A few steps away, to the southeast side of the museum.

A large granite tablet with two incised inscriptions, between which, is a plaque with English and raised inscription. Engraved on the top corners of the tablet are the insignias of the 8^th Air Force and the 306^th Bombardment Group. The tablet is surmounted on a rectangular sectioned plinth on a single-stepped granite base. The memorial stands in a paved area with seats on either side, a path leading up to it, and flagpoles on either side.

Thurleigh was one of 28 fields listed for use by the U.S. Eighth Air Force on 4 June 1942, tentatively designated station B-4, and was allocated on 10 August 1942. The RAF had found that the initial construction of Thurleigh was inadequate for the combat weight of B-24 bombers. After the departure of the RAF, Thurleigh's runways were lengthened, increased in thickness, and additional hardstands were constructed to Class A standards so it could accommodate a USAAF heavy bomber group.

From 16 September 1943 through 25 June 1945, Thurleigh served as headquarters for the 40th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bomb Division

With the essential construction completed, the 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy) deployed to Thurleigh on 7 September 1942 from Wendover AAF Utah. The 306th was assigned to the 40th Combat Wing also at Thurleigh. The group tail code was a "Triangle H". Its operational squadrons were:

• 367th Bombardment Squadron (GY)
• 368th Bombardment Squadron (BO)
• 369th Bombardment Squadron (WW)
• 423d Bombardment Squadron (RD)

The group flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and remained at Thurleigh until 1 December 1945. That was the longest tenure of any U.S. air group at a UK base.

At Thurleigh, the group operated primarily against strategic targets initially in occupied France and the Low Countries, then later in Germany. The group struck locomotive works at Lille, railway yards at Rouen, submarine pens at Bordeaux, shipbuilding yards at Vegesack, ball-bearing works at Schweinfurt, oil plants at Merseburg, marshaling yards at Stuttgart, a foundry at Hannover, a chemical plant at Ludwigshafen, aircraft factories at Leipzig, and numerous other targets on the Continent.

The 306th led the Eighth Air Force on its first mission to bomb a target in Germany on 27 January 1943, attacking U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven, and suffered severe losses in attacks on Bremen on 16 April 1943, and Schweinfurt, 17 August 1943.

On 11 January 1944, without fighter escort and in the face of strong opposition, the 306th was part of a 1st Bombardment Division mission against aircraft factories in central Germany in which all groups were awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. The 306th Bomb Group received a second DUC during Big Week, the intensive campaign against the German aircraft industry, when it effectively bombed an aircraft assembly plant at Bernberg on 22 February 1944, after poor weather forced other groups to abandon the mission.

The 306th Bomb Group flew its 342nd and final mission[8] on 19 April 1945, the most of any Eighth Air Force B-17 unit except the 303rd Bomb Group. It compiled 9,614 sorties; dropped 22,575 tons of bombs; and had 171 B-17's fail to return from missions.

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

Source of photos: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register

ALWAYS FIRST

IN HONOR OF

AIR, GROUND AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL OF

STATION 111 (U.S. 8TH ARMY AIR FORCE).

FROM THIS BASE DURING THE YEARS 1942-45

THE 306TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (HEAVY)

CARRIED OUT 341 DAYLIGHT BOMBING

MISSIONS AGAINST FORTRESS EUROPE.

SOME RETURNED, OTHERS DID NOT.

ALL SERVED AND FOUGHT FOR FREEDOM.

FIRST USAAF UNIT OVER GERMANY