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Imperial War Museum Duxford

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American Air Museum Duxford
General Dynamics F-111
A B-52 up close

The Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire, commonly referred to simply as 'Duxford', houses the Imperial War Museum's aircraft collection, as well as having a large collection of tanks, military and naval vehicles. The museum has seven main exhibition buildings with nearly 200 military and civil aircraft.

Duxford has maintained and still uses its wartime buildings, such as the Control Tower, Operations Room and hangars which were used in the 1940s. The Operations Room has been carefully reconstructed and to look as it did when RAF personnel directed Duxford's fighters during the Battle of Britain.

Duxford's American Air Museum (pictured), designed by Norman Foster, was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen in August 1997. It contains Duxford's collection of American military aircraft from First World War biplanes to supersonic jets. It is a tribute to American air power and a memorial to the 30,000 US airmen who lost their lives flying from British bases during the Second World War.

Although most famous for its aeroplane collection, Duxford also has a Land Warfare Hall that houses tanks, vehicles and artillery from the First World War to the Gulf war. Duxford has regular large air displays, which generally include Second World War fighters and bombers from many different nations, a variety of military jets, commercial aeroplanes and display teams such as the Red Arrows.

The displays

The American Air Museum

American Air Museum Duxford

The American Air Museum in Britain is primarily a memorial to the 30,000 Americans who died flying from the UK in the Second World War. The TBM Avenger is in the scheme George H. W. Bush used, and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the only one on display outside of the United States. The museum has its own gift shop and cafe. It has the following on display;

American Air Museum Duxford
SR-71 Blackbird
First Ever Test Concorde
Douglas C-47 Skytrain inside the museum
A-10 Thunderbolt

The British Aircraft collection

Britain has been important in the history of aircraft design, the collection reflects this with its military and civil aircraft on display. The display has the following exhibitions;

Hangar
Avro Lancaster
de Havilland Mosquito

The Battle of Britain Exhibition

This exhibition looks at the people and machines involved in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz of 1940 - 1941. It also shows Duxford's past as a fighter airfield. The exhibition is in Duxford's Hangar 4, which was used in the Battle of Britain. The following are on display;

German V1 flying bomb

Aircraft

Ground Defence

  • Leyland Mobile Workshop (First World War)
  • Standard Beaverette Armoured Car
  • Picket Hamilton Fort
  • 3.7" Anti-aircraft gun
  • Searchlight
  • Fordson WOT Balloon Winch
  • Air Raid Precautions Shelter
  • Austin Auxiliary Fire Service Truck
  • Nash Ambulance

The Normandy Experience

This exhibition recreates D-Day in 1944 when the Allies landed in Normandy in one of the biggest combined military operations ever attempted, when 150,000 American, British and Canadian and men as well as much equipment began the liberation. The display has part of the Pipe Line Under the Ocean (Operation Pluto). The display has the following exhibitions;

'Monty'

Bernard Law Montgomery is probably the most celebrated British military commander of the twentieth century. He was in charge of all Allied ground forces on D-Day. He led sometimes controversially, but ultimately successfully, to the end of the war in Germany. This exhibition has documents from the Imperial War Museum's collections and Montgomery’s three personal caravans that he used in North West Europe.

'The Forgotten War' Exhibition

The Forgotten War exhibition focuses on the personal, political and military aspects of the Second World War in the Far East, the Pacific and Burma between 1941 and 1945. This display consists of objects from the War, photographs and realistic scenes. The exhibition is a joint project between the Burma Star Association (BSA).

The Royal Anglian Regiment Museum

The Museum covers the history of the East and Royal Anglian Regiments since the amalgamations of the former County Regiments (ten Counties of East Anglia and the East Midlands) from 1958-60.

The Naval Collection

The display has the following exhibits;

Fairey Gannet AS6

The Land Warfare Hall

The Land Warfare holds Duxford’s collection of tanks, trucks and artillery and shows the technological advances in twentieth century warfare as exhibits are arranged chronologically from the First World War to the Gulf War. The hall has the following displays and exhibits;

  • North Africa
  • Northern France 1944
  • The Eastern Front
  • Centurion Tank
  • Vickers Light Mark VI tank
  • FWD General Service Truck

A history of Duxford

Duxford in the First World War

Duxford aerodrome, built during the First World War, was one of the earliest Royal Air Force bases established. During 1917 it was expanded to train Royal Flying Corps (RFC). The Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps were amalgamated to become the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918 this was the World's first fully independent air force.

