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RAF Bungay – better known to many air historians as Flixton – was one of Suffolk’s major American heavy-bomber stations. Work began in mid-1942 and the airfield opened later that year, initially as a satellite linked to other USAAF infrastructure in East Anglia. Its defining wartime period began in November 1943 when the 446th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived, flying Consolidated B-24 Liberators and earning the nickname ‘The Bungay Buckaroos.’
As a USAAF base, Bungay carried a station number (Station 125) and became part of the Eighth Air Force’s bomber offensive. The 446th operated under the Second Air Division and, within that structure, belonged to the 20th Combat Bombardment Wing. The group’s aircraft were marked with the ‘Circle-H’ tail code, and its four squadrons flew a relentless schedule of missions against targets across occupied Europe and Germany – industrial sites, transport hubs, oil installations, airfields, and defensive positions.
The B-24 was a demanding aircraft: fast, long-ranged and able to carry a heavy bomb load, but also complex to operate and vulnerable when formations were broken. From Bungay, crews trained continuously in formation assembly, long over-water navigation, and the choreography of a mass raid – take-off streams, rendezvous, climb to altitude, bomber-stream discipline, and the hazardous run in to the target under fighter attack and flak.
Bungay’s role peaked in the lead-up to and during the invasion of Europe. In spring 1944 the Eighth Air Force shifted effort toward ‘softening’ targets in France and the Low Countries: rail marshalling yards, bridges, coastal batteries and airfields. On D-Day itself, 6 June 1944, the 446th had a distinctive place in the story: it has been credited with leading the Eighth Air Force’s first mission of the day, striking Normandy beach defences in the hours before the assault waves hit the shore. In the months that followed, the airfield continued to support the Allied advance, including operations that disrupted German movement and logistics.
Like other Liberator stations, Bungay also reflects the ‘friendly invasion’ experienced by local communities: thousands of American airmen and support personnel living in temporary camps, training, working, and coping with loss. Heavy bomber operations carried a high price. Aircraft failed to return; crews were killed, wounded or became prisoners. The rhythm of life on the station swung between long periods of preparation and sudden, brutal absences after a raid.
The 446th continued operations through to the final weeks of the war in Europe. When hostilities ended, the group’s combat flying ceased and the great wartime bomber complex in East Anglia began to contract rapidly. Today, much of Bungay/Flixton has returned to private rural land, but the airfield’s story remains powerful: a concrete testament to the Liberator war, to the scale of the Eighth Air Force campaign, and to the men who flew from Suffolk into the heart of occupied Europe.