This blog post is part of the Blast From The Past series; a selection of older blog posts, previously made private, now republished. Find out more here.
I recently went on a little adventure for you... I had always known of a connection between the local village of Grafton Underwood and a World War Two airbase, in fact I had even heard stories from family members about the airbase. I thought it sounded interesting so started to find out more, it turns out that the small Northamptonshire village was one of the homes to the American Airforce in World War II, specifically the Eighth Air Force.
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| The ariel plans of RAF Grafton Underwood |
RAF Grafton Underwood was opened in 1941 for use by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, by the end of 1942, the airbase had already proved it's worth and was extended to become of a Class A airfield standard, to cope with newer larger aircraft. Shortly after being taken over by United States Army Air Force - Eighth Air Force, now designated as USAAF Station 106 Grafton Underwood. In its time as a war-time airbase RAF Grafton Underwood played host to 15th Bombardment Squadron (light), 97th Bombardment Group (heavy), 305th Bombardment Group (heavy), 96th Bombardment Group (heavy) & 384th Bombardment Group (heavy). The original main aim of the airbase was to be a satellite airfield to the bigger RAF Polebrook, assisting with dropping of bombs on Oil supplies and Industry mainly around the Meresburg area of Germany. However RAF Grafton Underwood went above and beyond the original plans, performing their air assault across Nazi ruled Germany, France, Belgium & Norway.
The base used the surrounding natural woodland as its camouflage, with all the barracks, offices, mess halls, hospital, chapel and even a cinema being dug into the darkness of the woodland, now known as Grafton Park. One afternoon I set off on a walk from my home to Grafton Park, I had often passed the woodland blissfully unaware of its dark secret. I found the woodland honestly quite haunting, the paths through the woodland were the original tracks from the airbase, it was honestly strange to think these paths were the same concrete roads walked down by British & American personnel, I kept thinking about if the trees could talk what stories they could tell. Every now and again out of the darkness of the woodland canopy the remains of a building would appear, I found this actually quite scary, I was by myself and the woodland was quiet, a shadow of the hustle and bustle that it must have been.
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| The forest claiming back the airbase |
The main airbase and runways are now owned by the Boughton Estate and are also shadow of their former self, dug up after the war the land is a stretch of agricultural fields, however several frying pan and at least one double-loop hardstand remain on the north side of the airfield on private farmland. Many random patches of concrete track and hardstanding also remain alongside Brigstock Road, however often access is limited or not permitted.
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| A mushroom pillbox |
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| Inside the bomb technician building |
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| Derelict building, use unknown. |
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Signage inside the station headquarters
(all above photos sourced from www.derelictplaces.co.uk - tocsin_bang) |
Although many of the missions undertaken by the personnel at RAF Grafton Underwood were successful, like every other airbase involved in the assault against Adolf Hitler's regime they suffered casualties. During my research I managed to find so many files reporting entire planes & crew as missing. I even found reports of fatal accidents at the airbase, on one winters night a group of USAAF planes returning from a successful mission mis-judged the length of the runway, causing deaths to the crews and many others on the ground. Another discovery I made is Major Paul Tibbets, he flew in the first B-17 mission from Grafton Underwood in August 1942 and towards the end of the war would go on to pilot the world famous superfortress bomber the Enola Gay, dropping the first ever atomic bomb in warfare, code named 'Little Boy' on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb caused unprecedented destruction in the city, Japanese records published in 1945 state the the bomb killed 66,000 people and injured a further 69,000.
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| Brigadier General Paul W.Tibbets, Jr. |
In the 1990's a memorial was erected at the end of one of the runways to ensure the public would forever be aware of the bravery of those who fought and won the war from Grafton Underwood. The memorial sits at the side of what is now a country lane linking the villages of Grafton Underwood and Geddington via Boughton House.
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| The United States American Air Force - 8th Air Force War Memorial, RAF Grafton Underwood |
St James the Apostle Church in the heart of the village is a small quintessentially British rural church from the outside, on the inside however is one of the most moving displays of homage to the United States of America I have ever seen. The Stars & Stripes of the American flag hang from the ceiling of the church, an entire stained glass window created to remember all those based in Grafton Underwood during the war was gifted to the church by the 384th Bomb Group of the United States 8th Air Force, the prayer cushions are knitted in decorative patterns, depicting the logos of the Royal Air Force, United States Army Air Force and many other military bodies, there are plaques on the wall dating from the end of the war to the present day recognising donations from the bomb groups based in Grafton Underwood for restoration work in the church and finally the visitors book is crammed full of comments and signatures from people from all over the world, each a praise to the village, the tiny church & the work undertaken here between 1941 and 1959.
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| 'The window is dedicated before God in remembrance of those who gave their lives for freedom during World War II, while serving at Station 106 Grafton Underwood 1942 - 1945' |
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| The prayer cushions, in all their military glory. |
After the war, once the American Army Air Force had packed up and moved on, the Air Ministry took control of the base, using it as a site to store and repair war machinery, employing up to 200 civilian drivers and mechanics. On the 1st Feburary 1959, with growing peace across Europe and changes in military programmes the base however was declared surplus to requirements by the British Government and shut down, forever.
The first & last bombs dropped by the United States Army Air Force - 8th Air Force were from RAF Grafton Underwood, a truly symbolic fact about a tiny, quiet, unrecognised piece of Northamptonshire Countryside.
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