387th (387th) wrote in chipping_ongar, @ 2009-09-02 00:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | week 01, week change |
Week 01 - "Where Are the Bombs? Let's Go to War!"
After a week-long voyage from New York City, the 387th Bombardment Group finally reached their destination of Station 152, now called Chipping-Ongar Air Base, lent to the United States Army Air Force by Britain's Royal Air Force. The men arrived on the same day that sixty-five new B-26 Marauder bombers did, gracing the sunny and unfinished field.
On landing at Chipping Ongar the crews had found that the field was barely ready to receive them. The air echelon had arrived in such excellent time that the runways were only partially complete. When he learned that the 387th planes were at Prestwick, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brown, commander of the 831st Engineer Battalion, had kept his men working far into the night of the two days preceding the planes' arrival in order to get the field ready for the landings. The hardworking engineers, who had spent eight months of rain and fog to get the field ready, admitted a feeling of satisfaction at the sight of sixty-five new B-26s dropping wheels on the field.
Although neither the runways nor the squadron areas were complete, the spirits of the men were high. After the ocean voyage ground and air crews alike were glad to be together again. Colonel Storrie expressed the feeling of the group when he said, "Where are the bombs? Let's go to war!"
The high spirits of the men are only helped along by a welcoming dance put on by the women's committee in the town of Ongar, to be held on Saturday night at Budworth Hall in the village. The dance is sure to be the perfect start to the beginning of the USAAF's time at Chipping-Ongar. . .that is, while the field is still being finished, planes being outfitted and painted, and men trying to find the right dance partner for the night.Sunday, 20 June 1943-- At sea until Friday
Monday, 21 June
Tuesday, 22 June
Wednesday, 23 June
Thursday, 24 June
Friday, 25 June-- Touchdown at Chipping-Ongar Air Base by squadrons 556th through 559.
Saturday, 26 June-- Budworth Hall Welcome the Troops Dance, 7 PM, all squadrons invited