however United States operations continued. The base officially closed in 1991 and since then the runway and most of the associated buildings have been demolished. RAF Burtonwood Heritage Centre was opened on part of the former base and focuses on the lives of the servicemen, the war and the airplanes at the base.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
