Rated to be one of the best airfield cafes in the UK , Jimmy's has its own smallholding where rare breed pigs, cattle and poultry are raised, enabling the cafe to serve a vast range of its own produce. This friendly airfield in Norfolk is where the actor James Stewart was based during the war serving with the 8th Air Force in B-24 Liberators. Please PPR. Glider activity at nearby Tibenham. A/G radio is 124.400. Avgas is served here.
Royal Air Force Station Old Buckenham or more simply RAF Old Buckenham is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) south east of Attleborough, Norfolk, England which was used during World War II by the United States for the strategic bombing campaign against Germany.
Old Buckenham airfield was built during 1942-43 for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force. It was given designation USAAF Air Station 144.
The 453d BG entered combat on 5 February 1944 with an attack against an airfield at Tours. Throughout combat, the unit served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization. Targets included a fuel depot at Dulmen, marshalling yards at Paderborn, aircraft assembly plants at Gotha, railway centres at Hamm, an ordnance depot at Glinde, oil refineries at Gelsenkirchen, chemical works at Leverkusen, an airfield at Neumünster, a canal at Minden, and a railway viaduct at Altenbeken.
The group took part in the concentrated attack against the German aircraft industry during "Big Week", 20–25 February 1944. Besides strategic operations, the group engaged in support and interdiction missions. Bombed V-weapon sites, airfields, and gun batteries in France prior to the invasion of Normandy in June 1944; on 6 June hit shore installations between Le Havre and Cherbourg and other enemy positions farther inland. It attacked enemy troops in support of the Allied breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July. They bombed German communications during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Ferried cargo on two occasions: hauled gasoline, blankets, and rations to France in September 1944; dropped ammunition, focal, and medical supplies near Wesel during the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.
James "Jimmy" Stewart, the Hollywood movie star, was Group Operations Officer at Old Buckenham during the spring of 1944.
The 453d Bomb Group flew its last combat mission in April 1945.
