Duxford has maintained and still uses its wartime buildings, such as the Control Tower, Operations Room and hangars which were used in the 1940s. The Operations Room has been carefully reconstructed to look as it did when RAF personnel directed Duxford's fighters during the Battle of Britain.

Duxford's American Air Museum (pictured), designed by Norman Foster , was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen in August 1997. It contains Duxford's collection of American military aircraft from First World War biplane s to supersonic jets. It is a tribute to American air power and a memorial to the 30,000 US airmen who lost their lives flying from British bases during the Second World War.

Although most famous for its aeroplane collection, Duxford also has a Land Warfare Hall that houses tanks, vehicles and artillery from the First World War to the Gulf war. Duxford has regular large air displays, which generally include Second World War fighters and bombers from many different nations, a variety of military jets, commercial aeroplanes and display teams such as the Red Arrows .

The displays

The American Air Museum

General Dynamics F-111

The British Aircraft collection

Avro Lancaster

The Battle of Britain Exhibition

German V1 flying bomb

The Normandy Experience

'Monty'

'The Forgotten War' Exhibition

The Royal Anglian Regiment Museum

The Naval Collection

Fairey Gannet AS6

The Land Warfare Hall

A history of Duxford

Duxford in the First World War

Duxford opened as a flying school in September 1918 (known as No. 35 Training Depot Station), after the First World War ended in November 1918 the airfield was used as a base for the disbandment of squadrons across Europe.

Duxford in the mid war years

Three fighter squadrons were formed at Duxford in 1924, numbers 19, 29 and III. Under reorganised Home Defence arrangements, Duxford became a fighter station, a role it was to carry out for the next 37 years.

By 1925 Duxford's three fighter squadrons had expanded to include the Gloster Grebes and Armstrong Whitworth Siskins. No.19 Squadron re-equipped with Bristol Bulldog s in 1931, and in 1935, was the first squadron to fly the RAF's fastest new fighter, the Gloster Gauntlet, capable of 230 mph (375 km/h). This squadron gave a special demonstration over Duxford on the occasion of King George V's Jubilee review of the Royal Air Force.

In 1936 Flight Lieutenant Frank Whittle , who was studying at Cambridge University , flew regularly from Duxford as a member of the Cambridge University Air Squadron. Whittle went on to develop the jet turbine as a means of powering an aircraft, this enabled Britain to produce the Allies' first operational jet fighter in 1943 - the Gloster Meteor .

In 1938 No.19 squadron was the first RAF squadron to fly the new Supermarine Spitfire , the first Spitfire was flown into Duxford in August 1938 by Jeffrey Quill, the Supermarine's test pilot.

Duxford in the Second World War

A real bouncing bomb

On average sixty Spitfires and Hurricanes were dispersed around Duxford and Fowlmere every day. On 15 September 1940 they twice took to the air to repulse Luftwaffe attacks intent at bombing London. RAF fighter Command was victorious, the threat of invasion passed and Duxford's squadrons had played a critical role. This became known as 'Battle of Britain Day'.

Duxford became the home of several specialist units, including the Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU). The AFDU's equipment included captured German aircraft, which they restored to flying condition for evaluation. Duxford was crucial in developing the Hawker Typhoon into a formidable low-level and ground attack fighter and in 1942 the first Typhoon Wing was formed. The first Wing operation took place on 20 June 1942.

In April 1943 Duxford became fully under the control of the United States 8th Air Force . The 8th was the largest of the United States Army Air Forces at this time, with approximately 200,000 men at its peak strength. Duxford now became Base 357 and the headquarters of the 78th Fighter Group. The 78th Fighter Group flew P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs which escorted the large US daylight bomber raids in occupied Europe and Germany.

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe began, the 78th Fighter Group Thunderbolts gave air cover to the Allied invasion fleet as it crossed the Channel. Later the group took part in raids on targets ahead of the ground forces. By the end of the war the 78th had destroyed 697 enemy aircraft either in the air or on the ground.

After the war

An Avro Vulcan

Duxford was too far south and too far inland to be strategically important and the costly improvements required for modern supersonic fighters could not be justified. In July 1961 the last operational RAF flight was made from Duxford by the Gloster Javelin FAW.7. In 1969 The Ministry of Defence declared its intention to dispose of Duxford. Plans were even made for a sports centre or a prison were but were never finalised.

The Imperial War Museum had been looking for storage and renovation space for its displays too large for its headquarters in London, thus obtained permission to use the airfield for this purpose. Cambridgeshire County Council bought the runway in 1977 to give the abandoned aerodrome a new lease of life. Duxford is now established as the European centre of aviation history.

Image gallery

See also

     Thin-shell structure

External links

     [ Cambridge American war memorial and cemetery ]
     [ View from Google map ]

References

<Visitor attractions in Cambridgeshire>
<Archives in England>
<Military museums in England>
<Museums in England>
<Norman Foster buildings>
<Museums sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport>