TF9905 : Headquarters site at RAF Shipdham - mural
taken 10 years ago, near to Letton Green, Norfolk, England
Constructed in 1941/42, Shipdham airfield was the first US heavy bomber base in Norfolk and from September 1942 to June 1945 it was also the location of the headquarters of the 14th Combat Bombardment Wing, 2nd Air Division, VIII Bomber Command (later the Eighth Air Force).
The first unit to use the airfield was the 319th Bombardment Group (Medium), followed in October 1942 by the 44th BG (Heavy).
Between 1946 and 1947, the airfield was used as a transit centre for German POWs en route from the United States for repatriation to Germany. By 1963 all of the airfield had been sold and in the summer of 1970 part of it was re-opened to private flying. An industrial estate occupies the south-eastern part.
See also: Link
During WW2 the US Army Air Force (USAAF) occupied many of the aerodromes in East Anglia. In their spare time some of the servicemen decorated the walls of the buildings they lived and spent some time in with graffiti and murals. The 'noses' of many of their aircraft too were often embellished with paintings and, presumably to boost morale, bombing missions flown and downed enemy aircraft were recorded by either painting bombs or swastikas, often several rows of them, onto their aircraft. Others drew personal mission boards onto the walls of their barracks huts. Skillfully executed paintings depicting aircraft, semi-clad women, cartoon characters or landscape scenes have also been recorded. Some of this wartime artwork has been preserved in restored buildings and some has been extracted and is now on display in museums, but much remains in situ, often unrecorded, deteriorating in decades-old damp buildings and sadly, a lot has already been lost.