Sometimes, we come across quite unexpectedly, something of great interest. Whilst on my travels recently, passing through the southern regions of Cambridge into Essex, I came upon the former station RAF Little Walden. Being an unplanned visit, I was rather short in prior knowledge and preparation, no maps, aerial photographs, or other documents that I normally seek out before venturing off into the wilderness. So I was quite unprepared when I stumbled across the Watch Office from former station RAF Little Walden, otherwise known as Station 165 of the USAAF.
RAF Little Walden (Hadstock) – (Station 165)
Little Walden lies slightly closer to the village of Hadstock than it does Little Walden, and was originally called Hadstock. When construction began in 1942, it was allocated to the Eighth Air Force as a Class A bomber airfield. However, due to the bad winter of 1942/43 work ceased temporarily, being held up until well into the summer of 1943. At this point, Hadstock became known as Little Walden, a name change that coincided with the formation of the Ninth Air Force in Europe, an organisation whose primary role was the support of ground troops in the European theatre. With its headquarters at Sunninghill Park1 in Ascot, it would operate both transport and bomber units, taking many of these units (and their airfields) from the already established Eighth Air Force. Little Walden was one such airfield passing from the Eighth to the Ninth to fulfil this new role.
Although a Class A airfield, Little Walden’s main runway was slightly shorter than those of its counterparts, 1,900 yards as opposed to 2,000 yards, but the two auxiliary runways were both the standard 1,400 yards in length. A concrete and wood chip construction gave these runways good strength, it also had hardened perimeter tracks and fifty hardstands of the spectacle type. Grouped mainly in blocks of five, they were located around the perimeter track with a further block of eighteen to the north-west of the site. In the development process a public road the B1052, was closed as it passed directly though the centre of the proposed site.
Little Walden’s Watch Office is now a private residential property.
A large bomb store lay to the west of the airfield, surprisingly close to the majority of the hardstands, any major accidental discharge being likely to cause substantial damage to parked aircraft. There were four areas within the bomb store, each holding 200 tons of bombs and tail units, further stores held pyrotechnics, incendiaries, ‘small’ bombs, grenades and small arms ammunition. Most of these were secured by earth banks with fusing points (both ultra-heavy and heavy-light) being held in temporary brick buildings.
To the eastern side of the airfield lay the technical area, with one of the type T2 hangars (the second being located to the north), a fire tender shelter, and a watch office designed to drawing 12779/41 – the standard airfield design of 1942/43. Behind this, lay the main technical area, with its usual range of dingy stores, MT (Motor Transport) sheds, parachute stores and a wide range of ancillary buildings.
Accommodation for staff was, as usual by now, dispersed over eleven sites, a sick quarters, communal site and WAAF site accounting for three of them. A further sewage works made the twelfth site. All-in-all accommodation was provided for just short of 3,000 men and women of mixed rank.
On March 6th, 1944 the airfield officially opened, the day before its first residents arrived. The 409th BG were a new Group, only constituted on June 1st, the previous year (1943). They trained using Douglas A-20 Havocs (known in British service as the Boston) a twin engines light bomber capable of carrying up to 4,000lb of bombs.
The 409th BG formed at Will Rogers Field (Oklahoma) and transitioned through Woodward and DeRidder bases before arriving in the UK. Between March and September they operated out of Little Walden, bombing V-weapons sites and airfields in France in a strategic role. Initially they performed in the low-level role, but soon moved to higher altitudes, performing their first mission on April 13th 1944.
In the short period of residency at Little Walden, the 409th would lose a number of aircraft, one of the first being that of #43-9899 of the 642nd BS, which was written off in a landing accident on April 22nd 1944. Three days later a second aircraft, #43-9691, would also crash-land at Little Walden being damaged in the process.
May would also prove to be a difficult month for the 409th, with one aircraft ‘lost’ on the 9th, a further crash landing on the 11th, another lost on the 22nd and two further aircraft lost (classified as MIA) on the 27th. It was on this mission that a further Havoc would collide with a low flying Mustang resulting in several tragic deaths.
Havoc #43-10130 of the 643rd BS, piloted by Captain Roger D. Dunbar took off from Little Walden heading south-east, when it collided with P-51B #42-106907 of the 503rd FS, 339th FG, piloted by 2nd Lt. Robert L. Dickens. The Mustang, on a training flight, disintegrated killing the pilot, whilst the Havoc crashed into the farmland below. In the ensuing fire, a local farmer’s widow and trained nurse, Betty Everitt ran to the scene and managed to pull one of the airmen out of the aircraft. When returning to retrieve another crewman, one of the bombs on board the aircraft exploded killing her, her small dog, a helping Staff Sgt. and those left inside the aircraft. As a thank you to Betty, the US airmen, from the base, raised almost £3,000 to provide an education for her four-year old orphaned son, Tony2. This was not a one-off either, a fund set up by Stars and Stripes and the British Red Cross, aimed to raise funds for children who had suffered the loss of one or both parents. The amounts raised went a long way to getting these children an education that they would not otherwise have had.
Early June would see another such tragedy, when three more Havocs would collide. Havocs A-20G #43-9703 and #43-9946, both of the 641st BS, would crash whilst the third aircraft managed to land at the airfield. #43-9703 was piloted by Joseph R. Armistead, whilst #43-9946 was piloted by Thomas A. Beckett. A young girl, Marjorie Pask, ran to help, pulling two airmen out of the wreckage then waiting with them until help arrived. Five airmen including the pilots and an air gunner, Staff Sergeant Albert H Holiday, were all killed. It was not until later that Marjorie realised that there were many bombs scattered around the site and how much danger she had been in 3.
