Roger A. Freeman (11 May 1928 – 7 October 2005) was an English farmer who also became a noted military aviation historian specialising in US
Eighth Air Force operations during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Early life
Born in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
,
Suffolk, Freeman grew up on the family farm in
Dedham, Essex
Dedham is a village within the borough of Colchester in northeast Essex, England, on the River Stour and the border of Essex and Suffolk. The nearest town to Dedham is the small market town of Manningtree.
Governance
Dedham is part of the elect ...
. In 1943,
Martin B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company.
First used in t ...
bombers of the US
Eighth Air Force’s 386th Bomb Group arrived at
Boxted airfield – less than two miles away – sparking Freeman’s lifelong fascination with the wartime
US Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
operating from Britain. When his father was granted permission to cut the airfield’s grass for haymaking, the young Freeman made the most of opportunities to examine the aircraft and befriend personnel on the base – later tenants of which included the
354th Fighter Group
The 354th Fighter Group was an element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Ninth Air Force during World War II. The unit was known as the Pioneer Mustang Group and was the first to fly the P-51B Mustang in combat. The group served as bombe ...
of the
Ninth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...
; and the Eighth Air Force’s
56th Fighter Group which, flying
Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, became the highest-scoring
USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
group in the European theatre.
The teenage Freeman also took bicycle rides to see many other airfields in the East Anglian counties of
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
,
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
,
Suffolk and
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, and collated aircraft identification numbers – a hobby that once led to a security alert and a warning from his headmaster at
Colchester High School
Colchester High School is a coeducational independent school located in Colchester in Essex, England. The school is owned and operated by the Cognita Group. Colchester High is the only coeducational independent school in Colchester to offer sec ...
.
Works
Interviewed in 2002, Freeman recalled a sight in February 1945, the sheer scale of which set him on a course to writing a book about the US Eighth Air Force. "It was a freezing morning with excellent visibility. Two columns of bombers were going out, one overhead
edhamand the other over Suffolk, which I could see by the contrails. I counted 28 formations, and knew there’d be about 40 planes in each. So I was looking at more than 1,000 planes – 10,000 men – going to war." Formed in 1942, the Eighth Air Force could muster more than 3,000 bombers and fighters by 1944, and operated from some 60 airfields in what Freeman called the "greater
East Anglia area" of England.
After the war, Freeman continued to work for his father and began writing about agriculture for local publications including the ''
Essex County Standard
The ''Essex County Standard'' is a weekly newspaper, published in Colchester, Essex. In August 2019 Newsquest announced it would no longer subscribe to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the body that provides independently verified circulation ...
''. He also began to impart his knowledge about the wartime USAAF with articles for aviation magazines and started to collate material for his planned book. Much of this included official documents sourced from the United States as well as personal accounts and photographs from USAAF veterans. Taking over the family farm in 1959, it would be another 11 years before Freeman could finish his book, a task in which he was assisted by his wife, Jean, whom he married in 1956.
In 1970, just before the book began its first print-run in the US, the publishers asked if Freeman would change its long title to something more succinct. He decided on ''The Mighty Eighth'', a term widely used since and even adopted by the post-war US Eighth Air Force during its association with
Strategic Air Command. The book was an instant success and has been translated into several languages. While continuing his farming, Freeman followed it up with a series of titles under the same banner, including ''The Mighty Eighth War Diary'', ''The Mighty Eighth War Manual'' and the ''Mighty Eighth in Colour''. His overall output of some 60 books also included works about the wartime
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
, individual aircraft studies, airfield histories and profiles of USAAF units – including the Boxted-based 56th Fighter Group of Freeman's youth. Aside from aviation, he also wrote books in the rural dialect local to the Dedham area, including ''I Mind the Time: Country Goings-on'' and ''That Were Like This Here''.
The original ''Mighty Eighth'' book helped to galvanise veterans’ groups in the US and led to Freeman's appointment as historian and symposium moderator of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society. He was also a consultant for the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force near Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1990s. The museum's study department is today known as the ‘Roger A. Freeman Eighth Air Force Research Center’. In the UK, Freeman was an important figure in the creation of the American Air Museum at the
Imperial War Museum Duxford
Imperial War Museum Duxford is a branch of the Imperial War Museum near Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Britain's largest aviation museum, Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artill ...
, Cambridgeshire. In 2012 the museum acquired the bulk of his archive of research material and made the photographs available online at the crowd-sourced American Air Museum website.
[ ] Meanwhile, his knowledge led to consultancy roles for many TV documentaries and the job of technical adviser for the 1989
David Puttnam
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (born 25 February 1941) is a British film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include ''Chariots of Fire'', which wo ...
/Catherine Wyler film ''
Memphis Belle''.
Death
Freeman died of cancer in October 2005.
References
*
* - obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Roger A.
Writers from Ipswich
British military historians
1928 births
2005 deaths
People from Dedham, Essex