Royal Air Force Metfield or more simply RAF Metfield is a former Royal Air Force station located just to the southeast of the village of Metfield, Suffolk, England. Metfield was built as a standard, Class-A bomber design airfield, consisting of three intersecting concrete runways, fifty dispersal points and two T-2 type hangars. Additional buildings were also erected to house about 2,900 personnel on former farmland to the southwest. When it was constructed in 1943, it necessitated the closure of the B1123 road between Halesworth and Harleston. History USAAF use The airfield was built for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force as a heavy bomber field. During the Second World War it was known as USAAF Station 366. Metfield was one of the most isolated Eighth Air Force stations in Suffolk. 353rd Fighter Group The first American occupants of Metfield was the 353rd Fighter Group, moving in from RAF Goxhill on 3 August 1943. The 353rd was assigned to the 66th Fighter Wing, at Sawston Hall, Cambridge. Operational squadrons of the 353d were: 350th Fighter Squadron (LH) 351st Fighter Squadron (YJ) 352nd 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. Equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolts, operations commenced on 12 August 1943. It was the fourth P-47 unit to join the Eighth Air Force. From Metfield the 353rd flew numerous counter-air missions and provided escort for bombers that attacked targets in western Europe, made counter-air sweeps over France and the Low Countries, and dive-bombed targets in France. On 12 April 1944 the 353rd moved to RAF Raydon. 491st Bombardment Group (Heavy) With the departure of the P-47's of the 353d, a Consolidated B-24 Liberators bombardment group, the 491st Bombardment Group (Heavy) moved in. The 491st starting arriving on 15 May and the last aircraft arrived on 30 May 1944. The 491st was assigned to the 95th Combat Wing at RAF Halesworth. The group tail code was a Circle "Z". Its operational squadrons were: 852nd Bombardment Squadron (3Q) 853rd Bombardment Squadron (T8) 854th Bombardment Squadron (6X) 855th Bombardment Squadron (V2) The squadrons were unusual in it having its ground complement recruited from other stations of the 2nd Air Division. The group commenced operations on 2 June 1944. The 491st attacked airfields, bridges, and coastal defenses both preceding and