Qualla: RAF Deopham Green

RAF Deopham Green: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit British Government, Public domain. On 9 November 1944, First Lieutenant Donald Gott was flying his B-17 Flying Fortress toward a target in Germany when anti-aircraft fire killed three of his four engines. A fire started in the cockpit. The radio operator and engineer were both seriously wounded, the radio operator unconscious from blood loss. The Fortress was bomb-laden, on fire, and could explode at any moment. Gott conferred with his co-pilot, Second Lieutenant William E. Metzger Jr., about what to do. Their answer was unanimous: continue to the target. They dropped their bombs. Then Gott pointed the crippled bomber toward Allied lines, hoping to put it down in a field and save the unconscious radio operator. Metzger was ordered to bail out with the rest of the crew. He refused. As Gott set up his approach to land, the B-17 exploded in mid-air, killing both officers and the man they had stayed to save. Both received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

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Image: British Government | Public domain

RAF Deopham Green: Square L from Walla Walla

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit assumed USAAF, Public domain. RAF Deopham Green opened on 3 January 1944, built across former Norfolk farmland 2 miles north of Attleborough. It was Station 142, home to the 452nd Bombardment Group (Heavy), which had arrived from Walla Walla Army Air Field in Washington state. Their tail code was a Square L; ...

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Image: assumed USAAF | Public domain

RAF Deopham Green: Brunswick to Schweinfurt

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Laborne, CC BY 2.0. The 452nd entered combat on 5 February 1944 with an attack on aircraft assembly plants at Brunswick. They went on to bomb the marshalling yards at Frankfurt, aircraft assembly plants at Regensburg, aircraft component works at Kassel, the notorious ball-bearing industry at Schwein...

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Image: Peter Laborne | CC BY 2.0

RAF Deopham Green: D-Day and the Bulge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit British Government, Public domain. Strategic bombing was the group's primary mission, but the war on the ground reshaped their schedule whenever Allied infantry needed help. Before D-Day, the 452nd hit airfields, V-weapon sites, and bridges across France. On 6 June 1944 they struck the coastal defenses guarding th...

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Image: British Government | Public domain

RAF Deopham Green: Last Mission, Long Memory

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit British Government, Public domain. The 452nd flew its final combat mission on 21 April 1945, striking marshalling yards at Ingolstadt. By the end of August it was back at Sioux Falls Army Airfield in South Dakota and inactivated. The Norfolk airfield was handed to RAF Maintenance Command on 9 October 1945 as the h...

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Image: British Government | Public domain

RAF Deopham Green: Three Memorials

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hans A. Rosbach, CC BY-SA 3.0. There are three places where Deopham Green is remembered. One memorial stands beside the road that runs through the old airfield. Another is outside Hingham Church. A third stands at Attleborough railway station, where so many American airmen first arrived in Norfolk and where th...

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Image: Hans A. Rosbach | CC BY-SA 3.0