Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
RAF Bottisham, five miles east of Cambridge, began the Second World War as a modest fighter-command satellite and ended it as a hard-worked American escort fighter base. Opened in March 1940, it initially served in a defensive, improvised atmosphere: Tiger Moths were even prepared for emergency anti-invasion duties, and the airfield also operated as a relief landing ground for training units. As the war evolved, Bottisham hosted Army Co-operation and tactical reconnaissance aircraft – types such as Lysanders and early Mustangs – reflecting the RAF’s need for low-level observation and liaison flying as well as pure air defence.
The airfield’s most famous chapter began when it was expanded and strengthened for American use. With steel matting and additional engineering work improving the surfaces, Bottisham was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces in early January 1944 and designated Army Air Force Station F-374. The timing mattered: the Eighth Air Force’s daylight bombing offensive was at full intensity, and long-range fighter escort had become the key to pushing deep into occupied Europe and Germany.
Bottisham became the first combat base of the 361st Fighter Group, arriving on 30 November 1943. The group brought three squadrons – 374th (B7), 375th (E2) and 376th (E9) – and initially flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Operations began on 21 January 1944 with the group tasked primarily with escorting B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator formations: covering the penetration, attack, and withdrawal phases of missions where a lapse in fighter cover could mean catastrophic bomber losses. Alongside escort work, Bottisham’s fighters flew counter-air patrols, offensive sweeps, and ground-attack sorties against airfields, marshalling yards, radar sites, transport, and fuel and ammunition targets. The 361st took part in the sustained assault on the German aircraft industry during ‘Big Week’ in February 1944 and then shifted emphasis as the invasion of Normandy approached: pre-invasion sweeps, post-landing support, and attacks designed to disrupt German movement toward the battlefront.
Bottisham’s physical limitations also shaped its story. The heavy P-47s and East Anglia’s wet conditions made the original surfaces problematic, and in January 1944 American engineers achieved a remarkable feat by laying a long pierced-steel planking runway in only a few days, giving the group a more dependable take-off and landing surface. In May 1944 the 361st converted to the North American P-51 Mustang, extending escort range and improving performance on long sorties. By September 1944, when RAF Little Walden became available with better permanent facilities, the group moved on – another example of how Allied air power constantly reorganised itself for efficiency as the campaign advanced.
After the main American fighter period, Bottisham saw short-term post-liberation use and then closed in early 1946. Much of the airfield was returned to agriculture, so the landscape today is quieter than its wartime peak. Yet the station’s significance remains substantial: Bottisham was a launching point for an Eighth Air Force escort group at the exact moment the air war tipped decisively, and its runways supported the fighters that helped make daylight strategic bombing survivable and effective.