RAF Harrington
Encyclopedia
RAF Harrington is a former World War II
airfield in England. The field is located 5.6 miles (9 km) west of Kettering
in Northamptonshire
south of the village of Harrington
across the B576 road, now the A14.
. The airfield was built by 826th and 852nd Engineer Battalions of the US Army intended for heavy bomber use and was completed in the spring of 1944.
Harrington was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces
Eighth Air Force
and assigned USAAF designation Station 179.
Group to use Harrington was the 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional), arriving from RAF Alconbury
on 25 March 1944.
Its initial operational squadrons were:
Both were equipped with B-24 Liberator
s
In May, two additional B-17 Flying Fortress squadrons were attached to the group, those being:
The 801st Bomb Group became best known as the Carpetbaggers. The mission of the Carpetbaggers was to fly Special Operations missions which entailed delivering supplies to resistance groups in enemy occupied countries.
The squadrons flew agents and supplies into southern France with B-24 Liberators that had all armament removed except in the top and tail turrets. In addition, the standard bomb shackles were removed from the bomb bay and British shackles were installed to accommodate special supply canisters. All unneeded radio gear was removed, as were the oxygen bottles. Flash suppressors were installed on the guns, flame dampeners were installed on the turbo-superchargers, and blackout curtains were installed over the waist gun windows. Light bulbs were painted red to spare night vision and special radio gear was added to assist in navigation and homing in on drop zones. The undersides of the aircraft were painted black to avoid detection by enemy searchlights. Combat with the enemy was avoided as it only endangered the success of the mission. Drops were also made using radio-navigation equipment. Supplies were also released in containers designed to be dropped from the existing equipment in the bomb bay. Pilots often flew several miles farther into enemy territory after completing the drop to disguise the actual drop zone in case enemy observers were tracking the plane's movement.
The B-17s flown by the 788th and 850th Bombardment Squadrons were employed to drop leaflets over Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Greece, and the Balkans. Some leaflets informed the citizens in occupied Europe of war news and Axis losses. Others urged German troops to surrender and offered safe passage through Allied lines. Seventy-seven percent of the German troops captured in France either had one of these leaflets or had seen one. The leaflets were a trusted source of news for the oppressed citizens of occupied Europe. They were widely read and some times carried for months and hidden in false pockets, hats, and shoes. Possession of one of the leaflets meant an automatic death sentence if caught by the Nazis.
In August 1944, the 801st Bombardment Group was absorbed by the 492d Bombardment Group
(Heavy). The 492d was a "hard luck" B-24 group which had lost 52 aircraft to enemy action in only 89 days, suffering 588 men killed or missing. Rather than try to rebuild the shattered group, the group was stood down and the surviving members were reassigned to other units in theater.
When assigned to Harrington, the 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional) was inactivated in a name-only manner. Headquarters and the ground echelon of the 801st were stood up as the 492d. The operational squadrons of the 801st were stood down and redesignated as the squadrons assigned to the 492d. These were:
After the units were redesignated, the squadrons attached to the 801st were returned to their previous units without personnel or equipment.
The Group ceased Carpetbagger missions on 16 September 1944 to haul gasoline to advancing mechanized forces in France and Belgium, along with attacking airfields, oil refineries, seaports, and other targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany until February 1945. In October three of the 492d's squadrons, the 857th, 858th, and 859th, transitioned to night bombing operations. This proved to be a difficult transition, since the aircraft had been modified by the removal of the original bomb shackles and the oxygen systems. By mid-November, Headquarters, Eighth Air Force decided that the Carpetbagger aircraft just were not suitable and finally allocated oxygen-equipped B-24s for the new mission. The night bombing force of the 492nd became known as the "Black Liberators."
On 17 December, the 859th was deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations
to perform special operations missions with Fifteenth Air Force
. The squadron remained attached to a provisional group in Italy
for the balance of the war.
The 492d returned to clandestine "Carpetbagger" operations over Germany and German-occupied territory, using B-24, A-26, and British Mosquito aircraft in March 1945 to drop leaflets, demolition equipment, and agents. The Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for these operations, performed at night despite adverse weather and vigorous opposition from enemy ground forces. The 492d was also cited by the French government for similar operations over France in 1944.
The unit flew its last Carpetbagger mission in April 1945 and then ferried personnel and equipment to and from the Continent until July. It returned to Sioux Falls AAFld, South Dakota
during July and August 1945, and was redesignated as a B-29 (Very Heavy) group to be used over Japan
. However, the Japanese surrender canceled those plans and the Group was inactivated in October.
