Recently spent a week in Suffolk, England and travelled around a few air bases whilst there. The first being the 100BG Thorpe Abbotts museum, home of the “Bloody Hundredth”. Great little museum based in the control tower which has been restored. Funny thing is the members of staff back in the day would cycle up to the control tower to break the windows and vandalise the building. Not a lot of the runways left now as most of the land has been restored to agriculture but a few buildings here and there which are derelict including the Battle HQ which is off in the woods to the left of the tower and the museum are in the process of negotiating with the land owner to restore this bunker. What is left though is a restored Tower and out buildings which commands a good overall view of the airfield. Lots of exhibits inside including uniforms, patches, medals and model displays. Nice little Tea room and shop selling gifts and a dedicated group of volunteer staff with a lot of knowledge. Bought the obligatory 100BG tea mug as a souvenir. One of the pilots stationed here was Robert Rosie Rosenthal and there’s an exhibit to him in the tower. He’s also mentioned in “Masters of the Air”, which i read whilst away and he was part of the Munster raid October 43 when out of 13 planes sent from Thorpe Abbots, only his B17 “Rosie’s Riveters” returned. Rosenthal went on to complete his 25th mission in 1944 and continued flying missions. Post war he returned to his career as a Lawyer and eventually found himself at Nuremburg where he interviewed the likes of Hermann Goering. I remember seeing him on a documentary about Nuremberg and Rosenthal felt justice had been served on the Nazi regime. I also visited Rattlesden, home of the 447BG, Halesworth 489BG and Parham Airfield (Framlingham) 390BG.
Open Weekends March to October (including Bank Holidays) and on a Wednesday from May to September. Well worth a visit if you get the chance and free to enter but check with the website as sometimes there are events on.
Website: http://www.100bgmus.org.uk
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