These two images came from a B-17 crewmember stationed at Deenethorpe and would have been taken sometime between January and mid-June 1944, but where on Earth is this particular airstrip?
Looks to be a landing T at the end of the runway, and an unusual three-digit heading painted on too.
I did think it may be one of the Emergency Landing Fields, but it doesn't seem to match up very well to any of them. Woodbridge approaching from the west perhaps?
The odd angle at the end does remind me of the Alland Grange end of Manston, approaching from the west. The 112 doesn't fit with any of these I would of thought.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Checking the mission logs for this particular aircraft, she did have a forced landing at Manston in early April 1944.
Coming in with only two of the four engines running, one of which had no working supercharger, one of the main wheels completely missing, the cockpit shot up by cannon shells and the bomb doors jammed open since the target (Schweinfurt that day). No further injuries were sustained by the crew in the landing, but the plane didn't fly again until June.
The current western approach to Manston is 102 degrees, assuming the full heading was in use in 1944 and with a change of magnetic north of around 8 -10 degrees over about 70 years this would make some sort of sense of 112?
The magnetic variation was calculated using a Resources Canada tool but is based on entering a date and a lat and longtitude setting.
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