Parham Airfield Museum, UK
Near Framlingham, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Memorial Honoring the Men Killed from May 12 – June 13, 1943
Presented by the “Friends of the Eighth” on May 9, 1992
From May through the first part of June 1943, the 95th operated not only from Alconbury, but also from RAF Framlingham (USAAF Station 153) while its base in Horham was being readied. It was from there that the 95th would get its first real taste of the bloody battle raging over Europe, experiencing its worst day of the war—its ninth combat mission and first to the Kiel shipyards.
Navigator Ellis B. Scripture recalled: “The Kiel mission which we flew from Framlingham on June 13th 1943 I think will have to go down in history as the day the 95th Group became combat ready, and it is probably the one day that many of the original crew members will remember most of all the days of WWII.”
The 95th lost ten planes and 76 men that day, and 23 more became Prisoners of War. USAAF Station 153 later became the home of the 390th Bomb Group (H), which along with the 95th BG and the 100th Bomb Group formed the 13th Combat Wing.
The site of the original base is now known as the Parham Airfield Museum, housing the 390th Bomb Group Memorial Air Museum in the original control tower and other period buildings. It is also home to the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation, dedicated to the men and women who served in the various sections of the Auxiliary Units during WWII.
On the grounds of the museum is a small monument commemorating the lives of the men who lost their lives while based at Framlingham. The plaque mounted below a propeller reads:
To the Airmen of the
95th Bomb Group
Who Lost Their Lives
Operating from this Field
May 12 – June 13, 1943
The names of those who were lost can be found here.
Read the Dedication Address presented by Veteran Bob Cozens of the 95th Bomb Group on May 9, 1992.