RAF Chelveston
52°18'N 0°29'W
Chelveston in England was used during World War II by the Eighth Air Force, and in particular, the 305th Bomber Group and their B-17's. The exact location of the field is just north of the Ouse River east of Northampton.
With the Korean War and the growing threat of the Soviet Union, the US and UK agreed to an expanded US military presence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1950s, Strategic Air Command bomber units deployed on a regular rotational basis from the United States to the United Kingdom. On 1 September 1955 the 490th Bombardment Squadron (medium) was activated at Abilene AFB (later renamed Dyess AFB), Texas, as a part of the 341st Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force, Strategic Air Command (SAC). Equipped with the new B-47 Stratojet, the squadron began flight training in March of the following year. For more than a year the 490th engaged in routine training operations with primary emphasis on qualifying all crews as "combat ready." Late in 1957 the squadron participated in a simulated combat mission to Royal AFS, Chelveston, England. They flew in three waves, 24 hours apart, from their base in Texas. While overseas, the 490th made several simulated attacks on targets in Great Britain.
In 1963 Project Clearwater halted large scale rotational bomber deployments to Britain, and RAF Fairford, RAF Chelveston, RAF Greenham Common, and RAF Sculthorpe were returned to the Air Ministry.
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