RAF Upottery

50.8856, -3.1612 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Upottery, also called Smeatharpe, opened on the Devon–Somerset border in 1944 as a United States Army Air Forces base, Station 462. It was home to the 439th Troop Carrier Group, whose Douglas C-47 Skytrains carried paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division to Normandy on the night before D-Day and later towed gliders and flew supply and casualty-evacuation missions. After the Americans left the airfield saw further transport and naval use; the site has largely returned to farmland, with some wartime buildings surviving.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including RAF Upottery — Wikipedia and Upottery — Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

Geograph caption : "A Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Dakota), one of 82 that operated from this airfield during D-Night 5/6th June 1944, stands towards the western end of the usable section of the main runway at Upottery 63 years after it was based here. It had been flown in for an air and fun day organised by the South west Airfields Heritage Trust. A re-enactment group was on hand to replicate a scene from the film the 'Band of Brothers'. Some of the Group's members stand in front of the aircraft, which is painted in its original 1944 markings of 92nd TCS, 439th TCG, complete with D-Day stripes."
ⓘ licence & creditMac Hawkins / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C-47_Skytrain_(Dakota)_at_Upottery_airfield_-_geograph.org.uk_-_536498.jpgView source & full licence →
C-47 of 94th Troop Carrier Squadron, in the markings of Maj. Charles. Young, C.O. of the 439th TCG, RAF Upottery, England, 1944. This aircraft is displayed in the Museum in St. Mere Eglise, Normandy.
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:94tcs-c471.jpgView source & full licence →
C-47 of the 91st Troop Carrier Squadron, 439th Troop Carrier Group, Upottery Airfield England.
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:91tcs-c472.jpgView source & full licence →
C-47 of the 91st Troop Carrier Squadron, Upottery Airfield England.
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:91tcs-c471.jpgView source & full licence →
Aerial photograph of Upottery Airfield, England.
ⓘ licence & creditBritish Government / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Upottery-22apr44.jpgView source & full licence →

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