The Airfield
The bomb storage area is shown on the map’s top-left corner (north west). Base administration, crew areas, engineering, accommodation, entertainment and medical facilities were all in the right half of the map (east). Aircraft ‘dispersal pads’ (parking locations) surround the runways.
Although outside the Wreningham parish boundary, the village has had an ongoing relationship with Hethel Airfield.
Constructed at the start of WW2, it became a major base for the US Army Air Force. They arrived in 1943 – the main occupant being the 389th Bombardment Group flying B-24 Liberator bombers. NB The United States Army Air Force was renamed the United States Air Force in 1947.
The above map shows the main (2,000 yards) runway – diagonally NE /SW.
The Wymondham-Forncett railway line had played a part in the base’s construction. Following the arrival of the Americans, one of the two tracks was made available to them for occasional use by an ammunition train which occupied a cutting just to the northwest of Hapton.
American hospitality during WW2
The B-24 Liberators would have been a common sight (and sound!) over Wreningham.
The Americans mostly flew daylight sorties, which made them exceptionally vulnerable. From the 307 missions flown out of Hethel 116 aircraft were lost in action.
Multi-engine propeller-driven aircraft make a very distinctive sound – and these heavily laden bombers would have been at their noisiest during the very demanding take-off.
Whenever the wind was coming from the west, south-west, south or south-east, the aircraft would have been taking off in our direction; no one in the village would have been in any doubt about a mission getting underway.
Here is a B-24 Liberator taking off, in-flight and during landing.
Now consider this lightly loaded example in the context of a WW2 operation. It would then have been carrying a full bomb load, laden with defensive weapons with their heavy ammunition, and fully fuelled for many hours of flight.
Not only that, but it would have been just one of dozens of identical aircraft noisily staggering into the sky from Hethel Airfield in a continuous stream …. and, for many locals, these aircraft were passing directly overhead. Everyone’s thoughts must have suddenly turned to the huge perils facing the young crews.
The above photograph (courtesy of Historic England) is a 1944 airborne reconnaissance image of this area taken by the US Army Air Force. For your orientation, the northeast in this photograph is ‘up’. The airfield is prominent in the bottom left whilst much of Wreningham can be found from the central to lower-middle edge of the photograph.
Click on the image area to bring up a zoom control – you can also drag the magnified image around the frame. Click on the double-headed arrow in the image’s top right-hand corner and the image will fill your screen!
Without its many modern buildings, Wreningham appears surprisingly ’empty’ – whilst the curving and long-gone railway line (bottom right) is very prominent.
The website for many more United States WW2 aerial reconnaissance images in the UK (including the above) can be found here.
Then, in the second half of 1944, the Americans had suddenly all gone …..
Post War
Between September 1945 and late 1946, Mustang fighter aircraft replaced the earlier US bombers, firstly with RAF squadrons and finally by Mustang squadrons operated by Polish crews.
The extensive spare (although very basic) accommodation also made the airfield useful as a transit camp for displaced persons. The UK post-war housing shortage then resulted in many locals, including some from Wreningham, occupying the old wartime camp. ‘The Camp’ became a local fixture through to the start of the 1960s. The ever-resourceful Colin Spratt set up a grocery delivery service from the Wreningham shop to many of the camp’s residents.
Post WW2 – at ‘The Camp’ – the old Hethel Airfield
After the war, the UK Ministry of Agriculture had set up offices just inside the southern perimeter of the old airfield site to use as a base for providing advice to local farmers. This might be how the Long family farm at nearby Fir Grove came to be selected as a farming demonstration site.
In 1954, there was an investigation to determine if the main runway could be extended by another 600-700 yards in the Norwich direction. That would have resulted in Hethel’s runway becoming about the same length as today’s secondary/standby runway at London Gatwick Airport! Fortunately for us, the 1954 investigation determined there were too many issues hindering the Hethel runway extension plan – although the direct proximity of Wreningham wasn’t one of them!
After Wreningham’s first village hall, a Nissen Hut, had been relocated to the village from the airfield, a small number of ‘prefab’ houses (usually constructed from asbestos sheets fixed to lightweight steel frames) were moved to Wreningham, as well. These provided additional village accommodation at a time of many national shortages. Once re-assembled, their outer walls were faced with bricks, and their existing shallow-pitched roofs were topped with steeper timber frames, finished with traditional clay tiles. A few still remain today.
In the early 1960s, Colin Chapman chose the airfield and its remaining wartime buildings as a new location for his expanding Lotus sports-car and engineering operations, providing significant local employment opportunities. A fresh chapter had opened.