page_title: RAF Raydon
section_title: 353d Fighter Group
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Raydon / History / USAAF use / 353d Fighter Group
caption_attribution_description: English: P-51D-15-NA Mustang 44-15092 "Lulu Belle II" of 352d Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, at RAF Raydon, England, being recovered after a landing accident while being flown by Lt. Everett B. Bowron. It was originally named "Alabama Rammer Jammer" and assigned to Lt. Arthur C. Cundy (KIA March 11,1945).
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Raydon or more simply RAF Raydon is a former Royal Air Force station located just to the northeast of the village of Raydon, about 6 miles from Ipswich, England.
context_section_description: Replacing the 9th AF 358th FG was the 353rd Fighter Group, moving in from RAF Metfeld in April 1944.  The 353d was assigned to the 66th Fighter Wing, at Sawston Hall, Cambridge. The 353rd arrived at a very dirty Raydon airfield as the 358th had not cleaned after leaving.
  Operational squadrons of the 353d were:
  350th Fighter Squadron (LH)
  351st Fighter Squadron (YJ)
  352d Fighter Squadron (SX)
  Group markings were black, yellow, black, yellow spinners, with a 48-inch black and yellow check band around the cowling to the end of the exhaust stubs. In October 1944, the group converted to the P-51 "Mustang".
  The 353d flew combat missions until the end of April 1945.  After the end of hostilities, the group trained and prepared for transfer to the Pacific Theater.  After the end of the Second World War, in September, the group left Raydon and transferred back to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey where it was inactivated on 18 October 1945.
  Whilst the 353rd occupied Raydon airfield, a B-17 Flying Fortress belonging to the 91st Bomb Group made an emergency landing at Raydon on 3 November 1944. The B-17 - a member of the 324th Bomb Squadron - went by the name of "Little Patches" and was piloted by 2nd Lt Charles Buchanan on a mission to Merseburg upon which it sustained serious flak damage.
  A Consolidated B-24H Liberator of the 34th Bomb Group also made an emergency landing at Raydon on 26 June 1944.
caption: P-51D-15-NA Mustang 44-15092 "Lulu Belle II" 352d FS 353rd FG 1944 RAF Raydon, England being recovered after a landing accident while being flown by Lt Everett B Bowron.  It was originally named "Alabama Rammer Jammer" and assigned to Lt Arthur C Cundy (KIA 11 March 1945).
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