page_title: RAF Atcham
section_title: Fighter Training
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Atcham / History / United States Army Air Forces use / Fighter Training
caption_attribution_description: Spitfire V of the US 309th Fighter Squadron, 31st Fighter Group at Atcham Airfield, England
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Atcham or more simply RAF Atcham is a former Royal Air Force station located 5.0 miles east of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on the north eastern boundary of Attingham Park.
  Initially built for RAF Fighter Command, during the Second World War its primary use was by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force. It was mainly the home of the 495th Fighter Training Group, where pilots were trained to fly Republic P-47 Thunderbolts although a few also were trained to fly twin-engined Lockheed P-38 Lightnings for both Eighth and Ninth Air Force units. Atcham continued to see use as a training base until it was returned to the RAF in March 1945.
context_section_description: The 6th Fighter Wing was the original training organisation established on 27 August 1942, under the control of VIII Fighter Command.  During 1942 and early 1943, it trained pilots in combat operations as well as air-to-air-gunnery with the attached 1st Gunnery & Tow Target Flight.   The training was conducted using Supermarine Spitfies and pilots drawn from the 67th Observation Group at RAF Membury (AAF-466) and RAF Middle Wallop (AAF-449).
  The 6th Fighter Wing provided training to the following groups:
  31st Fighter Group
  It consisted of the 307th, 308th and 309th Fighter Squadrons.
  The group arrived without assigned aircraft as its Bell P-39 Airacobras were found unsuitable for long-distance formation ferry flights. Provided with British Supermarine Spitfires by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the 31st FG entered combat in August  and supported a raid made by Canadian, British, American, and French forces at Dieppe on 19 August. The group also escorted bombers and flew patrol and diversionary missions.
  After its training was completed in August 1942, the 31st moved to RAF Westhampnett in Sussex before moving into Tafaraoui Airfield, Oran, Algeria on 8 November 1942 as part of Twelfth Air Force.
  14th Fighter Group
  The 14th arrived at Atcham on 18 August 1942 from Hamilton Field, California.  It consisted of the 48th (ES) and 49th Fighter Squadrons (QU).
  Equipped with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, the 14th escorted Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers to targets in France. In addition, fourteen P-38s of the 48th Squadron were sent on detached service to RAF Westhampnett and RAF Ford in southern England, where in co-ordination with British squadrons, the pilots engaged in a number of practice sweeps across the English Channel.
  After flying sweep sorties during which there was no contact with the Luftwaffe, in November 1942 the 14th was reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force, and was transferred to Tafaraoui Airfield, Oran, Algeria in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) after the Operation Torch landings in North Africa.
  The 6th Wing was discontinued on 13 September 1943. Its place was taken by a provisional unit, the 2906th Observation Training Group (Fighter), which had been organized on 16 August.  The 2906th was replaced in turn by a regular unit, the 495th Fighter Training Group on 26 October 1943.   The 495th switched its mission to a Replacement Training Group (RTU) and was assigned two RTU squadrons:
  551st Fighter Training Squadron (VM)
  552d Fighter Training Squadron (DQ)
  As a Combat Crew Replacement Center, the squadrons flew a mixture of hand-me-down aircraft, primarily planes which were considered not combat-ready to high hours and being "war weary".   It flew P-47 Thunderbolts, some P-38H Lightnings, and A-20 Havocs.   Pilots trained were then assigned to both VIII Fighter Command and IX Fighter Command after completion of training for subsequent assignment to units as needed.
  The 495 FTG stayed until February 1945, moving to RAF Cheddington. From August 1944 the Ninth AF P-38s from the 496 FTG/554 FTS from RAF Goxhill used Atcham as a training field.
caption: Spitfire V of the 309th Fighter Squadron
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