RAF Polebrook
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RAF Polebrook USAAF Station 110  .png)
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RAF Polebrook - August, 1948
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator |
Royal Air Force 1941-1942, 1959-1963 United States Army Air Forces 1942-1945 |
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| Location | Oundle, Northamptonshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1941-1948,1959-1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 230 ft / 70 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°28′08″N 000°23′25″W / 52.46889°N 0.39028°WCoordinates: 52°28′08″N 000°23′25″W / 52.46889°N 0.39028°W | ||||||||||||||||||
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 RAF Polebrook
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Royal Air Force Station Polebrook or more simply RAF Polebrook is a former Royal Air Force station located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in August 1940.
It was from Polebrook that the United States Army Air Forces' Eighth Air Force carried out its first heavy bomb group (Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress) combat mission on 17 August 1942, and from which Major Clark Gable flew combat missions in 1943.
RAF Polebrook was the first airfield to be completed out of a number in the Northamptonshire/Huntingdonshire area which were laid down for RAF Bomber Command during late 1940 and early 1941.
Like other airfields in the construction program at the time, Polebrook was built by George Wimpey & Co., Limited. The initial construction was of three runways, the concrete runway lengths were 08-26 at 1,280 yards, 14-32 at 1,200 yards and 02-20, 1,116 yards. In addition, thirty square hardstands most on the eastern side, were reached by very long access tracks.
The weapons store was unusual in that it lay within the perimeter track at the southern end. One Type J and two Type T-2 hangars were erected on the technical site outside the northern perimeter with the domestic sites dispersed in woodland beyond.
One of the first units to operate from the airfield was No. 90 Squadron RAF, which carried out operational trials from June 1941 to February 1942. Several of the hardstands and taxiways were still under construction when the squadron arrived.
No. 90 Squadron was equipped with the American B-17C, called "Fortress 1" by the RAF. Although the US Army Air Forces did not consider the B-17C as being combat ready (the E-version was already under procurement as the result of combat reports from Europe), the RAF was sufficiently desperate in 1941 that these planes were immediately pressed into front-line service.
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