Duxford opened as a flying school in September 1918 (known as No. 35 Training Depot Station), after the First World War ended in November 1918 the airfield was used as a base for the disbandment of squadrons across Europe.

Duxford in the mid war years

RAF Duxford became No.2 Flight Training School in 1920, flying the Avro 504, the DH9A, the Bristol Fighter and in 1923 flight training of Sopwith Snipes introduced.

Three fighter squadrons were formed at Duxford in 1924, numbers 19, 29 and III. Under reorganised Home Defence arrangements, Duxford became a fighter station, a role it was to carry out for the next 37 years.

By 1925 Duxford's three fighter squadrons had expanded to include the Gloster Grebes and Armstrong Whitworth Siskins. No.19 Squadron re-equipped with Bristol Bulldogs in 1931, and in 1935, was the first squadron to fly the RAF's fastest new fighter, the Gloster Gauntlet, capable of 230 mph (375 km/h). This squadron gave a special demonstration over Duxford on the occasion of King George V's Jubilee review of the Royal Air Force.

In 1936 Flight Lieutenant Frank Whittle, who was studying at Cambridge University, flew regularly from Duxford as a member of the Cambridge University Air Squadron. Whittle went on to develop the jet turbine as a means of powering an aircraft, this enabled Britain to produce the Allie’s first operational jet fighter in 1943 - the Gloster Meteor.

In 1938 No.19 squadron was the first RAF squadron to fly the new Supermarine Spitfire, the first Spitfire was flown into Duxford in August 1938 by Jeffrey Quill, the Supermarine's test pilot.

Duxford in the Second World War

On 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and Duxford was ready to play a vital role. By June 1940 Belgium, the Netherlands and France were under German control and the invasion of Britain was their next objective (Operation Sealion). Duxford was placed in a high state of readiness, to create space for additional units at Duxford, 19 Squadron moved to nearby Fowlmere. The dominance of the skies over Britain would be totally critical to keeping German forces out, this became known as The Battle of Britain. Hurricanes first arrived at Duxford in July with the formation of No.310 Squadron, which consisted of Czechoslovakian pilots escaped from France. At the end of August Air-Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory ordered the Hurricanes of 242 Squadron, down from Coltishall to join 19 and 310 Squadrons 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, 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.

On average sixty Spitfires and Hurricanes were dispersed around Duxford and Fowlmere every day. On 15 September 1940 they twice took to the air to repulse Luftwaffe attacks intent at bombing London. RAF fighter Command was victorious, the threat of invasion passed and Duxford's squadrons had played a critical role. This became known as 'Battle of Britain Day'.

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.

In April 1943 Duxford became fully under the control of the United States 8th Air Force. The 8th was the largest of the United States Army Air Forces at this time, with approximately 200,000 men at its peak strength. Duxford now became Base 357 and the headquarters of the 78th Fighter Group. The 78th Fighter Group flew P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs which escorted the large US daylight bomber raids in occupied Europe and Germany.

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe began, the 78th Fighter Group Thunderbolts gave air cover to the Allied invasion fleet as it crossed the Channel. Later the group took part in raids on targets ahead of the ground forces. By the end of the war the 78th had destroyed 697 enemy aircraft either in the air or on the ground.

After the war

An Avro Vulcan

Duxford was officially handed back to the Royal Air Force on 1 December 1945. The first RAF aircraft to return to Duxford were Spitfires but by 1947 they were replaced by Gloster Meteors. By 1951 a new concrete runway had been laid and a type T2 hangar built alongside the four First World War hangars. The original T2 hangar has gone now, and the Museum has since opened two more Second World War T2 hangars on the same site.

Duxford was too far south and too far inland to be strategically important and the costly improvements required for modern supersonic fighters could not be justified. In July 1961 the last operational RAF flight was made from Duxford by the Gloster Javelin FAW7. In 1969 The Ministry of Defence declared its intention to dispose of Duxford. Plans were even made for a sports centre or a prison were but were never finalised.

The Imperial War Museum had been looking for storage and renovation space for its displays too large for its headquarters in London, thus obtained permission to use the airfield for this purpose. Cambridgeshire County Council bought the runway in 1977 to give the abandoned aerodrome a new lease of life. Duxford is now established as the European centre of aviation history.

References

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