The IRBM WS-315A missile system had a range of 1500 nautical miles (2,778 km) and was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation during 1955-56. Deployment with RAF Bomber Command began in December 1958 before being phased out with the advent of the manned V-bombers in 1963.
at RAF Tempsford
, the Cold War
use of Thor missiles at RAF Harrington, and the Royal Observer Corps
.
The museum also includes the Northants Aviation Society Museum, which features remains of recovered World War II aircraft, life on the home front, military equipment and memorabilia.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
airfield in England. The field is located 5.6 miles (9 km) west of Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
south of the village of Harrington
Harrington, Northamptonshire
Harrington is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, administered by Kettering Borough and Northamptonshire County councils. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 154 people. The parish church of St. Peter and St...
across the B576 road, now the A14.
USAAF use
The airfield was opened in September 1943 and was originally planned as a satellite for No. 84 OTU at RAF DesboroughDesborough
Desborough is a town in Northamptonshire, England. It is one of the founding 12 members of the Charter of European Rural Communities and through this has links with 26 other EU member towns and villages...
. The airfield was built by 826th and 852nd Engineer Battalions of the US Army intended for heavy bomber use and was completed in the spring of 1944.
Harrington was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
and assigned USAAF designation Station 179.
801st Bombardment Group (Provisional)
The first United States Army Air Force Eighth Air ForceEighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
Group to use Harrington was the 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional), arriving from RAF Alconbury
RAF Alconbury
RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station in Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is adjacent to the Stukeleys [Great and Little] and located about northwest of Huntingdon; about north of London....
on 25 March 1944.
Its initial operational squadrons were:
- 36th Bombardment Squadron856th Bombardment Squadron.The 856th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 492d Bombardment Group, based at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945.-History:...
- 406th Bombardment Squadron858th Bombardment SquadronThe 858th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 492d Bombardment Group, based at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945.-History:...
Both were equipped with B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
s
In May, two additional B-17 Flying Fortress squadrons were attached to the group, those being:
- 850th Bombardment Squadron857th Bombardment SquadronThe 857th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 492d Bombardment Group, based at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945.-History:...
- Attached from: 490th Bombardment Group490th Bombardment GroupThe 490th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the III Bomber Command, being stationed at Drew Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 7 November 1945....
(RAF EyeRAF EyeRAF Eye is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located 11 miles NE of Stowmarket in Suffolk.- USAAF use:Eye airfield was constructed by the 827th and 859th U S Army Engineer Battalions during 1943, with additional work by British contractors. It was completed early in 1944 and...
)- 788th Bombardment Squadron859th Bombardment SquadronThe 859th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the United States Strategic Air Forces, based at Bari Airfield, Italy...
- 788th Bombardment Squadron
- Attached from: 467th Bombardment Group467th Bombardment GroupThe 467th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the Strategic Air Command, being stationed at Clovis Army Airfield, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 4 August 1946....
(RAF RackheathRAF RackheathRAF Rackheath is a former World War II RAF station airfield in England . The field is located 5 miles NE of Norwich in Norfolk between Rackheath and Salhouse.-USAAF use:...
)
The 801st Bomb Group became best known as the Carpetbaggers. The mission of the Carpetbaggers was to fly Special Operations missions which entailed delivering supplies to resistance groups in enemy occupied countries.
The squadrons flew agents and supplies into southern France with B-24 Liberators that had all armament removed except in the top and tail turrets. In addition, the standard bomb shackles were removed from the bomb bay and British shackles were installed to accommodate special supply canisters. All unneeded radio gear was removed, as were the oxygen bottles. Flash suppressors were installed on the guns, flame dampeners were installed on the turbo-superchargers, and blackout curtains were installed over the waist gun windows. Light bulbs were painted red to spare night vision and special radio gear was added to assist in navigation and homing in on drop zones. The undersides of the aircraft were painted black to avoid detection by enemy searchlights. Combat with the enemy was avoided as it only endangered the success of the mission. Drops were also made using radio-navigation equipment. Supplies were also released in containers designed to be dropped from the existing equipment in the bomb bay. Pilots often flew several miles farther into enemy territory after completing the drop to disguise the actual drop zone in case enemy observers were tracking the plane's movement.
The B-17s flown by the 788th and 850th Bombardment Squadrons were employed to drop leaflets over Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Greece, and the Balkans. Some leaflets informed the citizens in occupied Europe of war news and Axis losses. Others urged German troops to surrender and offered safe passage through Allied lines. Seventy-seven percent of the German troops captured in France either had one of these leaflets or had seen one. The leaflets were a trusted source of news for the oppressed citizens of occupied Europe. They were widely read and some times carried for months and hidden in false pockets, hats, and shoes. Possession of one of the leaflets meant an automatic death sentence if caught by the Nazis.
492d Bombardment Group (Heavy)
492d Bombardment Group
The 492d Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Second Air Force, stationed at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945....
