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On 4 March 1945 during "Operation Gisela" RAF Metfield was strafed by a Junkers Ju 88G-6 of the Luftwaffe, killing one man in the control tower. The aircraft crashed just south of the airfield, after attempting to attack an inbound B24 with its Schräge Musik upward-firing cannon.
Built during 1942-43 as an Eighth Air Force bomber base, Metfield had three concrete runways, 39 pan plus 15 loop hardstandings, and two dispersed T2 hangars. It was first occupied by the 353rd Fighter Group, equipped with P-47s, from August 1943 to April 1944.
On the afternoon of the 15thJuly 1944, Captain Frank J Grew, - an Armament Captain with the 448thBomb Group – saw and heard the noise of an explosion. The explosion was at Metfield some 14 miles away. . He was not the only one from the 448thwho experience the effects of the explosion.
The Group was awarded a DUC for persevering with a raid on an oil refinery at Misburg on 26 November 1944, despite half of its bombers being destroyed by enemy aircraft. Browse 491st Bomb Group photographs and other documents in the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library digital archive here: www.2ndair.org.uk/digitalarchive/Dashboard/Index/48.
Former RAF Metfield. This is one of several WW2 Airfields in Suffolk and it was home to the 491st Bombardment Group. Video taken on 8 May 2016.For further ph...
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- Richard E Flagg UK Airfields
The 491st's air and ground echelons were assembled at RAF Metfield with the arrival of the air echelon by 15 May 1944, although the last plane of the 491st did not arrive until the 30th. [9] It began operations starting on 2 June, with an attack on Bretigny Airfield. [10]
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Metfield. METFIELD: Military aerodrome. Note: This picture (2017) was obtained from Google Earth ©. The WW2 airfield outline and most of the extent of the three runways can still be clearly seen. Location: N of B1123, SE of Metfield village, 5nm SE of Harleston. Period of operation: July 1943 to May 1945.
