RAF Hethel

RAF Hethel was built in 1942 on farmland about seven miles south-west of Norwich and given to the United States Army Air Forces as Station 114. After early use as a staging field for medium-bomber groups bound for North Africa, it became from June 1943 the home of the 389th Bombardment Group — the “Sky Scorpions” — flying B-24 Liberators. The group took part in the low-level Ploesti raid of 1 August 1943, on which Second Lieutenant Lloyd H. Hughes was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, and it remained at Hethel through to the end of the war in Europe, the airfield also serving as headquarters of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing. When the Americans departed in 1945 the station briefly housed Polish Mustang squadrons of the RAF before closing in 1948.

Hethel’s afterlife is unusual among wartime airfields: in 1966 it was bought by Lotus Cars, and Colin Chapman’s sports-car and Formula One works grew up on the old technical site. The original perimeter track and runways were turned into a vehicle test track that is still in use today, while a memorial museum on the site commemorates the 389th Bombardment Group.