Birch
BIRCH: Military aerodrome later civil airfield
Note: Some claim this was only a Reserve Transport Airfield.
In June 2018 I was kindly contacted by Neil Cowling who has produced a first class web-site dedicated to BIRCH and this is highly recommended. www.birchairfield.co.uk
Note: The first picture is from the Neil Cowling web-site. The second picture (2017) was obtained from Google Earth ©
Clearly quite a bit remains to define the WW2 airfield, especially to the west of the 02/20 runway.
Military users: 9th Air Force 410 Bomb Group
Note: I had once made this request: "Can anybody kindly confirm a presence of the 410 Bomb Group here - and - if correct, the type(s) flown?" This information was gleaned from the web-site mentioned above. But, it does serve to illustrate, even twenty years ago, how I often struggled to find information that could be relied upon.
644th, 645th, 646th & 647th Bomb Squadrons (Douglas A20 Havocs)
Note: It appears their presence here only lasted a few months. Combat operations, mostly over France it seems, started in May 1944 and in September they were moved to France. It may well seem incredible that a fully equipped airfield could have been built for use over such a short time, but this was very often the case for many USAAF bases in England. It appears incredibly wasteful today - but what was the alternative?
RAF Transport Command
48, 233 & 437 (RCAF) Sqdns (Douglas C-47 Dakotas)
Note: Here again, these Squadrons had a very brief stay here, engaged in supply drops and parachutists for the Rhine crossing offensive - Operation Varsity - in March 1945.
I suppose it will always be a mystery why the Nazi regime continued for so long, resulting in the almost complete destruction of all their major cities. The 'writing was on the wall' as early as 1943, and millions of lives could have been saved across the board if they surrendered. Hitler by 1943 was insane, an utter meglomaniac, and yet the Nazi regime continued for a further two years.
Location: W of B1022, 1.5nm S of Birch, 4nm SW of Colchester
Period of operation: Military: 1944 to 1945 Civil: 1970s & 1980s only?
Runways: WW2: 08/26 1828x46 hard 02/20 1280x46 hard
13/31 1280x46 hard
NOTES:
A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
It appears that three Squadrons of RAF Dakotas departed from here towing Horsa gliders for the Rhine crossing phase of WW2. This was known as 'Operation Market' and was centred on the town of Arnheim and the need to capture the bridge intact. The British ground forces attack, (a hopelessly incompetent mission judged by any means by those in charge at a very senior level), was called 'Operation Garden' and the combined excercise is now known as 'Operation Market Garden'.
It really is well worth reading at least a couple of the very good books published about this most disgraceful episode. The popular propaganda is that the whole affair was bungled but this was not the case at all. It was far worse than that. For example Intelligence reports and photo-reconnaissance evidence of a large German presence, with Panzer tanks, was deliberately ignored, as was the knowledge that some items of essential equipment, such as radios, were known to be faulty. It was really an exercise to be regarded as criminal negligence on a huge scale resulting in thousands of futile deaths - but was anybody brought to account? It seems not, and that surely is something we British should be utterly ashamed about.
A COUPLE OF GENERAL REMARKS
Here again, and I don’t think many WW2 airfields could have a much simpler history, I have found somewhat opposing accounts from very well regarded sources. For example, one account from the Southend Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society states that the airfield opened on the 10th March 1943 and closed on the 17th July 1946. No mention is made of USAAF involvement either.
As said elsewhere in this Guide I was, and still am, astonished to discover so many discrepancies, or should I say differing opinions, (let alone totally opposing accounts), during my research. Thank heavens I decided this project should be a 'Guide' only and primarily seeking just to record just the existence of a site. Once again I will recommend looking at Neil Cowling's web-site.
SPOTTERS NOTES
In the 1970s and 80s private flying activity was recorded here.
In 1977 it seems that just two GA types were based here; the Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140C G-AYWE and the PA-28 Cherokee Arrow 180 G-BAXT.
Neil Cowling
This comment was written on: 2018-06-13 14:39:15Hi...just read your post. You may be interested to read my website www.birchairfield.co.uk. It's a comprehensive history which should help. Regards Neil
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Neil, Many thanks, I shall look this up. Best regards, Dick
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