05 Jun 306th Bombardment Group Museum
On Saturday morning May 5th, we drove three miles from the Queen’s Head Hotel to the Thurleigh Airfield. Finally, we were here … just a short distance north of London … at the site of the airfield where the Liberty Lady crew flew from the end of 1943 until March 6, 1944. They were there barely four months, in the dead of winter, but so much happened!
Later that day I had to ask someone what was growing in the spectacular yellow fields all along the country roads. What we were seeing were crops of rapeseed used, among other things, for the production of vegetable oil. Here are some aerial photographs.
As I looked out over the grassy fields I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what this area was like in the early and mid 1940’s …
Just inside the entrance to Bedford Technology Park, secure with guard and gate. is the 306th BG Museum.
Driving in it was at first hard to envision how it had been … ala Twelve O’ Clock High … but once we were out of the car we could gaze across the grassy fields with the distant hangar still standing. We were right there, at the site of the original RAF, and then beginning in 1942 the 306th BG of the 8th Air Force, “Thurleigh Airfield.” (Pronounced I am told, Thir-lye, not Thir-lee.)
The 306th: the oldest operational bomb group in the 8th Air Force. Stationed in England and at one base, longer than any other group. First over Germany.
As we walked from the parking lot to the World War II-era building, we noticed what we learned is the Bedford Autodrome, a track for high-performance road cars. And later on, there were plenty of them, beautiful cars driving the track.
But first thing in the morning (we arrived just as the museum opened!) it was very quiet and once inside we became lost in the old photographs, the artifacts, and the life-sized vignettes of men and women in uniform. Owner and curator Ralph Franklin with his wife Daphne were wonderful hosts and spent hours going over pictures and maps. When he was growing up Ralph’s family lived at the end of the runway. The airmen would lift him over the fence and let him go up into the B-17’s. Well, he never forgot it. He worked for 38 years at the airfield and then retired to create the museum in an old weapons storage building.
The museum is open weekends but not during the coldest part of the year. (Remember though, B-17’s were flying all through the winter!) Contact Ralph if there are special groups who want to come by some other time.
In July, the museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary. This is the only museum dedicated to a USAAF bomber group so even if you’re not connected to the 306th it’s well worth a visit.
Before we left Ralph gave my son Johnny and I directions to a couple of nearby pubs frequented by the airmen. First, we drove up a nearby road to see where the barracks had been. They were away from the actual airfield, scattered about in case of an enemy bombing raid. In fact, we found a couple of the old bomb shelters, still intact …a reminder of the constant vigilance required of everyone.
In October I plan to attend the 306th BG’s annual reunion in Savannah. Ralph and Daphne will be there (they come over every year!)
If you’re on Facebook and have a connection to the 306th please consider joining the Facebook Group 306th Bomber Group – First over Germany.
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