RAF Boxted

RAF Boxted, near Colchester in Essex, opened in May 1943 and for most of the war served as an American fighter and bomber base rather than an RAF Bomber Command station. Its first occupants were the medium bombers of the USAAF’s 386th Bombardment Group, flying Martin B-26 Marauders through the summer of 1943.

From late 1943 the airfield passed to fighter units. The 354th Fighter Group flew North American P-51 Mustangs from Boxted on long-range bomber-escort duties, work that earned the group a Distinguished Unit Citation; it was while leading from here that Colonel James H. Howard carried out the lone defence of a bomber formation that brought him the Medal of Honor in January 1944. The 354th was succeeded by the 56th Fighter Group with its Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, the highest-scoring fighter group of the Eighth Air Force and home to leading ace Francis Gabreski. An emergency rescue squadron also operated Thunderbolts from the station.

After the Americans departed, Boxted returned to RAF control, hosting fighter squadrons flying de Havilland Mosquitoes and Gloster Meteor jets before closing on 9 August 1947. The land reverted largely to agriculture, and the site is today remembered by the Boxted Airfield Museum, with limited light flying continuing nearby.