Shipdham. Home of the heavies.

You enter through a gate in a hedge a few miles south of Dereham. You turn right along an old taxi way and then before you know it you’re on a disused runway amongst the cereal crops.

You navigate carefully, thinking ‘can this be the right way?’. The view opens to the left down an intersecting runway and the huddle of post war buildings that comprises Shipdham Flying Club comes into view.

You pull-up gratefully in the small car park and survey the flags and memorial to RAF Shipdham, home of the 14th Combat Bombardment Wing, 2d Air Division, VIII Bomber Command. Then you know you’re in the right place. A special place.

The home of the 44th Bomb Group of the U.S.A.A.F. Heavy lifters of the daytime bombing effort. Where the Liberators of the Flying Eight Balls crawled into the sky to form up and stream away on another high risk mission across the channel.

On the day we visited, leaseholder and manager of Shipdham Flying Club, Michael, was only to happy to show us round. The museum room dedicated to the 44th was closed, but can be visited by arrangement.

The veterans come no more and their associations are being wound-up as 70 years pass from the end of hostilities. However, Michael still treasures the memories of meeting the veterans that re-vistied Shipdham over the years.

The fact that it remains an (albeit diminished) airfield, with a memorial to the wartime flyers and with a welcome from people like Michael myst have been a great feeling for the vets.

With the only evidence of many airfields being a neglected building or two amongst the fields, it was good to discover that Shipdham remains very much alive.