page_title: RAF Eye
section_title: 490th Bombardment Group (Heavy)
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Eye / History / United States Army Air Forces use / 490th Bombardment Group (Heavy)
caption_attribution_description: English: B-17G-85-BO Fortress 'Alice Blue Gown' Serial 43-38400 of the 851st Bomb Squadron, 490th Bomb Group, RAF Eye. This aircraft completed 67 missions.
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Eye or more simply RAF Eye is a former Royal Air Force station located 11 miles northeast of Stowmarket, Suffolk, England on the northwest edge of Eye and south of Diss.
context_section_description: The airfield was opened on 1 May 1944 and was used by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force 490th Bombardment Group (Heavy).  The 490th arrived from Mountain Home AAF Idaho and was assigned to the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing. The group flew Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign.
  The group tail code was initially a "Square-T" when it moved in with B-24 Liberators.  After being re-equipped with B-17G Flying Fortresses, it adopted a red stripe at the top of the plane's vertical stabilizers.
  Operational flying squadrons of the group were:
  848th Bombardment Squadron (7W)
  849th Bombardment Squadron (W8)
  850th Bombardment Squadron (7Q)
  851st Bombardment Squadron (S3)
  The 490th BG combat in June 1944 with B-24's, bombing airfields and coastal defences in France immediately preceding and during the invasion of Normandy.  Then struck bridges, rail lines, vehicles, road junctions, and troop concentrations in France. Supported ground forces near Caen in July and near Brest in September 1944.
  The group converted to B-17's in October and operated primarily against strategic targets until the end of February 1945.  The 490th mounted attacks against enemy oil plants, tank factories, marshalling yards, aircraft plants, and airfields in such cities as Berlin, Hamburg, Merseburg, Münster, Kassel, Hannover, and Cologne.  Interrupted strategic missions to attack supply lines and military installations during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945.  Beginning in March 1945, attacked interdictory targets and supported advancing ground forces.
  After V-E Day, carried food to flood stricken areas of the Netherlands and transported French, Spanish, and Belgian prisoners of war from Austria to Allied centers.
  The 490th returned to the US to Drew Field, Florida on 3 September 1945, then was inactivated on 7 November 1945.
caption: Boeing B-17G-85-BO Fortress Serial No. 43-38400 "Alice Blue Gown" of the 851st Bomb Squadron. This aircraft completed 67 missions.
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