RAF Molesworth

RAF Molesworth is a Royal Air Force military base at Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom with a history dating back to 1917. It is one of three bases in Cambridgeshire currently occupied by the United States Air Force; RAF Molesworth, RAF Alconbury, and RAF Upwood are considered the Tri-Base Area.

Early history

The Royal Flying Corps selected a site for an airfield near the village of Old Weston in Cambridgeshire during World War I. The first flying unit to arrive at the base was 75 Squadron. It remained at this airfield until the end of the war. After the war, the airfield was abandoned. Some of the buildings were taken over by the surrounding farms with many of them still in use today.

World War II

RAF Use

At the start of World War II the Air Ministry selected the area as the site for what would become RAF Molesworth. The base was built in 1940 and 1941. The first unit, 460 Squadron, formed at the base on 15 November 1941 with Vickers Wellington IVs. 460 Squadron departed the field on 4 January 1942. 159 Squadron moved in shortly afterwards, however this unit did not remain long, moving to the Middle East on 12 January.

Molesworth was one of the early Eighth Air Force stations assinged to the United States Army Air Force, and during 1942 the facility had all its runways extended to American specifications for heavy 4-engined bombers, with the main being 2,000 yards long and increasing the number of hardstands to fifty. It was given USAAF designation as Station 107.

USAAF Use

15th Bombardment Squadron

The first USAAF tennant on Molesworth was the 15th Bombardment Squadron, arriving on 9 June 1942, flying the British Boston III light bomber. The 15th was originally part of the 27th Bombardment Group (Light), based in the Philippine Islands, however the group's planes (A-24's), did not arrive by 7 December 1941. Due to the deteriorating situation in the Philippines after the Japanese attack, they were diverted to Australia.

The group's commander and 20 pilots who were flown from Luzon to Australia to get the aircraft but did not return because their airfield was overrun. The men were first transferred back to the United States, then to Molesworth where they recieved their Bostons from the RAF No. 226 Squadron

On Independence Day, July 4, 1942, six American crews joined six RAF crews from RAF Swanton Morley for a low-level attack on Luftwaffe airfields in the Netherlands. The 15th flew most of its missions from Molesworth in its Bostons, and did not recieve USAAF aircraft until 5 September. The squadron was transferred to RAF Podington until 15 September where it flew a few missions before being transferred to Twelfth Air Force for support of Allied landings in North Africa on 15 October 1942.

303d Bombardment Group

With the departure of the 15th Bomb Squadron, Molesworth was occupied by the B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 358th Bombardment Squadron, the first of four squadrons that would comprise the 303d Bombardment Group. The 303d would remain at Molesworth until shortly after V-E Day in late May 1945.

The 303d Bombardment Group consisted of the following squadrons:

• 358th Bombardment (Code VK)
• 359th Bombardment (Code BN)
• 360th Bombardment (Code PU)
• 427th Bombardment (Code GN)

The 358th flew the first mission for the group on 17 November 1942. The group would become one of the legendary units of the Eighth Air Force. Initally missions were conducted against targets such as airdromes, railroads, and submarine pens in France until 1943, then flying missions into Germany itself. The 303d Took part in the first penetration into Germany by heavy bombers of Eighth AF by striking the U-boat yard at Wilhelmshaven on 27 January 1943 then attacked other targets such as the ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, shipbuilding yards at Bremen, a synthetic rubber plant at Huls, an aircraft engine factory at Hamburg, industrial areas of Frankfurt, an airdrome at Villacoublay, and a marshalling yard at Le Mans.

The 303d received a Distinguished Unit Citation for an operation on 11 January 1944 when, in spite of continuous attacks by enemy fighters in weather that prevented effective fighter cover from reaching the group, it successfully struck an aircraft assembly plant at Oschersleben.

The group attacked gun emplacements and bridges in the Pas de Calais area during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944; bombed enemy troops to support the breakthrough at St Lo in July 1944. It struck airfields, oil depots, and other targets during the Battle of the Bulge, and bombed military installations in the Wesel area to aid the Allied assault across the Rhine in March 1945

The last mission for the 303d was flown on 25 April 1945. when it attacked an armament works in Pilsen. During its combat tour the group flew 364 missions comprising 10,271 sorties, dropped 26,346 tons of bombs and shot down 378 enemy aircraft with another 104 probables. The group also saw 817 of its men killed in action with another 754 becoming prisoners of war.

On 31 May 1945, the 303d Bomb Group left Molesworth, moving to Casablanca, French Morocco during June. It was deactivated in Morocco on [23 [July]] 1945.

