Footsteps of WWII · Britain
IWM Duxford
Airfield · Aug 1938 – 1945 (Battle of Britain Jul–Oct 1940)
The story
Duxford became a fighter station in 1925, and in August 1938 its No. 19 Squadron was the first RAF unit to fly the Spitfire. In the Battle of Britain it was a sector station of No. 12 Group, guarding East Anglia and the Midlands and sending squadrons south to help 11 Group over London. From March 1943 the US Eighth Air Force's 78th Fighter Group flew from here, first with P-47 Thunderbolts and from December 1944 with P-51 Mustangs, escorting bombers and attacking ground targets until the war ended. The last RAF flight left in 1961, and the Imperial War Museum took over the site, which keeps many original wartime buildings.
What to look for
Original hangars, the control tower and the restored Operations Block, pilots' briefing room and crew rooms show a working 1940 fighter station. Spitfire N3200 is on display, and Norman Foster's American Air Museum holds a B-17 and other US aircraft.
Plan your visit
Open daily; from 25 October the site closes at 16:00. Adult from about £26.80, booking online advised. Flying days and air shows are extra events. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Bletchley Park · 60 km
- Bentley Priory Museum, Stanmore · 61 km
- St Paul's Cathedral and the Blitz, London · 66 km
- Churchill War Rooms, London · 68 km
- Imperial War Museum London · 68 km
- Battle of Britain Bunker, Uxbridge · 74 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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