RAF Atcham
| RAF Atcham USAAF Station 342  .png) 
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| Shrewsbury, Shropshire | |||||||||||
Atcham Airfield – 9 May 1946
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 RAF Atcham
Location in Shropshire
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| Coordinates | 52°41′25″N 002°38′16″W / 52.69028°N 2.63778°WCoordinates: 52°41′25″N 002°38′16″W / 52.69028°N 2.63778°W | ||||||||||
| Code | AP | ||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator |
United States Army Air Forces Royal Air Force |
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| Controlled by |
RAF Fighter Command (1941-1942) Eighth Air Force (1942-1944) Ninth Air Force (1944-1945) RAF Flying Training Command (1945-1946) |
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| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1941 | ||||||||||
| In use | 1941–1946 | ||||||||||
| Battles/wars | Second World War | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 61 metres (200 ft) AMSL | ||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Atcham or more simply RAF Atcham is a former Royal Air Force station located 5.0 miles (8.0 km) east of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on the north eastern boundary of Attingham Park.
Initially built for RAF Fighter Command, during the Second World War its primary use was by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force. It was mainly the home of the 495th Fighter Training Group, where pilots were trained to fly Republic P-47 Thunderbolts although a few also were trained to fly twin-engined Lockheed P-38 Lightnings for both Eighth and Ninth Air Force units. Atcham continued to see use as a training base until it was returned to the RAF in March 1945.
The airfield was opened in 1941 and was initially used by the Royal Air Force to house two squadrons of RAF Fighter Command with the first to arrive being 131 Squadron on 27 September 1941 with Supermarine Spitfires
It was planned to open RAF Condover as a satellite station but when it opened in 1942 the RAF had decided to hand over the Atcham for American use.
To support the USAAF, jurisdiction of Atcham Airfield was transferred from RAF Fighter Command to the USAAF on 15 June 1942 when a number of RAF stations were turned over to the Americans. It was designated as Station 342 (AP).
USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Atcham were:
Regular Army Station Units included:
The 495th Fighter Training Group was an Eighth Air Force Operational Training Unit (OTU) which was formed in England to train newly formed deployed fighter groups which arrived from the United States.
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Wikipedia