RAF Glatton

RAF Glatton USAAF Station 130
Located Near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England
Aerial photograph of Glatton airfield, 9 May 1944. Photograph taken by the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group.
RAF Glatton RAF Glatton, shown within Cambridgeshire
Coordinates	52°27′58″N 000°15′07″W / 52.46611°N 0.25194°W / 52.46611; -0.25194Coordinates: 52°27′58″N 000°15′07″W / 52.46611°N 0.25194°W / 52.46611; -0.25194
Type	Royal Air Force station
Code	GT
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Controlled by	Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built	1943
In use	1943 (1943)-1948 (1948)
Battles/wars	European Theatre of World War II Air Offensive, Europe July 1942 - May 1945
Garrison information
Garrison	Eighth Air Force RAF Bomber Command
Occupants	457th Bombardment Group No. 3 Group RAF

Royal Air Force Glatton or more simply RAF Glatton is a former Royal Air Force station located 10 miles (16 km) north of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England.

Glatton Airfield was built mostly in the parish of Conington by the United States Army 809th Engineer Battalion (Aviation) starting in the fall of 1942 and throughout 1943. It was built on farmland owned by the Rose Court Farm, which remained a working farm inside the airfield's three runways that surrounded the buildings of the farm during the war.

When completed in late 1943, the facility was placed under the jurisdiction of the Eighth Air Force, United States Army Air Forces. Glatton was assigned USAAF designation Station 130.

USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Glatton were:

The airfield was first used by the 457th Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Wendover AAF, Utah on 21 January 1944. The 457th was assigned to the 94th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bombardment Division. Its tail code was Triangle U.

The 457th Bomb Group consisted of the following operational squadrons flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses :

The 457th Bomb Group flew its first combat mission on 21 February 1944 during Big Week, taking part in the concentrated attacks of heavy bombers on the German aircraft industry. Until June 1944, the Group engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets, such as ball-bearing plants, aircraft factories, and oil refineries in Germany and Occupied Europe.

The Group bombed targets in Occupied France during the first week of June 1944 in preparation for the Normandy invasion, and attacked coastal defenses along the Cherbourg peninsula on D-Day in support of airborne forces who had landed on the peninsula. It struck airfields, railroads, fuel depots, and other interdictory targets behind the invasion beaches throughout the remainder of the month.