To the right in front of the 491^st Bombardment Group monument.

A black square plaque set into the pavement inscribed in English in gold lettering. The plaque commemorates the 353^rd Fighter Group, the Carpetbaggers, and the Metfield bomb dump explosion.

The 353^rd Fighter Group

The first American occupants of Metfield was the 353rd Fighter Group, moving in from RAF Goxhill on 3 August 1943. The 353rd was assigned to the 66th Fighter Wing, at Sawston Hall, Cambridge. Operational squadrons of the 353d were:

• 350th Fighter Squadron (LH)
• 351st Fighter Squadron (YJ)
• 352nd Fighter Squadron (SX)

Group markings were black, yellow, black, yellow spinners, with a 48-inch black and yellow check band around the cowling to the end of the exhaust stubs.

Equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolts, operations commenced on 12 August 1943. It was the fourth P-47 unit to join the Eighth Air Force. From Metfield the 353rd flew numerous counter-air missions and provided escort for bombers that attacked targets in western Europe, made counter-air sweeps over France and the Low Countries, and dive-bombed targets in France. On 12 April 1944, the 353rd moved to RAF Raydon.

The Carpetbaggers

With losses continuing to climb and talk of a jinxed group spreading, an order came through on August 5th, 1944 for the 492nd to withdraw from combat missions and take over ‘Carpetbagger‘ operations previously being performed by the 801st at RAF Harrington. Operation Carpetbagger was an operation to provide an aerial supply of weapons and other matériel to resistance fighters in France, Italy, and the Low Countries by the U.S. Army Air Forces that began on 4 January 1944. This order would not end the 492nd’s increasing casualties though. 

Finally, on 7th August after the last mission that day, a movement began. A reshuffle of numbers and crews was in reality the disbandment of the 492nd, the crews and ground staff being spread far and wide and the 492nd name being transferred to an already well-established unit – the 801st. The loss of this personnel gave North Pickenham a short respite from the rigors of war. But it would only be short. Within a few days, a conflict would return as yet another B-24 unit, the 491st Bomb Group, would move in.

Originally designated to reside at North Pickenham, they were instead directed to RAF Metfield, primarily due to the immense progress that the 492nd had made in their training program.

The Metfield bomb dump explosion

The Metfield explosion was on July 15, 1944, at 7:30 pm, where there was a major explosion at the Metfield bomb dump. Some soldiers from the 2218th Quartermaster Truck Company arrived to deliver the bombs. When they arrived they were impatient to discover that soldiers at the dump who operated the hoist were on a meal break, and decided to unload the bombs without the crane. However these bombs were more sensitive than previous munitions: when they used a previously successful technique to drop the bombs off the back of the truck, one bomb landed on another and they both exploded. A chain reaction led to 1,200 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs exploding, shaking the countryside for a radius of several miles. Six men were killed. Three soldiers, Privates Donald P. Adkins, Donald L. Hurley, and Steve W. Suchey are memorialized at Cambridge American Cemetery as missing in action. 5 B-24's in nearby hardstands were severely damaged beyond repair. An additional six aircraft were severely damaged. There is an eyewitness account of being blown flat 3.5 miles away from the explosion.

After the explosion, an extended loop road was built to bypass the crater left by the explosion. The crater subsequently became a dump for all manner of discarded items.

Source of information: geograph.co.uk, en.wikipedia.org

Source of photo: geograph.co.uk

ALSO IN MEMORY OF 

353RD FIGHTER GROUP

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THE CARPETBAGGERS

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THE BOMB DUMP

EXPLOSION

JULY 15TH 1944