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 Stansted, in Essex, has one of the clearest ‘dual identity’ wartime stories in Britain: it began as a Fighter Command airfield in the Battle of Britain era and later became a major United States Ninth Air Force medium bomber base. Its location – close to London, with good access to the Channel routes – made it valuable for defence and then for the offensive air campaign that supported the liberation of Europe.
In 1940, Stansted was used by Fighter Command units flying Hawker Hurricanes and, later, Supermarine Spitfires as the RAF defended south-east England. Like other stations in this belt, it operated within the wider control system of radar stations, observers and sector operations rooms. Fighters were held at readiness, scrambled rapidly, and turned around at pace by ground crews refuelling and rearming in dispersal pens. The station also became part of the RAF’s dispersal and satellite scheme: aircraft could be spread to reduce vulnerability and to keep the system functioning even under attack.
Stansted’s best-documented WWII chapter begins in 1943 when it was allocated to the USAAF and became Station 169. The station hosted the 344th Bombardment Group (Medium), flying the Martin B-26 Marauder. The group’s squadrons – 494th, 495th, 496th and 497th Bomb Squadrons – operated from Stansted as part of Ninth Air Force’s tactical bomber force. The B-26 was fast and effective but demanded disciplined handling; with training and experience, Marauder groups achieved strong accuracy and comparatively low loss rates in the later campaign.
From Stansted, the 344th attacked targets closely tied to the ground war: bridges, rail marshalling yards, coastal batteries, airfields and fortified positions. In 1944, this meant intense activity in the weeks before D-Day, striking transportation and defensive targets in France to isolate the battlefield. After the invasion, the focus remained on interdiction – breaking rail links and bridges to slow German movement and supplies. This was air power used as a tactical lever, and Stansted’s runways were a launch platform for that lever.
- Fighter Command phase (1940-41): Hurricanes/Spitfires in the south-east defence system.
- USAAF phase (Station 169): 344th Bomb Group (Medium), Martin B-26 Marauder; squadrons 494th/495th/496th/497th.
- Operational themes: pre-invasion rail/bridge strikes, coastal battery attacks, and ongoing tactical interdiction supporting Allied armies.
RAF Stansted’s WWII significance is the way it embodies transition – from emergency defence to offensive, invasion-support air power – and does so with a clear set of units and aircraft that allow visitors to understand exactly what the airfield was built to deliver.
This station also contributed by reducing bottlenecks and improving safety: spreading traffic across the network, providing diversion capacity, and sustaining training throughput when weather or congestion threatened to slow the wider system.
This station further contributed by reducing bottlenecks and improving safety: spreading traffic across the network, providing diversion capacity, and sustaining training throughput when weather or congestion threatened to slow the wider system.
This station further contributed by reducing bottlenecks and improving safety: spreading traffic across the network, providing diversion capacity, and sustaining training throughput when weather or congestion threatened to slow the wider system.