Carpetbagger Museum in Northants – 801st/492nd Bomb Groups

Was he an older guy? I will get up there, it is a classic case of liveing too close. I am only 10 miles away and regularly fly over Harrington from Sywell, I must make the effort.

I did the museum first and then walked part of the airfield. Sorry if that’s a bit obvious, but it’s worth doing it that way since they’ve got a good history of the airfield, from it’s construction to the Carpetbaggers and then the installation of the THOR system. It certainly gives you a good idea of the layout before you start, plus I had an excellent guide in a volunteer called Fred who talked me through the history of the airfield.

Not sure about the name of the historian, only that he was as keen as mustard and certainly seemed to know his stuff. If he’s there when you go, he’s certainly worth talking to !

I’ve walked along the perimeter track at Harrington towards the Thor launch pad areas, in the early 90’s, probably before the museum was established. I will certainly go back and visit the museum, perhaps this summer. I wasn’t aware the operations block had survived as I can only remember seeing the remains of the Thor structures.

Regards,

Paul

Was the Historian Ron Clarke by any chance? He ‘was’ not sure if still is the official contact and historian on the site, he acts as a liason between the site and the US for reunions etc…anyway I used to work with him, an absolute expert on A/C gunsights and gun turrets.

Andrew thanks for the great photos!!

Andrew, as a long time member here in the states of The Mighty Eighth Historical Society and someone who has explored many old bases of the Eighth in the UK, thanks for the photos and links to the musuem. Very impressive website, full of great detailed info on this special group ! Some where in my collection of books on The Eighth, is one titled “Carpetbaggers”, a very impressive book by the son of one of the group members! A few years ago at the impressive museum in Savannah, Georgia USA I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to one of the pilots of the 801st,he flew a Mossie. His likeness and aircraft is depicted in the Gil Cohen painting “Eyes of The Eighth”. If your travels ever take you across the big pond, it would be well worth your time to visit the impressive musuem of the Mighty Eighth, in Savannah, Georgia. Looks like this is one museum I need to visit , congrats to those who have built this as a tribute to the men who flew from there!

Thanks for that Ant.

Not much remains of the old buildings, most have been demolished (e.g. control tower) or have simply fallen down before the museum started a few years ago. Apart from the perimeter track, the most prominent things are the three hard standings and blast walls that were built in the middle of the airfield in the 1950’s for the American THOR rocket system.

I think the best bit is the museum itself (the bit I wasn’t allowed to photograph !) since they have an excellent history of the Bomb Groups’ operations from the base and a lot of historical exhibits from the various supply drops that they did across Europe from France to Poland.

I thought that I’d be there for about an hour – in the end I left the museum building after two and a half hours after talking to lady who runs it, the site historian and a guide.

Well worth a visit – they are genuinely keen to see visitors

Cheers for the pics Andrew,interesting to see.I’ve been wanting to visit the museum at my namesake airfield for years,but it’s quite a trek up from London and so far I still haven’t managed it.It’s yet another of those places/museums on my’ must see’ list!
How many of the wartime buildings still survive on the site?I know the old theatre block was deteriorating quite rapidly a few years ago.

Not much remains of the 3 main runways – as you can see below, but the perimeter track is still largely intact.

Harvard near to the entrance

Memorial outside the museum