Sculthorpe
I suspect the reason why so many USAF fields in Europe initially had long runways was because the B47 needed them.
Re RB45s, I believe that the a/c used out of Sculthorpe for covert flights over the USSR also involved Canberras flown by RAF crews but painted in USAF colours. Quite why they pretended to be USAF I never worked out. The reason for using them was that the RB47s' ceiling was less than the Mig 17 and their own "Canberras" B57s were doing similar work in the far east.
Last edited by Pom Pax; 9th August 2002 at 04:13.