(Heavy). The 492d was a "hard luck" B-24 group which had lost 52 aircraft to enemy action in only 89 days, suffering 588 men killed or missing. Rather than try to rebuild the shattered group, the group was stood down and the surviving members were reassigned to other units in theater.
When assigned to Harrington, the 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional) was inactivated in a name-only manner. Headquarters and the ground echelon of the 801st were stood up as the 492d. The operational squadrons of the 801st were stood down and redesignated as the squadrons assigned to the 492d. These were:
- 36th Bombardment Squadron --> 856th Bombardment Squadron856th Bombardment Squadron.The 856th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 492d Bombardment Group, based at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945.-History:...
(B-24) (5Z) - 406th Bombardment Squadron --> 858th Bombardment Squadron858th Bombardment SquadronThe 858th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 492d Bombardment Group, based at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945.-History:...
(B-24) (9H) - 850th Bombardment Squadron --> 857th Bombardment Squadron857th Bombardment SquadronThe 857th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 492d Bombardment Group, based at Kirtland Field, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 17 October 1945.-History:...
(B-17) (9A) - 788th Bombardment Squadron --> 859th Bombardment Squadron859th Bombardment SquadronThe 859th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the United States Strategic Air Forces, based at Bari Airfield, Italy...
(B-17) (X4)
After the units were redesignated, the squadrons attached to the 801st were returned to their previous units without personnel or equipment.
The Group ceased Carpetbagger missions on 16 September 1944 to haul gasoline to advancing mechanized forces in France and Belgium, along with attacking airfields, oil refineries, seaports, and other targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany until February 1945. In October three of the 492d's squadrons, the 857th, 858th, and 859th, transitioned to night bombing operations. This proved to be a difficult transition, since the aircraft had been modified by the removal of the original bomb shackles and the oxygen systems. By mid-November, Headquarters, Eighth Air Force decided that the Carpetbagger aircraft just were not suitable and finally allocated oxygen-equipped B-24s for the new mission. The night bombing force of the 492nd became known as the "Black Liberators."
On 17 December, the 859th was deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Mediterranean Theater of Operations
The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army was originally called North African Theater of Operations and is an American term for the conflict that took place between the Allies and Axis Powers in North Africa and Italy during World War II...
to perform special operations missions with Fifteenth Air Force
Fifteenth Air Force
The Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force is one of two EMTFs assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command . It is headquartered at Travis Air Force Base, California....
. The squadron remained attached to a provisional group in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for the balance of the war.
The 492d returned to clandestine "Carpetbagger" operations over Germany and German-occupied territory, using B-24, A-26, and British Mosquito aircraft in March 1945 to drop leaflets, demolition equipment, and agents. The Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for these operations, performed at night despite adverse weather and vigorous opposition from enemy ground forces. The 492d was also cited by the French government for similar operations over France in 1944.
The unit flew its last Carpetbagger mission in April 1945 and then ferried personnel and equipment to and from the Continent until July. It returned to Sioux Falls AAFld, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
during July and August 1945, and was redesignated as a B-29 (Very Heavy) group to be used over Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. However, the Japanese surrender canceled those plans and the Group was inactivated in October.
RAF Bomber Command Thor Missile use
After the war, Harrington gradually fell into disuse returning to farmland. However the base received a new lease of life when it was selected to become one of the RAF's Thor missile sites in 1958. Three rocket launch pads were constructed together with ancillary buildings, the whole area being declared top security, fenced off and floodlighted.The IRBM WS-315A missile system had a range of 1500 nautical miles (2,778 km) and was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation during 1955-56. Deployment with RAF Bomber Command began in December 1958 before being phased out with the advent of the manned V-bombers in 1963.
Civil use
With the deactivation of the Thor missiles, Harringon was returned to agriculture. Almost all of the concreted areas of the airfield were removed for hardcore. Today, with the exception of some single-tracked agricultural roads that outline the former perimeter track, there is very little left of Harrington airfield, although the three Thor Missile launch pads are still clearly visible.Carpetbagger Aviation Museum
Founded in 1993, the Carpetbagger Aviation Museum is dedicated to the history of RAF Harrington and the 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional). Other displays include the secret work of the Special Operations ExecutiveSpecial Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
at RAF Tempsford
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire, England was perhaps the most secret Royal Air Force airfield in World War II. It was home to the Special Duties Squadrons, No. 138, which dropped Special Operations Executive agents and their supplies into occupied Europe, and No...
, the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
use of Thor missiles at RAF Harrington, and the Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
.
The museum also includes the Northants Aviation Society Museum, which features remains of recovered World War II aircraft, life on the home front, military equipment and memorabilia.