RAF East Wretham

RAF East Wretham USAAF Station 133
Located Near Thetford, Norfolk, England
East Wretham Airfield - 5 February 1946
RAF East Wretham RAF East Wretham, shown within Norfolk
Coordinates	52°28′10.92″N 000°49′15.70″E / 52.4697000°N 0.8210278°E / 52.4697000; 0.8210278
Type	Military airfield
Code	UT
Site information
Controlled by	Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces British Army
Site history
Built	1940
In use	1940-1946 as airfield now part of STANTA
Battles/wars	European Theatre of World War II Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945
Garrison information
Garrison	RAF Bomber Command Eighth Air Force

Royal Air Force East Wretham or more simply RAF East Wretham is a former Royal Air Force station located 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Thetford, Norfolk, England.

East Wretham airfield was hurriedly brought into service during the early years of World War II as a satellite airfield with No. 311 (Czech) Squadron dispersed there from RAF Honington on 29 July 1940. A more permanent allocation followed in September. The squadron operated their bombers from the airfield until April 1942 when it transferred to Coastal Command. Later, RAF Bomber Command No. 115 Squadron RAF, operating Vickers Wellington Mk IIIs and later Avro Lancasters, occupied the airfield from November 1942.

A plan to turn East Wretham into a "Class A" airfield was not carried through, the bomber unit moved to Little Snoring and the station turned over to the USAAF for fighter operations.

In October 1943, East Wretham was assigned USAAF designation Station 133 and was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force.

USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF East Wretham were:

The first American tenants at East Wretham were the 359th Fighter Group, being reassigned from Westover AAF Massachusetts. The group was under the command of the 67th Fighter Wing of the VIII Fighter Command. Aircraft of the 359th were identified by green around their cowlings and tails.

The group consisted of the following squadrons:

The 359th FG entered combat in mid-December 1943 after some of the pilots had already flown combat missions with another fighter group. It began operations with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, later converting to North American P-51 Mustangs in April 1944. In combat the group flew escort, patrol, strafing, dive-bombing, and weather-reconnaissance missions. At first, it was engaged primarily in escort activities to cover Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers that attacked airfields in France, and later expanded their area of operations to provide escort for bombers that struck rail centers in Germany and oil targets in Poland.