Royal Air Force Witchford, or more simply RAF Witchford, is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

sub-station about southwest of Ely,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and north of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Cambridgeshire.

History

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

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, 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 ...

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

RAF Graveley Royal Air Force Graveley or more simply RAF Graveley is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located south of Huntingdon. The station was originally intended to operate under No. 3 Group RAF, alongside RAF T ...

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 started using the airfield on 19 Jul 1943 with the

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is 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 t ...

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) during the war (the earlier Handley ...

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 List of former Royal Air Force stations, station, near the village of Stoughton, Leicestershire, Stoughton, east southeast of Leicester, L ...

* No. 513 Squadron RAF formed at Witchford on 15 September 1943 with the Stirling III before disbanding on 21 November 1943 at the airfield * No. 29 Air Crew Holding Unit between October 1945 and March 1946 * An element of No. 3 Lancaster Finishing School RAF between May and July 1944 A total of 99 bombers despatched on operations from Witchford were lost, 8 being Stirlings and 91 Lancasters. RAF Witchford was at first 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 operative ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was named after the Thor, Norse god of thunder. It was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range b ...

intermediate range ballistic missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ball ...

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 Royal Air Force Mepal or more simply RAF Mepal is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, England and west of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Construction commenced in July 1942 and opened in June 1943. History Mepal fi ...

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.

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

* * * *

External links

* – by a former RAF Squadron 115 pilot
Loss of Lancaster HK559
- an account of just one crew lost from Witchford and of subsequent commemoration ceremonies
The RAF Witchford & Mepal Display
– collection of memorabilia * An extensive history of the station, with some coverage of RAF Mepal, is contained in 'Memories of RAF Witchford' by Barry and Sue Aldridge. {{DEFAULTSORT:Witchford Military units and formations established in 1943 Royal Air Force stations in Cambridgeshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom

History

Current use

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links