Duxford Aerodrome - Former RAF Duxford | airport, Second World War 1939-1945, RAF - Royal Air Force, Army Air Field US, closed / former military, former air force base, aviation museum

 airport, Second World War 1939-1945, RAF - Royal Air Force, Army Air Field US, closed / former military, former air force base, aviation museum

Duxford Aerodrome (IATA: QFO, ICAO: EGSU) is located 8 NM (15 km; 9.2 mi) south of Cambridge in the village of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is owned jointly by the Imperial War Museum and Cambridgeshire County Council and is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the American Air Museum.

Duxford Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P678) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Cambridgeshire County Council). The aerodrome is not licensed for night use.

History
RAF use
Duxford airfield dates to 1918 when many of the buildings were constructed by German prisoner-of-war labour. The airfield housed 8 Squadron in 1919–1920 which was equipped with F.2Bs. The airfield was then used by No. 2 Flying Training School until, April 1923 when 19 Squadron was formed at Duxford with Sopwith Snipes.

In 1938 No.19 Squadron was the first RAF squadron to fly the new Supermarine Spitfire. The first Spitfire was flown into Duxford on 4 August 1938 by Jeffrey Quill, Supermarine's chief test pilot. At the end of August 1939 Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory the commander of No. 12 Group ordered the Hurricanes of 242 Squadron commanded by Douglas Bader to come down from Coltishall to join 19 and 310 Squadrons which were on daily standby at Duxford.

A real bouncing bomb
On 9 September the Duxford squadrons successfully intercepted and turned back a large force of German bombers before they reached their target. This proved Duxford's importance,(but see the article on the Big Wing,) so two more squadrons were added to the Wing, No.302 (Polish) Squadron with Hurricanes, and the Spitfires of No.611 Auxiliary Squadron which had mobilised at Duxford a year before.

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.

During the Battle of Britain, Duxford was the centre of the 'Big Wing' controversy advocated by the Air Officer Commanding of No. 12 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory. Then, at the end of 1940, the Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) moved to Duxford with the job of evaluating new aircraft types including captured enemy aircraft.Other RAF Fighter Command Squadrons which operated from Duxford were : 19, 56, 66, 133, 181, 195, 222, 242, 264, 266, 310, 312, 601, 609, 611, AFDU.

USAAF use
USAAF Station #357

Duxford airfield was assigned for United States Army Air Force (USAAF) use in 1943 known by the USAAF as "Station 357 (DX)". It was assigned to the Eighth Air Force fighter command.
66th Fighter Wing
Duxford was the initial home of the USAAF 5th Air Defense Wing which arrived from Norfolk Municipal Airport Virginia on 3 July 1943. The unit was redesignated the 66th Fighter Wing and was transferred to Sawston Hall near Cambridge on 20 August 1943.
350th Fighter Group

78th Fighter Group
Republic P-47C-2-RE Thunderbolts of the 82d Fighter Squadron. AAF Serial No. 42-6249 (2nd from front) was lost after ditching in North Sea off Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands after being hit by anti-aircraft fire February 10, 1944. Pilot MIA
The group consisted of the following squadrons:
82d Fighter Squadron (MX)
83d Fighter Squadron (HL)
84th Fighter Squadron (WZ)

On 1 December 1945, a few weeks after the departure of the 78th Fighter Group, Duxford was returned to the RAF. For the next sixteen years, Duxford remained an RAF Fighter Command station, although it was closed for two years from October 1949 to have a single concrete runway laid down. This, together with a new perimeter track and apron allowed for the better handling of jet aircraft with which Fighter Command was re-equipping.

Today, RAF Duxford is owned by the Imperial War Museum and is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and the American Air Museum. Cambridgeshire County Council joined with the Imperial War Museum and the Duxford Aviation Society and in 1977 bought the runway to give the abandoned airfield a new lease of life. In October 2008, an agreement was reached between county council and the Imperial War Museum, under which the runways and 146 acres (0.59 km2; 0.228 sq mi) of surrounding grassland would be sold to the museum for approximately £1.6 million.The Imperial War Museum and Cambridge University Gliding Club coexisted on the site for many years, but In 1991 increasing restrictions led the club to move to Gransden Lodge. The site is sometimes used by Formula One teams such as Renault and Lotus for testing.

mighty8thaf.preller.us/php/1Loc.php?Base=Duxford
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum_Duxford