page_title: RAF Martlesham Heath
section_title: 356th Fighter Group
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Martlesham Heath / History / USAAF use / 356th Fighter Group
caption_attribution_description: English: P-51s of the 356th Fighter Group at Martlesham Heath airfield England.
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Station Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 miles south west of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of Airborne Interception radar.
context_section_description: The airfield was opened in May 1943 and was first used by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force 356th Fighter Group, arriving from RAF Goxhill on 5 October 1943. The group was under the command of the 67th Fighter Wing of the VIII Fighter Command.   Aircraft of the 356th were identified by a magenta/blue diamond pattern around their cowling.
  The group consisted of the following squadrons:
  359th Fighter Squadron (OC)
  360th Fighter Squadron (PI)
  361st Fighter Squadron (QI)
  The 356th FG served in combat from October 1943, participating in operations that prepared for the invasion of the Continent, and supporting the landings in Normandy and the subsequent Allied drive across France and Germany.
  The group flew Republic P-47 Thunderbolts until they were replaced by North American P-51 Mustangs in November 1944. From October 1943 until January 1944, they operated as escort for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress/Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers that attacked such objectives as industrial areas, missile sites, airfields, and communications.
  Fighters from the 356th engaged primarily in bombing and strafing missions after 3 January 1944, with its targets including U-boat installations, barges, shipyards, aerodromes, hangars, marshalling yards, locomotives, trucks, oil facilities, flak towers, and radar stations. Bombed and strafed in the Arnhem area on 17, 18, and 23 September 1944 to neutralize enemy gun emplacements, and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for this contribution to the airborne attack on the Netherlands.
  The group flew its last combat mission, escorting B-17's dropping propaganda leaflets, on 7 May 1945. It returned to Camp Kilmer New Jersey and was inactivated on 10 November 1945.
caption: North American P-51s of the 360th Fighter Squadron in protective revetments at Martlesham Heath, 1944.
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