Where is duxford air museum

De Anda had just blown up an oil car on a train believed to be carrying V-2 parts when flak put up by German ground defenses crashed through the tail of his plane fuselage. The 78th Fighter Group, Lt. De Anda's group, escorted heavy bombers on the second day of the all-out onslaught against German transportation on February 23rd. Lieutenant-Colonel Jack S.

Jenkins, of the 55th Fighter Group, and James J. Stone, of the 78th Fighter Group, stand in front of P Thunderbolt. A P Lightning CY-? A pair of dice, the emblem of the 55th Fighter Squadron, can be seen on one of the aircraft's wheels. Army Air Forces Training Command, parked up in the snow in front of one of the hangars at Duxford air base.

Men of the 78th Fighter Group stand beside the vehicle. Colonel John B. He is probably at Fowlmere air base, near Duxford, where the th Fighter Group were based between 5 April and 10 October Left to right: Captain Foy E.

The base was briefly the home of the th Fighter Group in late , but it was not until April that it became a fully American station when the 78th Fighter Group moved in. Duxford was not immune to the harsh weather of an East Anglian winter, though, and the damp muddy airfield was given a further nickname in 'Duckpond'. Duxford was built in the final months of the First World War. Its role was to train pilots for the rapidly-expanding Royal Flying Corps.

On the north side was the 'domestic camp' with all of the accommodation and mess buildings. On the south side was the technical site, including the airfield itself, the hangars, training huts and administration buildings. Duxford continued to be used for pilot training until , when it became a fighter airfield. The airfield was expanded and modernised in the s and s, when many of the barrack blocks, messes and institutes that so impressed the men of the 78th Fighter Group were built.

RAF Duxford, a Royal Air Force fighter station had been declared surplus to requirements by the Ministry of Defence in , and the museum duly requested permission to use part of one of the airfield's hangars as temporary storage. The museum, through the valuable source of revenue from hosting air shows, the first being in , and its volunteers, the museum applied for the permanent transfer of the entire site to its use.

Permission was received in February and Duxford became the first outstation of the Imperial War Museum. In the 6,ft runway was bought although it had to be shortened by about 1,ft due to the construction of the M11 motorway. There is also a ''s Operations Room' which was the nerve centre of Duxford's Battle of Britain, and a 'Land Warfare Hall' which is full of military vehicles.

Forgot password? Do you work in a museum? Log in to the online CMS to edit your museum listing:. Britain's largest aviation museum, Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly aircraft, military vehicles, artillery and minor naval vessels in seven main exhibitions buildings.

The site also provides storage space for the museum's other collections of material such as film, photographs, documents, books and artefacts. Duxford remained an active RAF airfield until Urban Design. Environmental Engineering. Structural Engineering. Urban Design and Landscape. Workplace Consultancy. Specialist Modelling Group. Materials Research Centre. Design Communications. Visualisation and Film. Project Management.