A flying accident at the base caused a nearby village to be damaged.
Cambridgeshire and its surrounding counties are home to many old RAF bases that played a hugely important role in the First and Second World Wars. Many of these bases have been lost completely and some are being turned into new housing developments.
However, some have been preserved and turned into museums like the Imperial War Museum Duxford or transformed into private airports and flying clubs. RAF Deenethorpe, found just outside Corby close to the Cambridgeshire border, still has one remaining tarmac runway that is used as a private airstrip.
The airbase was constructed in 1943 and was home to a range of units from the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force. The 401st Bombardment Group arrived at the airfield in October 1943, which operated against strategic targets including bombing industries, submarine facilities, shipyards, missile sites, marshalling yards, and airfields.
The group even received a Distinguished Unit Citation for striking German aircraft productions on January 11 and February 20 in 1944. As well as the group’s strategic missions, it also carried out attacks on transportation, airfields, and fortifications.
The group provided support for ground operations during the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July, the siege of Brest in August, and the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944. While many of the group’s operations were successful, there was a major accident at the RAF base on December 5, 1943.
A Fortress failed to get off the ground when trying to take off and ended up travelling through surrounding farmland before crashing into a cottage on the edge of Deenethorpe village. The crew that had survived the crash just had enough time to evacuate the wreckage.
The crew warned the villagers of the imminent explosion of the bomb load on board before it detonated. The blast damaged many houses in the village and could be felt nine miles away in Kettering.
After the end of the Second World War, the group left Deenethorpe in August 1945 and returned to Sioux Falls AAF. During its time at the base, the group had flown 255 combat missions.
The airbase was used as a RAF Recruiting Centre for a few years after the war and the control tower was a lookout post for the local Royal Observer Corps. The airfield was sold in 1963 and mainly returned to agriculture apart from part of the old runway. In 2017, 600 acres of the airfield was approved to be turned into a garden village, which would include a village green, shops, a community hall, and more than 1,000 homes.
More recently, RAF Deenethorpe was used as the site for an illegal rave. Northamptonshire Police were called to the airfield on Sunday, February 23, 2025, with reports of an unlicensed music event taking place. Hundreds of people were at the site and were removed by the police when they arrived at 1am.