This is a sunken circular concrete type of pillbox used specifically on airfields. When not in use it remained flush with the surface, allowing the movement of aircraft. In the event of attack however it could be manned and raised to give defending fire. The specimen seen here can be found at the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum at Thorpe Abbotts to where it has been relocated from Martlesham Heath.
The Nissen hut seen in the background is called the Sad Sack Shack; it houses displays.
The airfield has long since been returned to agriculture and the farmers make use of the concrete tracks and hardstandings. During WWII the village of Thorpe Abbotts became home to an airbase with the designation 139, Thorpe Abbotts. It was built in 1942 for the RAF by John Laing & Sons Ltd but was handed over to the Americans. The 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived in June 1943 when construction work was barely finished. The unit bombed airfields, industries, marshalling yards, and missile sites in western Europe and completed a series of attacks against Berlin in March 1944. The 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum, dedicated to the USAAF's famous 'Bloody Hundredth' Bomb Group of WWII, is housed in the original airfield control tower near Thorpe Abbotts:
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Archive Link ) . The airfield consisted of 50 hardstandings, three intersecting runways and it had two T-2 hangars which were erected adjacent to the technical site.
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