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The USAAF in NorfolkMuch affection and admiration is held locally for those who remember the airmen of the USAAF based in Norfolk during World War II. Although, sadly, much of the physical legacy is now hard to find, the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library in the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library in Norwich is a unique living memorial to nearly 7000 American airmen who were killed while stationed in East Anglia during World War Two.
Although most of the runways remain, many housing turkey sheds and other agricultural buildings, the majority of the airfields operated by the USAAF have reverted to agriculture, with little else remaining as evidence of their important role. Airfields which remain in use, although not necessarily as operational airfields, are:
and Ketteringham Hall, the former headquarters of the 3rd Air Division, is a training centre. The American Air Museum, part of The Imperial War Museum at Duxford, near Cambridge, is a memorial to the American airmen who were stationed in UK bases during WWII, (as well the Korea, Vietnam, Libya, and Iraq conflicts). The Museum houses the largest collection of American warplanes outside the United States. Although Duxford is only an hour or so from White Lodge Farm Cottages, there are a several more modest museums closer by:
The City of Norwich Aviation Museum, run by enthusiasts, adjoins the airport at Horsham St Faiths and includes exhibits relating the US airmen in Norfolk. Just a few miles from White Lodge Farm Cottages, the runways at Deopham Green, which was home to the 452nd Bomb Group are crossed by public highways. At the highest point, in now tranquil countryside with a vista across miles of peaceful farmland, there is a well-kept memorial, dedicated in 1992 to the 2,900 airmen who served there and who undertook flying some 245 missions in B17G Flying Fortresses during the operation of the airfield from January 1944 to June 1945.
A memorial to the men of the 452nd Bomb Group who lost their lives in World War Two is situated near the foot of the tower of St Andrew's church in Hingham, a quarter of the Deopham Green airfield having been situated in that parish. Also nearby, is the Green Dragon pub in Wymondham, used by the 389th Bomb Group at Hethel as their local, earning them the nickname 'the Green Dragons'. Contact details
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