Norfolk Amateur Radio Club will operate from the Museum to commemorate operation Chowhound. Back in 1945 the 100th bomb group took off from the site of the current museum full of food for the Netherlands.
Operation Chowhound the American operation to relieve the famine in the Netherlands will be commemorated from this former operation Chowhound airfield with huge thanks to the Museum.
Royal Air Force Thorpe Abbotts is a former Royal Air Force station and United States Army Air Force station located 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Diss, Norfolk, in eastern England.
The airfield at Thorpe Abbots was built for the RAF use but handed over to the United States Army Air Force in 1943 and upgraded for heavy bombers.
RAF Thorpe Abbotts was built during 1942 and early 1943 for the Royal Air Force as a satellite airfield for RAF Horham but the rapid build up of the Eighth Air Force resulted in both airfields being handed over to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The thirty-six hard standings originally planned were increased to fifty. Two T-2 hangars were erected, one on the east side of the flying field and one on the south side adjacent to the technical site.
Operation Chowhound
On the 23rd April 1945, a convoy of lorries made their way through Norfolk’s narrow lanes towards Thorpe Abbotts airfield. What they were carrying was secret, but not deadly. The sleek metal containers were designed to carry supplies. Ground crews had been briefed on how to load these containers. Air crews were given training in low level flying and how to drop these strange cylinders, dropping them over the runways. On the 25th April, the containers were loaded with food, and crews were briefed on their secret mission; dropping food to the Dutch.
They were told that there were thousands of people in Holland dying of starvation due to the Nazi forces actions. Thanks to negotiations, there was a truce. As long as the bombers stuck to a set heading and height, the Nazi forces would allow food to be dropped to the Dutch population at the designated drop zones. The crews could only have one shot at dropping the food, and were not allowed to take any hostile actions against the Nazi forces.
The missions were not classed as combat missions, but if the took fire from the ground as some did the crew were credited with a combat mission, many ground crew flew along to assist with the dropping of food. Several crew members added chewing gum, chocolate, oranges, cigarettes and anything else they thought would be appreciated by the Dutch.
The 100th Bomb Group dropped their contributions between 1st May 1945 and 7th May 1945, and their ‘targets’ were Valkenburg, Hilversum, Shiphol, and Alkmaar. Operation Chowhound dropped 4000 tons of food along with the operation Manna contribution 11000 tons of food were dropped. It is estimated by some experts the lives of four Million people were saved.
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