On Sunday 16th June I had the opportunity to fly in my L4 and visit the museum that volunteers have established at Debach nr Woodbridge in Suffolk, England. They have a 550 yard grass strip on the alignment of one of the runways.
The 493rd Heavy Bomb Group of the 8th (Helton's Hellcats) operated from Debach in 1944/45, firstly with the B24 and latterly the B17.
The volunteers have done an excellent job of restoring the control tower and other buildings to establish an excellent museum. They still get vets and families visiting. I had the privilege of meeting one of the three surviving vets who happened to be visiting at the time. Jack Rude from Amarillo,Tx was a tail gunner who did 32 missions before the war ended. He has been back over 20 times since the end of the war. It was interesting that he was a tail gunner as my father was a tail end Charlie on Lancasters. I'll post a couple of photos I took.
The 493rd Heavy Bomb Group of the 8th (Helton's Hellcats) operated from Debach in 1944/45, firstly with the B24 and latterly the B17.
The volunteers have done an excellent job of restoring the control tower and other buildings to establish an excellent museum. They still get vets and families visiting. I had the privilege of meeting one of the three surviving vets who happened to be visiting at the time. Jack Rude from Amarillo,Tx was a tail gunner who did 32 missions before the war ended. He has been back over 20 times since the end of the war. It was interesting that he was a tail gunner as my father was a tail end Charlie on Lancasters. I'll post a couple of photos I took.
