According to local knowledge, the derelict Nissen huts nestling in a small woodland located between Billingford and Thorpe Abbotts are associated with the site of a nearby WWII airfield A closer look around the camp site reveals that there are about 10 very dilapidated Nissen huts still standing. All have identical interior layouts and most have wooden ends, but some do have brick walls. There are also a number of overgrown brick-built blast shelters, mainly situated around the perimeter of the site.
There used to be some seventy such sites spread across East Anglia, which for two years during World War II had become launch pads for USAAF's bombing raids into occupied Europe. Each airfield was home to 2000-3000 airmen, most of them volunteers. These sites became known as 'the fields of Little America' - and this is part of one of them.
Thorpe Abbotts airfield was built in 1942/43 for the RAF (as a satellite airfield for RAF Horham). During the war it was home to the 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and given the USAAF designation 'Station 139'. After the war the field was transferred back to the RAF. It closed in 1956 and has since been returned to agricultural use. The cluster of Nissen huts quietly decaying in a nearby woodland once formed the airfield's Sub-Depot. (One of the huts was reportedly removed later and shipped to the "Mighty Eighth Heritage Centre" in Savannah, Georgia.)
After the war, these huts were converted into private dwellings comprising living area, kitchen and bedroom. They served as homes to those who had lost theirs during the war.
This is the only building still standing on the site of the 350th Air Refueling Squadron. It is located on the edge of a private woodland, across the field from the sub-depot site.
There used to be some seventy such sites spread across East Anglia, which for two years during World War II had become launch pads for USAAF's bombing raids into occupied Europe. Each airfield was home to 2000-3000 airmen, most of them volunteers. These sites became known as 'the fields of Little America' - and this is part of one of them.
Thorpe Abbotts airfield was built in 1942/43 for the RAF (as a satellite airfield for RAF Horham). During the war it was home to the 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and given the USAAF designation 'Station 139'. After the war the field was transferred back to the RAF. It closed in 1956 and has since been returned to agricultural use. The cluster of Nissen huts quietly decaying in a nearby woodland once formed the airfield's Sub-Depot. (One of the huts was reportedly removed later and shipped to the "Mighty Eighth Heritage Centre" in Savannah, Georgia.)
After the war, these huts were converted into private dwellings comprising living area, kitchen and bedroom. They served as homes to those who had lost theirs during the war.
This is the only building still standing on the site of the 350th Air Refueling Squadron. It is located on the edge of a private woodland, across the field from the sub-depot site.