The WW2 airbase that history nearly forgot - on purpose
In rural south Norfolk lies RAF Fersfield, USAAF Station 554 - built in secret during WW2 to full bomber-station spec, but never given a bomb group. Used for just two extraordinary purposes - America's first combat-drone missions, and the RAF raid that destroyed the Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen.
- Station 140/554Originally named Winfarthing (USAAF station number 140) when allocated to the United States Army Air Forces in 1942. Renamed Fersfield - Station 554.
- No bomb group based here, used for testing secret technologyAphrodite and Anvil drones were tested here
- 12 Aug 1944Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'s last flight began here
- Operation CarthageThe brave but tragic RAF mission to free prisoners from Copehagen's Gestapo HQ
Start here
This day in history - 4 August 1944 saw the first Operation Aphrodite missions take off from Fersfield, and the tragic death of 1st Lt. John W. Fisher
Operation Aphrodite begins - a summary of the first day of missions on 4th August 1944
RAF Fersfield — USAAF Station 554
The story of Fersfield airfield, Norfolk: built in secret as a satellite of Knettishall, home to the Aphrodite drone project and the launch point of the Copenhagen Shellhus raid.
Operation Aphrodite — the drones, and the death of Joe Kennedy
From Fersfield in 1944, volunteer crews flew explosive-packed bombers they intended to bail out of — early television-guided drones aimed at Hitler's V-weapon bunkers. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. never got the chance to jump.
Operation Carthage — the Copenhagen raid
On 21 March 1945, Mosquitos flying from Fersfield destroyed the Gestapo headquarters in the centre of Copenhagen — a raid of extraordinary precision, a resistance saved, and a school struck by tragedy.
What remains today
Farm roads that were perimeter track, hut ruins in the hedgerows, a wartime hangar full of malting barley, and a granite memorial — what's left of Station 554, and what happened to the rest.
Latest news
1 August 2026
Welcome to this new site - RAF Fersfield finally has a home
Why this site exists, what you'll find here, and how you can help tell the story of Station 140/554.