492nd Bombardment Group at North Pickenham
History
The 492nd Bomb Group was stationed at North Pickenham in Norfolk, England, for 89 days from April to August 1944.
During its time in operation, the 492nd flew 64 missions for 1,513 sorties, but lost 51 aircraft in combat.
It suffered heavier losses than any other B-24 unit in a three-month period.
The 492nd was activated on 1 October 1943 at Clovis, New Mexico.
It organised at Alamogordo Airfield, New Mexico, in November 1943 and spent about five months training there before leaving for England on April 1 1944.
Most of the personnel from New Mexico were air crew, as many of the ground staff for the 492nd came from existing Second Air Division bomb groups already serving in England.
The air crews flew their B-24 Liberators to England from the United States via the southern ferry route.
The few men in ground crews who came directly from the United States travelled on the Queen Elizabeth, leaving on April 20 1944.
The group flew their first mission on 11 May 1944 against marshalling yards at Mulhouse, France.
It flew its last mission on 7 August 1944 and had left North Pickenham by 12 August, in time for the 491st Bombardment Group to be transferred there from Metfield.
If you would like to view various records relating to the 492nd, visit our digital archive.
North Pickenham Airfield (Station 143)
This airfield was home to the 492nd Bomb Group from April 1944 to August 1944.
It then became the base of the 491st Bombardment Group from August 1944 to July 1945.
All sites are now private property and you will need permission before you visit.
The library has information on some base contacts and with their permission can pass this onto you. The Library itself is unable to organise site visits.
The airfield site is two miles south-east of Swaffham.
It's between the B1077 road to Watton and the Swaffham-North Pickenham road.
Remaining buildings
Some Nissen huts, which were used as ordnance buildings, remain on the airfield site.
Four are in the south-eastern area, one in the north-east area and one in the north-west area.
There are two similar huts, which were fusing point buildings, at the incendiary bomb store area further north.
There were 13 dispersed sites in and around North Pickenham Airfield.
The operations block remains on the administration site, although the briefing room has been demolished.
The Norden bomb site store still remains but is in poor condition.
On the other dispersed sites only some of the Stanton air raid shelters, blast shelters and M&E plinths remain.
Part of the airfield was opened on 27 July 1957 as a Thor IRBM missile launch complex, containing three missiles. The station closed on 10 July 1963.
The pads for these missiles have been removed, but the long range theodolite target pillar and the power conversion building still remain.
They are now within the Anglia Karting circuit.
The Thor site's squadron leader was accommodated in a temporary prefabricated building close to the Second World War operations block.
This is now used by an agricultural repair business.
Memorials
A memorial stone in honour of the 491st and 492nd bomb groups was dedicated during a Second Air Division reunion visit in 1987.
It's situated at the entrance to the old mess site, site 4, at Breckland's Green in South Pickenham Road.
The memorial was enhanced with a brick-built surround and rededicated in 1997. It's pictured below.
The 492nd Bomb Group presented the villagers of North Pickenham with a quartz clock on 11 November 1990. It hangs in the sanctuary of the parish church, St Andrew's.
The inscription reads: "To The North Pickenham/Swaffham Parish From The 492nd Bomb Group July 29 1990"
There's also a plaque in St Andrew's, which was presented in May 1997 and stands on the windowsill close to the organ.
The inscription reads: "Presented to the people of North Pickenham by the 491st Bombardment Group (H) in grateful appreciation of the hospitality, warmth and continuing friendship bestowed upon us through the years during and after World War II".
A memorial bench in honour of the 491st Bomb Group is located close to the North Pickenham village sign.
Related websites
If you're interested in the history of the 492nd Bomb Group, you may find these websites useful:
Bibliography
There are several good histories of the 492nd Bomb Group available for use in the American Library.
Among those histories are:
- Allan G Blue: The fortunes of war: A history of the 492nd Bomb Group on daylight operations
- Peter Bodle: The 492nd and 491st Bomb Groups in Norfolk: A Pictorial History
- Russell Ives: 89 days: the 492BG (H) at North Pickenham
- James J Mahoney and Brian H Mahoney: Reluctant witness: memoirs from the last year of the European airwar, 1944-45
Information about the individual bases comes from from George H Fox's 8th Air Force Remembered: An illustrated guide to the memorials, memorabilia and main airfields of the US 8th Air Force in England in WW2 (London: ISO Publications, 1991).
For more on the history of the airfield, see:
- Martin Bowman: Bomber Bases of WW2: 2nd Air Division 8th Air Force USAAF 1942-45
- Michael Bowyer: Action Stations Revisited: No 1 Eastern England
- Ken Delve: The Military Airfields of Britain: East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk)
- Roger Freeman: Airfields of the Eighth Then and Now
If you're interested in any of these books you can find and reserve them at the Norfolk Libraries' online catalogue Spydus.
Images
491st Bomb Group memorial bench
A memorial bench in honour of the 491st Bomb Group is in The Street, North Pickenham, next to the village sign.