Staff Sgt. Albert H Holiday, killed June 11th 1944 in a collision between two Havocs of the 409th BG. (IWM-UPL 21530)
With two further loses and a forced landing in June, it was be a difficult month for the 409th. The late summer months of July and August would be lighter but by no means a clean sheet. In September 1944, on the 18th, the 409th were moved out of Little Walden and posted to a forward Landing Ground A-48 at Bretigny, where they would continue to suffer from landing accidents, Flak and fighters.
Next at Little Walden came the Mustangs of the 361st FG, in a move that saw possession of Little Walden pass back into the hands of the Eighth Air Force. Station 165 was now back with its original owners.
The 361st FG were the last of the P-47 Groups to arrive in the UK. Initially based at Bottisham, they converted to the P-51 in the weeks leading up to D-day. Using the Thunderbolts they earned a reputation as a strong and determined ground attack unit, hitting rail yards and transportation links across France.
A short break whilst transferring from Bottisham to Little Walden gave a somewhat minor break for the 361st. But, following changes to the Eighth’s overall structure, it was soon back to normal and more attacks over occupied France. In October, Lt. Urban Drew shot down two Me 262s who were in the process of taking off from their airfield at Achmer. What was more remarkable about the attack was that Lt. Drew had only arrived in the U.K. a few days earlier, had been grounded for a Victory Roll and then went on to become an Ace shooting down six enemy aircraft and the first pair of 262s! He was awarded the Air Force Cross, being denied the Distinguished Flying Cross until after the war when records from both the Luftwaffe and US Air Force were able to confirm his dramatic claims.
The Christmas and winter of 1944-45 was notoriously bad, very cold temperatures, fog, frost and ice played havoc with operations. The Battle of the Bulge was raging and the allies were finding it all but impossible to provide assistance from the air. Many Bomb Groups suffered terrible tragedies as collisions and accident numbers increased in the poorer weather. The Ninth, who themselves had primary roles in ground support were finding it particularly difficult. To help, a selection of men and machines from the 361st (and 352nd from Bodney) were transported to France and the airfields at St. Dizier (Y-64) and Asch (Y-29) where they were seconded into the Ninth Air Force. The main force back at Little Walden continued to support bomber missions whenever they could, a difficult job in often appalling conditions.
‘Ferocious Frankie’ #44-13704 (374th FS, 361st FG). The original crashed during a wheels up belly landing at RAF Little Walden, on November 9th, 1944. (This aircraft was flying at the Duxford American Airshow May 2016).
‘Ferocious Frankie’ (named after the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace E. Hopkins) seen at the Eastbourne Air Display August 2015.
By the end of January the seconding to the Ninth came to an end and the entire Group moved across to Belgium and Chievres, a former Belgian airfield captured and used by Luftwaffe bombers during the earlier years of the war. The 361st would remain there until April 1945 whereupon they returned back to Little Walden. During their absence Little Walden was made good use of. Being a ‘bomber airfield’ by design, its runways and hardstands were put to good use by Debach’s 493rd BG and their B-17 ‘Flying Fortresses’ whilst their own airfield was repaired and strengthened.
Spending only a month at Little Walden, the Air Echelons of the 493rd BG would depart in the April as the 361st FG returned. On the 20th, the 361st would fly their last operational mission, a flight that would close the record books culminating in a total of 441 missions. As the war ended and personnel were sent home, crews and aircraft of the 361st were dispersed to depots around the U.K., those that were left were sent home via the Queen Mary from Southampton arriving in New York in early November 1945. Within hours the group was disbanded and the men scattered to the four winds.
Between early September and early October 1945, the 56th FG ‘The Wolfpack’ were brought to Little Walden. The aircraft were also dispatched to depots around the country whilst personnel were brought to Little Walden for onward transportation to the United States. By mid October they too had gone.
Little Walden then began the wind down, transferring back to RAF ownership in early 1946. For the next twelve years or so, it was used to store surplus military equipment before they were sold off. After that, the site was returned to agriculture, the majority of the buildings pulled down and the runways dug up for road building hardcore.
The control tower stood for many years derelict and forlorn, until being purchased by an architect in 1982, eventually being turned into a private residence, the state it exists in today. The closed road has since been restored, utilising part of the NE-SW runway. Other parts that remain being a public footpath, but all a fraction of their former selves and no more than a tractor’s width wide.
What’s left of the technical area is a small industrial unit, remaining buildings being used for storage or small industrial companies. An access road from the B1052 passes the site an on to private residencies.
Little else survives of Little Walden. Memorial plaques are believed to be mounted on the side of the watch office, although I could not see these when I visited, and the village memorial mentions those who were stationed at the airfield.
The serenity of Little Walden does nothing to reflect the goings on here over 70 years ago. The aircraft are gone, the bird song replacing the sound of engines, and the busy runways now a small road. For those who were lost here, the watch office stands as a memorial to their memory and the dedication shown by the many young men and women of the USAAF.
Sources and further reading.
1 Sunninghill Park was originally part of Windsor Forest and dates back to the 1600s and King Charles 1. Its ownership changed hands several times, and in the early 1800s during the Georgian period, a large house was built upon it. The Ninth Air Force made it their headquarters between November 1943 and September 1944, after which, in 1945, it was sold to the Crown Estate as a future home for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. However, before their marriage, the house burned down and the site remained unoccupied until the 1980s when a new property was designed and constructed for the Duke and Duchess of York. However, it was never occupied, the house fell into a very poor state of disrepair and was bought for £15m by an overseas investor. The site continued to decay and by 2014 was ordered for demolition.
2The Troy Record Newspaper Archives, Page 20, June 5th 1944 accessed 10/3/19.
3The full story can be read in ‘Balsham, A Village Story 1617-2017‘.
Little Walden is a new addition to Trail 46
Aviation Trails 