RAF Upwood
RAF Upwood is a
United States Air Force installation adjacent to the village of
Upwood,
Cambridgeshire in the
United Kingdom. It is one of three bases in Cambridgeshire used by the
US Air Force; RAF Upwood,
RAF Molesworth and
RAF Alconbury are considered the Tri-Base Area.
World War I
The
Royal Flying Corps requisitioned 160 acres of farmland near the village of Upwood in 1917. In September of that year the station opened as Bury (Ramsey). This initial name referred to its location near the near village of
Bury and the larger market town of
Ramsey. Initially there were no permanent flying units assigned to the station. Instead,
No. 75 Squadron flying
BE.2 aircraft out of Elmswell,
Suffolk used the station as a night-landing ground and satellite field.
Upon opening, there were no permanent buildings at the airfield. By the summer of 1918 a number of huts and five hangars were in place. It was during this time that the field was renamed Upwood.
In July 1918,
No. 191 (Night) Training Squadron moved to Upwood. In addition to BE.2s, 191 NTS also flew the
DH.6. While at Upwood they converted to the
FE.2b.
In October 1918,
No. 190 (Night) Training Squadron arrived flying the
504K.
After the end of
World War I in November 1918, the squadrons were no longer needed and were disbanded in May and June of 1919. The airfield itself was returned to the local community and the buildings cleared. This ended the first round of activity at RAF Upwood.
The Inter-War Years
In the early
1930s, Britain realized its air defense capabilities were in dire need of revamping. The major expansion of the
Royal Air Force announced in 1934 resulted in many new airfields opening over the remainder of the decade. One of these was RAF Upwood. The old World War I airfield site was selected to be reactivated and expanded. The new base was designed to accommodate two medium
bomber squadrons with room for a third. By 1936, construction had begun in earnest with two of five C-type hangers started.
On 27 February 1937 the first flying unit arrived at Upwood in the form of
No. 52 Squadron flying
Hawker Hinds. This unit was joined on 1 March by
No. 63 Squadron and its
Hawker Audaxes.
During their time at Upwood, 52 and 63 Squadrons became training units and took on both
Fairey Battle and
Avro Anson aircraft. In August and September 1939, the two squadrons were reassigned opening the field up to its new tenant,
No. 90 Squadron flying
Bristol Blenheims.
World War II
With the invasion of
Poland on 1 September 1939,
World War II was underway. However, 90 Squadron spent most of its time in air-to-air firing and bombing practice. They were joined in February 1940 by another medium bomber unit,
No. 35 Squadron, flying both Blenheims and Ansons.
Both Upwood squadrons were not destined to see frontline combat as, on 8 April 1940, they were merged into the new
No. 17 Operational Training Unit and tasked with training aircrews.
Although the Upwood units were not taking a direct part in the war, they did see some action. On two occaisions in 1940 and once in 1942 the base was attacked by
Luftwaffe aircraft. However, only one person was killed during these raids. On 1 February 1941 a spy, Josef Jakobs, was captured by farmers after he had parachuted into the area, breaking a leg in the process. He was discovered to have maps of the RAF Upwood area, a code device and almost 500 Pound Sterling in his possession. Jakobs was susequently sent to the Tower of London where he was tried, found guilty and executed by
firing squad.
Since its opening in 1937, Upwood had seen frequent periods where flying operations had to be curtailed or halted altogether due to the grass airfield being unservicable. This unservicablity was caused by the levels of rain and general dampness of the area. When 17 OTU was chosen for transition to
Vickers Wellington bombers, it was decided to move the unit from Upwood as the field would never take the pounding from these heavier aircraft. When 17 OTU departed for
RAF Silverstone in April 1943, Upwood was left with no aircraft. The RAF took this opportunity to begin construction of three concrete runways. These runways were completed by October.
The first flying unit to use the new runways at Upwood was
No. 139 Squadron flying
Mosquitos. They arrived in late January 1944 and flew their first mission against on 2 February, a single plane mission to drop target indicators over
Berlin. On 5 March Upwood became home to
No. 156 Squadron and its
Lancasters. They flew their first mission from Upwood on 15 March, attacking
Stuttgart with 22 aircraft.
Cold War Era
With the end of World War II came a change in missions for the two squadrons at Upwood. 156 Squadron was tasked with bringing food to Holland in support of
Operation Manna then help repatriate former Prisoners of War as part of
Operation Exodus. On 27 June the squadron was moved from Upwood.
In place of the departing 156 Squadron came
No. 105 Squadron, also flying Mosquitos. Both 105 and 139 Squadrons continued flying from RAF Upwood until February 1946. On 1 February 139 Squadron moved to
RAF Hemswell. On 4 February 105 Squadron was disbanded.
Flying operations didn't cease for long. On 15 February Upwood became home to
No. 102 Squadron flying
Liberator bombers. They spent the next several months bring British troops home from India. On 1 March the squadron was redesignated
No. 53 Squadron. The squadron was disbanded on 25 June, soon after its last ferry flight.
Two new squadrons of Lancasters called Upwood home starting on 29 July with arrival of
No. 7 Squadron and
No. 49 Squadron. On 4 November,
No. 148 Squadron and
No. 214 Squadron were both reformed at Upwood. These new additions were part of a transition of Upwood from a training to attack mission. Both of the new squadrons also flew Lancasters.
