RAF Atcham Flag Pole
RAF Atcham is a former Royal Air Force station located 5 miles east of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
Initially built for RAF Fighter Command, during the Second World War, its primary use was by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force.
It was mainly the home of the 495th Fighter Training Group, where pilots were trained to fly Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and Lockheed P-38 Lightnings.
The base continued to see use as a training base until it was returned to the RAF in March 1945.
After the war, RAF Atcham was returned to farmland with the runways broken up and the control tower demolished. During demolition, the original WW2 flag pole was saved by a dairy farmer from Brosely in Shropshire named Deryck Roberts.
Deryck had an interest in the wartime history of RAF Atcham and recognized that the pole has to be saved.
Deryck displayed it in his farm yard, often raising the US flag on memorial day events.
In 2025, Julian Millington of Chetton Heritage Museum purchased the flag pole from Derycks daughter Emma, and brought it back to Chetton.
The pole has been restored to its former glory, including its original ability to swing up or down for maintenance.
At present, the site of RAF Atcham now forms Atcham Business Park, but there are still traces remaining, including one of the runways, which is now part of the B4394.
The flag pole acts as a memorial to the airmen that lost there lives flying from the base, of which there were many, mostly in Shropshire.