Qualla: Duxford Aerodrome

Duxford Aerodrome: Introduction

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. On 15 September 1940, the day that became known as Battle of Britain Day, sixty Spitfires and Hurricanes scrambled twice from Duxford and nearby Fowlmere to intercept Luftwaffe formations attacking London. They were among the pilots and aircraft that turned the tide. The threat of German invasion passed. And the airfield that helped make that possible — a patch of Cambridgeshire countryside that had first been used for military flying in 1917 — is now owned by the Imperial War Museum and hosts one of the world's great collections of vintage aircraft. You can still take off from the runway if you want to. Concorde could not, by the time the museum shortened the strip in 1977 to accommodate a new motorway.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Duxford Aerodrome: Before the Battle

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sunil060902, CC BY-SA 3.0. Military use of the land around Duxford began at the Army Manoeuvres of 1912, but formal airfield construction started only in October 1917, as the First World War entered its final year. The first units arrived in March 1918, including members of the American Expeditionary Force...

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Image: Sunil060902 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Duxford Aerodrome: The Battle of Britain

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rob enwiki, CC BY-SA 3.0. By June 1940, Germany had overrun Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, and the invasion of Britain appeared imminent. Duxford was placed on high alert as the southernmost station of 12 Group, responsible for defending the Midlands and East Anglia. Squadrons of Czechoslovak and P...

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Image: Rob enwiki | CC BY-SA 3.0

Duxford Aerodrome: The Americans Arrive

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sebastian Ballard, CC BY-SA 2.0. After the last RAF units withdrew, Duxford was officially transferred to the United States Eighth Air Force on 15 June 1943. The 78th Fighter Group arrived in April 1943, re-equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts — their aircraft identifiable by a black-and-white chequerboard pattern — ...

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Image: Sebastian Ballard | CC BY-SA 2.0

Duxford Aerodrome: Museum of the Air

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ducatipierre, CC BY-SA 4.0. The RAF made its last operational flight from Duxford in July 1961, a Gloster Javelin departing into the sky and not returning. The aerodrome sat abandoned. In 1977, Cambridgeshire County Council joined with the Imperial War Museum and the Duxford Aviation Society to buy the runw...

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Image: Ducatipierre | CC BY-SA 4.0