History of the 437th Troop Carrier Group

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The 437th Troop Carrier Group (TCG) was activated in May 1943 at Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana. One of five locally based American Troop Carrier Groups that made up the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing of the 9th Troop Carrier Command, US 9th Army Air Force and one of fifteen similar Troop Carrier Groups based in the UK, the 437th travelled the southern route from the USA via Brazil, Ascension Island and North Africa arriving in early 1944.

Residing briefly at RAF Balderton near Newark on Trent the 437th soon moved south to spend the period February 1944 through February 1945 at Station 469, RAF Ramsbury; a 500 acre standard Air Ministry bomber airfield constructed between 1941 and 1942 on the escarpment to the South of the village.

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Flying Douglas C47 Skytrain or Dakota aircraft, the 437th flew from RAF Ramsbury on some of the most renowned operations of WW2.

On June 6th and 7th 1944 they dropped paratroopers and towed GC4A and Horsa gliders to landing zones in France carrying troops, ammunition, rations and other supplies for the US 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions as part of the vanguard of Operation Overlord the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

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In mid July of 1944 elements of the 437th were sent to Montalto di Castro in Italy to provide airlift capability for Operation Dragoon the 15th August Invasion of Southern France. Following their baptism of fire in Normandy, this was an operation that was heavily sweated out in advance but in the end met with little resistance, succesfully delivering ninety-four thousand troops, eleven thousand vehicles and a twenty-mile Allied penetration within the first twenty-four hours.

On August 2nd 1944 the First Allied Airborne Army (1AAA) was activated and on September 17th as part of this new Allied force, the 437th participated in Operation Market Garden the largest airborne operation in history.

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Seventy C47 and glider combinations left Ramsbury that day as part of a joint airborne and armored force, tasked with securing a series of river bridges in occupied Holland, and as such this was the 437th’s darkest day, sustaining the loss of seven C47’s, 18 crew and one glider pilot including 86th Squadron Commanding Officer Col Ralph Lear.

The final major mission undertaken by the 437th Troop Carrier Group from Ramsbury commenced on December 23rd 1944 when the group became the first unit of the 53rd Wing to fly a desperately needed resupply airdrop mission to the besieged men of the 101st Airborne Division encircled in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

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With think fog blanketing the country, UK airspace could not be utilised to maintain the resupply effort and both Christmas eve and Christmas day were to pass until on the afternoon of the 26th the men of the 437th were finally able to deliver further essential supplies to the paratroopers on the ground in Bastogne who only a few months before had themselves called Ramsbury their home.

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In January word of an impending move to France spread through the ranks and on February 25th the 437th bade farewell to Station 469 en route to Coulommiers and the nearby bright lights of Paris.

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Further men still would make the ultimate sacrifice before the 437th’s war ended, and all 73 of the units WW2 dead are listed on a stone tablet in Ramsbury’s Holy Cross church.