Royal Air Force Witchford or RAF Witchford is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

station about southwest of Ely,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and north of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Cambridgeshire.

History

* No. 115 Squadron RAF first started using RAF Witchford from 26 November 1943 with the

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

II before changing to the Mk I and III Lancasters in March 1944 before moving to

RAF Graveley RAF Graveley is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Huntingdon. The station was originally intended to operate under No. 3 Group RAF, alongside RAF Tempsford and RAF Gransden Lodge. Station history Work on the site started in 194 ...

on 10 September 1945. * No. 195 Squadron RAF reformed at the airfield on 1 October 1944 with the Lancaster I and III before moving to RAF Wratting Common on 13 November 1944 where the squadron disbanded on 14 August 1945. *

No. 196 Squadron RAF No. 196 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron originally formed as a training unit during World War I. It was active during World War II in Nos. 3, 4 and 38 Group RAF. It served first as a bomber squadron and later as an airborne support an ...

started using the airfield on 19 Jul 1943 with the

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

X until these were replaced with the

Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Stirling was designed during t ...

III during their stay. The squadron left on 18 November 1943 moving to

RAF Leicester East Royal Air Force Leicester East, more commonly known as RAF Leicester East , is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Stoughton, east southeast of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was constructed in 1942 and formally ...

. *

No. 513 Squadron RAF No. 513 Squadron RAF was a non-operational bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force in 1943. History No. 513 squadron was formed from a flight of No. 218 Squadron on 15 September 1943 at RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire. It worked up for the Short ...

formed at Witchford on 15 September 1943 with the Stirling III before disbanding on 21 November 1943 at the airfield. * No. 29 Aircrew Holding Unit. A total of 99 bombers despatched on operations from Witchford were lost, 8 being Stirlings and 91 Lancasters. RAF Witchford was initially included among the initial sites for the

Project Emily Project Emily was the deployment of American-built Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 1963. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operated 60 Thor missiles, dispersed to 20 RAF air stations ...

deployment of

PGM-17 Thor The PGM-17A Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic m ...

intermediate range ballistic missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ba ...

s, at the instigation of the Americans in 1958, but the land was owned by the

Church Commissioners The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

, and nearby

RAF Mepal RAF Mepal is a former RAF station located south of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, England and west of Ely. Construction commenced in July 1942 and opened in June 1943. History Mepal first hosted No. 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF flying Short Stirlings and l ...

was substituted. The main selection criterion was the condition of the road network connecting the bases; a grade of more than one in seventeen was considered an unacceptable risk of grounding the missile transport. An extensive history of the station, with some coverage of RAF Mepal, is contained in 'Memories of RAF Witchford' by Barry and Sue Aldridge.

Current use

Most of the site is now the Lancaster Way Business Park,"Lancaster Way, a modern business park in Ely, Cambridgeshire", ''Cambridge Independent'' 08 March 2017, accessed 29 July 2021. with the rest used for farming.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links