RAF Great Dunmow
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RAF Great Dunmow RAF Little Easton USAAF Station AAF-164  .png)  
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Aerial photograph of Great Dunmow airfield 30 May 1944.
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator |
United States Army Air Forces 1943-1944 Royal Air Force 1944-1946 British Army 1946-1948 |
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| Location | Bishops Stortford, Essex | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1942 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1943-1948 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 322 ft / 98 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°53′05″N 000°18′32″E / 51.88472°N 0.30889°ECoordinates: 51°53′05″N 000°18′32″E / 51.88472°N 0.30889°E | ||||||||||||||||||
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 RAF Great Dunmow
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Royal Air Force Station Great Dunmow or more simply RAF Great Dunmow (Also known as Little Easton) is a former Royal Air Force station in Essex, England. The airfield is located approximately 1.4 miles (2.3 km) mi west of Great Dunmow, north of the A120; about 42 miles (68 km) miles northeast of London
Opened in 1943, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces during the war, primarily as a bomber airfield. The airfield was closed in 1948.
Today the airfield is located on private land primarily used for agriculture.
Great Dunmow was designed as a Class A airfield bomber airfield, built by the US Army 818th Engineer Battalion (Aviation) with specialised work by British contractors.
The airfield was built on ancient parkland belonging to Easton Lodge and some 10,000 trees were destroyed to enable its construction, including over 200 mature oak trees. It consisted of a set of three converging runways each containing a concrete runway for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern. The runways were a 6,000 ft long main runway, aligned 15/33 and two secondary 4,200 ft long secondary runways, aligned 11/29 and 04/22. An encircling perimeter track was also constructed, containing 50 loop-type hardstands.
Great Dunmow airfield was opened on 1 July 1943 and was used by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. It was known as USAAF Station AAF-164 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. It's USAAF Station Code was "GD".
USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Great Dunmow were:
Regular Army Station Units included:
The first unit to use Great Dunmow was the American 386th Bombardment Group (Medium) which arrived from RAF Boxted on 24 September 1943. The group was assigned to the VIII Air Support Command 3d Bombardment Wing and flew Martin B-26B/C Marauders. Operational squadrons of the 322d were:
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