Episode 3 - Deopham at War

Welcome to the Air War Trail’s Episode Three!

Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel! If you’re passionate about military history and want to know more of the untold stories from the front lines of the air war, in the air and on the home front, you’re in the right place.

Before we dive into this episode, make sure you are subscribed to the Air War Trail’s Channel, so you never miss an episode. The Basic Channel offers sneak previews to a huge archive of documentary films and firsthand video interviews that includes the Yanks and the British families who lived the history of the air war in the European Theater of Operations. And if you want to see the full-length documentaries, exclusive interviews, and rare photographs and other bonus materials that you won’t find anywhere else, head over to airwartrail.com.

Your membership not only gives you access to all this incredible content, but it also helps us continue our mission to preserve these important stories for generations to come. Now on to Episode 3.

Episode 3 Continues the Air War Trail Story

In the first two episodes, you met 452nd Bomb Group who served at Deopham Green and a number of British family members who lived in villages around the 452nd airfield. In this third episode , continue to follow me as I discover what is left at the airfields along the Air War Trail and the archival work that I did on maps and construction blueprints during those years. I discovered a treasure trove of original airfield drawings in England and using modern digital tools, I have developed new print quality versions of many of the airfield maps that I have used in the documentary films that I have produced and in the first books that I am writing on the Air War Trail.

Included in Episode 3 are two interviews with Ethel Collins (one recorded in 2003 and one in 2005) who lived on her family’s farm in Great Ellingham and also an interview with waist gunner William Roche who was shot down twice. Their stories contain the remarkable experiences that played out from Deopham Green during the war.

Also included in Episode 3 is Jimmy Steward’s recruiting film for the Army Air Force, Winning Your Wings. I have remastered and enhanced this film and included it in Episode 3 to see the efforts of Steward on behalf the Army Air Force, long before he goes to war as a squadron commander with a B-24 Liberator bomb group. This is your first glimpse that you will see of Jimmy Steward. Later in a future episode, you will be introduced to my film, Liberators Over East Anglia, where Steward’s wartime experience are included.

Historian’s Video Journal - The Airfield, Then & Now

Deopham at War

World War II in Europe began in September 1939. In the villages near Attleborough and throughout the surrounding towns in County Norfolk, British families turned to wartime footing as their young men went to the forces, and each community struggled to transition to rationing, war work, and the constant threat of German attack from the air and from the sea.

In 1942 the first Yanks arrived in Britain, and they soon came to Norfolk where the American airfields rapidly appeared across the landscape and brought the Allied air war to hearth and home. This is the story of British families and young Americans in Norfolk who lived together on the battleline of the emerging air war. Together they formed a sense of community and place as each day brought new challenges of war.

Some of the themes in the film include:

Impact of Hitler’s invasion of Poland on the people of Britain and how World War II in Europe begins in September 1939.
Changes in the British Isles as the war comes to London and war construction begins everywhere.
The coming of the Yanks at Deopham Green and how that arrival changes life in the villages in the area.
The American relationship with children and how the military treated British families during the war.
The Air Cadets go flying aboard the B-17s at Deopham Green.
The air war brought life-changing experiences for families living in the rural areas of East Anglia.
“These British families lived on the battleline, a war front that never receded into the distance, that remained around their homes for the duration.”

Ethel Collins - Evacuees, Yanks, Chats

Ethel Lincoln Collins was born on June 14, 1927 at her home on Bush Green Farm in Great Ellingham. Ethel was twelve years old when the British declared war on German and sixteen years old when the Americans came to Deopham Green airfield. Part of the airfield was built on a part of her father’s land that was requisitioned by the Air Ministry so some of the wartime operations were close to her home and became a part of her growing up years. I interviewed Ethel twice, one on my first interview trip to the Deopham Green area in 2003 and again, in 2005.

Want to see the full-length interview? Visit our website for exclusive documentaries, rare interviews, and extraordinary bonus content—plus, your membership helps us preserve history. Check us out at airwartrail.com!

William Roche - Memories of a Waist Gunner

At the first opportunity after graduation, William Roche enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a B-17 Flying Fortress waist gunner. During WWII he was stationed at Deopham Green, England flying missions with the 452nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. On two occasions he was shot down, once crash landing in France, and then later behind Russian lines in Poland where he was interred by the Russians and eventually repatriated to his unit three months later. His interview covers his training and combat operations, going into detail about the two missions where he was shot down. After the war, he attended college and spent thirty-three years in the Air Force as a Russian linguist and intelligence officer. In 1998, Bill returned to Assigny, France, the site of his first crash landing, where the grateful townspeople surprised him with a formal welcome, displaying pieces of his B-17. I recorded this video interview at the 452nd Reunion in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on October 4, 2003.

Jimmy Stewart - Winning Your Wings

Warner Brothers Studios produced Winning Your Wings, starring Jimmy Stewart, a promotional film aimed at recruiting young men for the Army Air Force. The 18-minute film included vignettes directed at high school and college students and men in a variety of jobs and civilian careers. The film was shown in movie theaters “nationwide beginning in late May 1942 and was very successful, resulting in 150,000 new recruits” for the Army Air Force.

Bonus Content

Every episode on the premium channel contains bonus material drawn from the Air War Archives. In Episode 3, the bonus material includes a dozen, high resolution photographs for download or for viewing.

The photographs are part of the more than 50,000 images that have been added to the East Anglia Air War Archives. Add these special images to your collection and use these images for personal use. If you are not currently subscribed to our Premium Plan, please subscribe now for access to the bonus material for Episode 3.

For the complete documentaries, never-before-seen interviews, and exclusive photos and other bonus materials, visit airwartrail.com. Your support as a member means we can keep bringing these powerful stories to light and safeguard history for all.

See you in Episode 4!