Nearly sixty-five years ago, in the summer of 1943, B17F Flying Fortresses belonging to the 390th. Bomb Group USAAF, roared off from their base at Framlingham in the middle of the tranquil Suffolk countryside. On each aircraft four 1200 h.p. radial engines strained against the load they were carrying. Their mission: to fly high above the German heartland and unleash their bombs on a merciless enemy. It was their duty to return home safely, but not all made it back from their perilous journey.

Today at the same location close to the village of Parham, the countryside is now quiet; the air decidedly still. The memorial to the crews of the Eighth Air Force stands virtually alone in the middle of the now cultivated fields. The airfield control tower, a box-like two-storey building has been restored. Dedicated enthusiasts worked for five years, from 1976, to return it from a run down shell to a building housing memorabilia and artefacts which are a fitting tribute to the memory of those who did not return.

Step inside and you are immediately transported back to the 1940s. Music from the Glenn Miller era wafts around the building. On the ground floor are large displays including an engine with a twisted propeller, the result of a crash landing from which no crew member survived. There are gun turrets from a B-24 Liberator and a Short Stirling.

The memorial is not restricted to the US forces. RAF and allied forces from nearby East Anglian bases are represented with parts of Lancasters, Halifaxes, Spitfires and Hurricanes. Each display is well documented with a story of how the aircraft part was unearthed and if the crew survived. There are recovered Nazi souvenirs to remind us that the enemy was real. Some Luftwaffe aircrews carried a photo album just two inches by one inch with pictures of Adolf Hitler inside.

Poignant reminders of the war are everywhere. One crew of a B-17 took a photographer with them to record their twenty-fifth and final mission. Homeward bound, their aircraft collided with another B-17 after crossing the English coast. All twenty-one crew members died.

On the second floor of the tower are smaller items showing the personal effects of servicemen during the war. Glass cases show items of kit, uniforms and flying clothing. To aid escape aircrew photographs were taken in civilian clothes and placed in forged passbooks.

Yet amongst all the painful recollections of war someone has rescued a humorous verse which may have graced the airmen’s quarters, the NCO’s club, a hangar or the control tower itself:

‘The Lord gave us two ends to use,

One to think with, one to sit with.

The war depends on which we choose.

Heads we win, tails we lose.’

Perched on the roof is the steel and glass radio shack. It surveys fields of soil and crops where once the ‘Mighty Eighth’ took to the skies. Now only part of the runway exists as a symbol of our painful past.

If you would like to visit Parham Airfield as part of your holiday in Suffolk you might like to stay at Hollyhock Cottage