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Overview
RAF Duxford, south of Cambridge, is one of Britain’s most iconic wartime airfields. Established during the First World War and developed into a major fighter station in the inter-war period, Duxford played a central role in the Battle of Britain, later became a hub for advanced fighter development, and then served as a major USAAF fighter base – an unusually broad wartime career for a single airfield.
Fighter Command and the Battle of Britain
In 1940 Duxford was the southernmost station in RAF Fighter Command’s No. 12 Group, responsible for defending the Midlands and East Anglia. During the Battle of Britain the station hosted and supported multiple squadrons, including units of British, Commonwealth and occupied-nation pilots. Hurricane squadrons such as No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron and No. 302 (Polish) Squadron were among those associated with Duxford, alongside auxiliary and regular RAF units. Duxford’s squadrons flew interceptions, patrols and rapid scrambles, aiming to break up bomber formations and engage fighters before raids reached their targets.
Duxford is inseparable from the ‘Big Wing’ controversy: large formations of fighters, championed by commanders in 12 Group, were assembled to deliver massed attacks on incoming raids. The debate over whether this approach was superior to smaller, faster responses became one of the defining strategic arguments of the battle, and Duxford’s name appears repeatedly in that story.
Air Fighting Development Unit
From December 1940, Duxford became home to the Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU), a specialist organisation that tested tactics and evaluated new aircraft types. Work at Duxford included the assessment of aircraft such as the Hawker Typhoon, de Havilland Mosquito and North American Mustang, and the station hosted captured enemy aircraft restored for evaluation. This work mattered enormously: improvements in tactics, gunnery, formation discipline and aircraft handling filtered back into operational squadrons and shaped how the RAF fought in the later war.
USAAF Station 357
In 1943 Duxford was assigned to the United States Army Air Forces and became USAAF Station 357 under VIII Fighter Command, Eighth Air Force. The airfield was an early home to the 350th Fighter Group, activated for the forthcoming North African campaign. Its most famous USAAF resident was the 78th Fighter Group, which arrived in April 1943. Initially equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts (and later converting to P-51 Mustangs in December 1944), the 78th escorted B-17 and B-24 bomber formations to targets across Europe, attacked airfields and transport, and supported ground operations from Normandy to the Rhine. The group earned Distinguished Unit Citations, including one linked to operations during Market Garden and another for fighter sweeps late in the war.
Legacy
Returned to the RAF after 1945, Duxford later became the home of the Imperial War Museum’s aviation collections. Today, the preserved hangars, perimeter track and airfield environment make it a rare place where visitors can connect directly with layered wartime history – Battle of Britain fighter operations, experimental development work, and the USAAF’s escort fighter war – on one historic site.