The Cold War

Soon after the end of World War II the 303d BG left RAF Molesworth. On 1 July 1945 the base was turned back over to the RAF who quickly chose it to be a training base for their new jet aircraft. The first jet unit, 1335 Conversion Unit, arrived on 27 July. It would be joined over the next year by several transient aircraft detachments and units.

On 10 October 1946, 1335 Conversion Unit moved from RAF Molesworth. The base was then inactivated and placed in a care and maintenance status.

As the Cold War increased in intensity, the US Air Force began looking to expand in Western Europe. RAF Molesworth was chosen to become home to the 582d Air Resupply Group. After much runway work by the 801st Engineer Battalion, the group moved from Great Falls, Montana to the base. Although the unit was identified as an Air Resupply Group, this name was misleading. The true mission of the group was to fly its B-29s on clandestine mission sover Soviet occupied territory.

The 582d remained at RAF Molesworth until December 1957 when it moved 13 miles up the road to RAF Alconbury. Once again, the base was put into a care and maintenance status. Little work was done on the base between 1957 and 1985. It did serve as an American education center, with an elementary and junior high/high school offering grades 1 thru 6 and 7 thru 10 respectfully, for dependents of servicmen and women from nearby bases including RAF Chicksands and RAF Alconbury. However, beginning in the late 60s and following the runway and most of the buildings on base were demolished.

In the early 1980s, RAF Moleworth was chosen to become a base for the US Air Force's mobile nuclear armed Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (although the majority of GLCMs were deployed at RAF Greenham Common). Work began on 5 February 1985. On 12 December 1986 the 303d Tactical Missile Wing was activated. However, the missiles and the wing did not stay long. The United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 which led to the removal of all nuclear missiles from the base by October 1988. The wing deactivated on 30 January 1989.

Once again, the fate of RAF Molesworth was uncertain. However, on 11 January 1990 the RAF announced new construction would begin later that year to house the US European Command's new intelligence analysis center. This facility would become known as the Joint Analysis Center (JAC).

Current status

The current host unit for RAF Molesworth is the 423d Air Base Group,headquartered at nearby RAF Alconbury. Molesworth employs over 750 personnel to include US and foreign military as well as US and British civilians. Because of past gaps in operations and demolishing of buildings and infrastructure, RAF Molesworth contains very limited support operations. As such, it relies solely upon the 423d ABG for all non-JAC related support functions like dining facilities, postal services, banking and telecommunications connectivity.

With the end of the Cold War, the JAC found it necessary to redefine itself in a new era. During the 1990s and into the 21st Century the JAC has provided intelligence support for US and NATO missions in the Middle East and the Balkans while also providing global assistance in the War on Terrorism.

With flight operations at RAF Alconbury ceasing in 1995, the JAC became the only organization supported by the 423d ABG. Should the JAC close or move to another base, the 423d ABG would no longer be needed and RAF Molesworth would most certainly be declared excess along with RAF Alconbury and RAF Upwood. However, with the NATO announcement in January 2006 of their plan to open their own intelligence center at the base it is unlikely that it will close anytime in the near future.

Although the nuclear missiles have been gone for almost two decades, the infrastructure (storage bunkers, launch tower, machine guns pits, and such) is still quite intact and offers an unique reminder of the Cold War. Additionally, a monument to the 303d BG resides just inside the main entrance to the base and is accessible to the public.

Trivia

• Bob Hope entertained base personnel on 6 July 1943.
• American journalist and news correspondent Walter Cronkite flew on a 303rd BG mission while reporting the war.
• American servicemen from RAF Molesworth married more English women during World War II than servicemen from any other American base in England.
• Two Type-Two hangars and one J-Type hangar are the only surviving remnants of the World War II era.
• A six-story air traffic control tower was built during the late 1950s but was never used and razed several years later.
• The original name of the Joint Analysis Center was supposed to be Joint Intelligence Center. Then UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher objected to the name and it was changed.

See also

• List of RAF stations
• United States Air Forces in Europe
• United States Air Force in the United Kingdom

External Links

• Airfield Focus 40: Molesworth. Author: John N. Smith. Publisher: GMS Enterprises
• RAF Molesworth entry at GlobalSecurity.org
• Official Web Site of the Eighth Air Force
• Bomb Groups of the Eighth Air Force
• UPI article on NATO opening intel center at RAF Molesworth
• M&C article on NATO opening intel center at RAF Molesworth

• Aerial Photo From Multimap.Com