Memorial bid for home of Norfolk's elite bomber unit

Now a new memorial could commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Norfolk base they flew from.

The RAF's elite Pathfinders operated from RAF Downham Market, which opened in 1942.

The unit flew ahead of the main bomber force in raids over occupied Europe, to locate and mark the targets with flares.

Today the runways from which its aircraft took off from have been returned to farmland beside what is now the A10 and little else remains of the airfield other than a collection of huts on part of a business park and a small plaque outside the village church.

The crew of the BK716, which left Downham Market never to return in 1943 (Image: Crown Copyright)

Farming company Albanwise has submitted a planning application for a cairn which would stand at the end of the main runway at Bexwell Business Park.

In a planning statement, it says: "Bexwell Business Park forms part of what is left of RAF Downham Market, a bomber base which operated during WW2.

The crew of a Stirling bomber with their aircraft Picture: Submitted (Image: © ARCHANT NORFOLK 2016)

"During three years of operations 937 airmen went missing; of which 773 were killed, 149 became Prisoners of War, and 15 managed to evaded capture.

"Over the years there have been a number of proposals to erect some form of memorial, but nothing has been delivered to date."

One of the few buildings which survives at Bexwell. Picture: Chris Bishop (Image: Archant)

The statement says the metre-square memorial would be constructed from local flint and carry an A3 plaque with a map of the former base and the names of the six squadrons which flew Stirlings, Lancasters and Mosquitos from the base.

Not all of the units flying from Downham were Pathfinders.

The statement adds that maintenance would be carried out "for the foreseeable future", while weeding could be carried out by estate workers.

Mosquito aircraft.

The memorial, off what is now New Road, Crimplesham, would stand on a remnant of the edge of the former runway which lays 10cms beneath the ground.

Most of the concrete from which the lumbering bombers took off on their way to Germany was broken up and used as the foundations for the A10 Downham bypass in the early 1980s.

The RAF Victoria Cross Memorial at St Mary's Church in Bexwell, Picture: Matthew Usher (Image: Archant � 2009)

HOW ELITE TURNED TIIDE AND PAID THE PRICE

Pathfinders flew in low, ahead of the main bomber force, to drop markers to illuminate targets in occupied Europe.

Their motto was "We Guide to Strike" and they were the first to be fitted with new technology to aid aim and navigation. Crews volunteered to serve with the Pathfinders.

They increased the accuracy of night-time raids on Germany's industrial heartland as the RAF stepped up its bombing offensive.

But their daring missions also brought greater risks from German flak and night-fighters.

Bomber Command had the highest loss rate of all the armed services, with 55,000 killed in its bombing campaign against Germany before the war ended in 1945.