Monument Details

356th Fighter Group Monument

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Details:

Beside a parking lot, on the west side of the road. There are 3 monuments here, the first from the left lists the names of the Americans that belong to the 356^th FG who were killed while stationed at Martlesham Heath; the second is a record of the wartime service of RAF comrades (unveiled in 1990), and a third provides some details of the bases’ history.

Monument

A stone pillar with a bronze tablet bearing an inscription. Depicted on the top left corner of the plaque is the 8^th Air Force insignia. The plaque is inscribed in English in white lettering. This monument along with 2 other monuments is surmounted atop a brick mound that is accessible by two steps and enclosed within a chain-linked barrier.

RAF Martlesham Heath was opened in May 1943 and was first used by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force 356th Fighter Group, arriving from RAF Goxhill on 5 October 1943. The group was under the command of the 67th Fighter Wing of the VIII Fighter Command. Aircraft of the 356th were identified by a magenta/blue diamond pattern around their cowling.

The group consisted of the following squadrons:

359th Fighter Squadron (OC)
360th Fighter Squadron (PI)
361st Fighter Squadron (QI)

The 356th FG served in combat from October 1943, participating in operations that prepared for the invasion of the Continent, and supporting the landings in Normandy and the subsequent Allied drive across France and Germany.

The group flew Republic P-47 Thunderbolts until they were replaced by North American P-51 Mustangs in November 1944. From October 1943 until January 1944, they operated as escorts for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress/Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers that attacked such objectives as industrial areas, missile sites, airfields, and communications.

Fighters from the 356th engaged primarily in bombing and strafing missions after 3 January 1944, with their targets including U-boat installations, barges, shipyards, aerodromes, hangars, marshaling yards, locomotives, trucks, oil facilities, flak towers, and radar stations. Bombed and strafed in the Arnhem area on 17, 18, and 23 September 1944 to neutralize enemy gun emplacements, and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for this contribution to the airborne attack on the Netherlands.

The group flew its last combat mission, escorting B-17's dropping propaganda leaflets, on 7 May 1945. It returned to Camp Kilmer New Jersey and was inactivated on 10 November 1945.

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

Source of photos: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, the-past.com

Monument Text:

Front:

IN	THEIR LIVES
	DURING THE WAR
	1939 TO 1945
GRATEFUL	THIS PLAQUE IS
MEMORY OF	ERECTED BY
THE MEMBERS	THEIR BRITISH
OF THE		FRIENDS
356 th		TO COM-
FIGHT-		MEMOR-
ER		ATE THE
GROUP		STAY
U.S.A.A.F		OF THE
FROM		U.S.A.A.F.
THIS		AT
STATION		MARTLE-
WHO		SHAM
GAVE		HEATH