September 2023: This month’s invited speaker was Andy Strange who told us about the ‘History of WW2 Airfields in the East of England’. Using South Cambs/North Herts airfields as examples, Andy talked about the RAF and USAAF air war against Germany. For example, in 1939 the RAF had 280 airfields but by the end of the war in 1945 this had risen to 720 airfields nationwide. If you could put all these together, that's enough runway to have a 30 foot wide road from London to Peking!
By 1942 a new 'A' class airfield was being completed every 3 days in the UK. Of the national total 143 airfields were in East Anglia and these would include RAF Bassingbourn, RAF Steeple Morden, RAF Gransden Lodge and RAF Nuthampstead. We’ll hear the story of the development of our airfields and the part they, and the men and women who served on them, played during WW2.
| Event type: | Meeting - past event |
| Date: | Wednesday 20th September 2023 |
| Time: | 2:30 pm |
| Group: | monthly speaker meeting |