The four squadrons continued to fly their Lancasters until 1949 when they were transitioned to
Avro Lincolns. Lincolns from 148 Squadron deployed to
Shallufa in January 1952 to reinforce British units in the
Suez Canal Zone. This was in response to riots in Cairo and a generally unstable political situation in Egypt.
During 1954 each of the four squadrons deployed to either
RAF Tengah in Malaysia in support of anti-communist operations there or to
Kenya in support of operations against the
Mau Mau. Additionally, Lincolns from 214 Squadron took part in a secret mission in connection with nuclear trials conducted near
Woomera,
Australia.
On 31 December 1954 Upwood lost one of its four flying units when 214 Squardron disbanded. This unit was replaced on 22 May 1955 when
No. 18 Squadron moved to Upwood from
RAF Scampton. This squadron brought something completely new to the base in the form of their
Canberra jet bombers. This was followed by more Canberras when
No. 61 Squadron moved in from
RAF Wittering on 3 July.
Two more Lincoln squadrons disbanded on 1 August, 49 and 148. This was followed by the disbanding of the last Lincoln squadron, No. 7, on 1 January 1956. These were replaced throughout 1956 by more Canberra units;
No. 50 Squadron on 9 January,
No. 35 Squadron on 16 July and
No. 40 Squadron on 1 November. However, this last squadron was disbanded on 15 December 1956.
Eight Canberras each from of Nos. 7, 18, 35 and 50 Squadron flew to
Cyprus on 19 October in support of
Operation Alacrity. Over four days in early November, these aircraft took part in raids on various targets in Egypt. This was the first combat operations by Upwood aircraft since World War II. The 32 planes returned to Upwood just in time for
Christmas, arriving home on 24 December.
The next two years saw a series of unit disbandments and arrivals culminating in a slow windoing down of flying operations at Upwood. On 1 February 1957, No. 18 Squadron was disbanded. On 31 March 1968 No. 61 Squadron disbanded.
No. 542 Squadron arrived on 17 July along with
No. 76 Squadron. No. 542 Squadron was renamed to
No. 21 Squadron on 1 October. The year 1959 saw the disbanding of No. 21 Squadron (15 January) and No. 50 Squadron (1 October). On 31 December 1960, No. 76 Squadron disbanded. The final flying unit, No. 35 Squadron, was disbanded on 11 September 1961.
With the disbanding of No. 35 Squadron Upwood was transferred to
Strike Command who quickly set about transfoming the base into hub of various support activities. Over the next several months the base became home to
No. 4 Ground Radion Servicing Section,
Radio Technical Publications Squadron, the
Aeromedical Training Centre, the
Joint School of Photographic Interpretation and three squadrons of
33 Field Wing,
RAF Regiment.
The different units had barely settled in when change came again. In early 1963 the RAF Regiment units departed. In 1964 the other units left as well leaving Upwood with only a token care-taker staff.
In March 1964, the
22 Group of
Technical Training Command arrived and set up their
School of Management and Work Study. July saw the arrival of the
School of Education and the
RAF Central Library followed in September by the
School of Administration. Upwood was again becoming focused on training. Later training units included the
Equipment Officers Traning Centre and the
Air Cadet Training Centre.
These various training activities lasted, in one form or another, until the late
1970s. By 1981, the base was again almost dormant. However, the arrival of United States Air Force personnel in December 1981 started a whole new round of activity. Upwood soon became a satellite base of RAF Alconbury, providing housing and support services for personnel stationed there. In 1986, a multi-million dollar medical facility was opened to provide out-patient services to American military members in the area.
Post-Cold War
The current host unit for RAF Upwood is the
423d Air Base Group, headquartered at nearby RAF Alconbury.
With the end of the
Cold War, operations at RAF Alconbury diminished. Accordingly, the need for RAF Upwood as a support base diminished as well. During the latter part of the
1990s, the most of the base was vacated and the land and buildings sold off in pieces by the
Ministry of Defence. Housing for American military personnel continued until the summer of 2005 when the last family was moved to RAF Alconbury and the housing units were returned to Ministry of Defence control. Today, the only military presence at RAF Upwood is the US Air Force clinic supporting personnel stationed at RAF Alconbury. Although preliminary ideas for moving this facility have been discussed, no plans have been made as of 2006.
Since 1982, the Nene Valley Gliding Club has conducted its
glider operations from a field that occupies the site of the old runways. Initially these operations were under an agreement with the Ministry of Defence. However, in 1995 the club was told they would need to find a new home as the land was going to be sold off. The club was unable to locate a suitable new home and was preparing for the possibility of having to close when the purchaser of the land, Marshal Papworth, agreed to lease the land to the club for 10 years. This has allowed the club to continue flying from Marshals Paddock (so named by the club after their benefactors death in 2000).
In 2004 Turbine Motor Works purchased a large amount of property on the former base including the four C-type hangars. Their plan is to convert the property into a state-of-the-art jet engine overall facility. Together with the Nene Valley Gliding Club, this facility will ensure that the former RAF base will continue its aviation legacy well into the 21st Century.
*
List of RAF stations*
List of US Air Force bases*
United States Air Force in the United Kingdom* Airfield Focus 70: Upwood. Author: John F. Hamlin. Publisher:
GMS Enterprises*
RAF Upwood entry at GlobalSecurity.org*
Turbine Motor Works web site*
Nene Valley Gliding Club web site*
Image gallery of RAF Upwood in 2003*
Aerial Photo From Multimap.Com
