A few steps to the south of the Norfolk Gliding Club building.

An upright, black, stone tablet with etching of warplane on the top followed by dedication message that is inscribed in English in white and incised lettering then followed by 2 roundels on the bottom corners. It is set in a paved plot with a low stone wall surround. 

During the war, Tibenham airfield was occupied by the American Eighth Air Force. The first aircraft of the 445th Bomb Group arrived in 1943, with their mission being the precise daylight bombing of targets in Germany, in support of the night bombing activities of the Royal Air Force. The 445th flew 280 missions and 6,323 sorties. 576 airmen were killed in action and a total of 138 bomber aircraft were lost. Their final mission was carried out on 25th April 1945.

The Royal Air Force took over the airfield in July 1945, and in 1952 parts were sold off to local landowners. In 1955 the main runway was lengthened to take jet aircraft but no units were assigned to the base, and Tibenham was finally closed as an air force base in 1959. The Air Ministry sold the airfield to a local farmer. The control tower was used as a clubhouse but whilst the Norfolk Gliding Club continued to pay rent for the use of part of the airfield, the landowner had plans for the demolition of the hangars and control tower as well as the digging up and sale of the dispersals and perimeter track. A regular Sunday market was started on the airfield with consequential operational and safety problems. After lengthy negotiations, the club in 1987 finally managed to buy 32 acres of concrete and 22 acres of arable land, and when in 1990 the remainder of the airfield site was offered for sale the club purchased this too. The two agricultural buildings included in the purchase were dismantled and rebuilt and presently serve as an additional hangar for powered aircraft and motor gliders.

Source of information: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk, Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, www.geograph.org.uk

Source of photo: Andy Laing of flickr.com

445TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H)

2ND COMBAT WING. 2ND AIR DIVISION

8TH UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

4TH NOVEMBER 1943 TO 28TH MAY 1945

FROM THIS AIRFIELD THE 445TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP LAUNCHED

280 MISSIONS AND FLEW 6323 SORTIES

THIS MEMORIAL IS HUMBLY DEDICATED TO THE 445TH BOMB GROUP

IN MEMORY OF THOSE AIRMEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

AND THOSE WHO SERVED FIGHTING

FOR THE LIBERATION OF EUROPE DURING WORLD WAR II.

700TH BS 701ST BS                            702ND BS 703RD BS