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Imperial War Museum Duxford Airfield

During the Second World War, RAF Duxford played a prominent role in Britain’s air defence including the Battle of Britain in 1940 when its squadrons took to the air to repulse Luftwaffe attacks aimed at London. In April 1943, RAF Duxford was reassigned to the USAAF 78th Fighter Group, whose primary job was to escort the vast fleets of US Eighth Air Force bombers on their daylight raids against Germany and On D-Day, 6 June 1944, every available 78th Fighter Group Thunderbolt supported the Normandy invasion by attacking targets behind the beachheads.

Following the end of the war, Duxford was returned to the RAF and it remained an active RAF airfield until 1961. During the Cold War LinkExternal link period, Duxford was equipped with jet fighters such as the Gloster Meteor, Hawker Hunter and Gloster Javelin but the costly improvements required for supersonic fighters could not be justified and the last operational flight from RAF Duxford was in July 1961.

The Imperial War Museum obtained permission to use the airfield to storage, restore and display exhibits too large for its headquarters in London and today, IWM Duxford is established as Britain’s largest aviation museums and one of Europe’s premier centres of aviation history, housing nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artillery and minor naval vessels in seven main exhibition buildings. The site also provides storage space for the museum's other collections of material such as film, photographs, documents, books and artefacts.

Many of Duxford's original buildings, such as hangars used during the Battle of Britain, are still in use. Many of these buildings are of particular architectural or historic significance in themselves and over thirty have listed building status.

LinkExternal link IWM About Duxford
by David Dixon

Created: Sat, 26 Oct 2019, Updated: Sat, 26 Oct 2019


66 images use this description. Preview sample shown below:

TL4646 : IWM Duxford, Pre-Production Concorde Cockpit by David Dixon
TL4646 : Hangar 2 by Ian Capper
TL4646 : Two-seater Spitfire at Duxford Airfield by David Dixon
TL4546 : Wartime Operations Room, RAF Duxford by David Dixon
TL4546 : Building 61 by Ian Capper
TL4545 : Honor Guard (detail) by David Dixon
TL4545 : Dragon Rapide Landing at Duxford by David Dixon
TL4546 : Hangar 5 by Ian Capper
TL4545 : The Land Warfare Hall, IWM Duxford by David Dixon
TL4546 : Airspeed Ambassador at IWM Duxford by David Dixon
TL4545 : American Air Museum by Ian Capper
TL4546 : Hangar 5 by Ian Capper
TL4545 : The Royal Anglian Regiment Memorial, IWM Duxford by David Dixon
TL4646 : Memphis Belle by David Dixon
TL4545 : Land Warfare Hall by Ian Capper
TL4545 : Imperial War Museum Duxford, The United States Honor Guard by David Dixon
TL4545 : Memorial Window, American Air Museum at Duxford by David Dixon
TL4646 : Hangar 1 by Ian Capper
TL4545 : American Air Museum by Ian Capper
TL4545 : IWM Duxford by Ian Capper
TL4545 : The Royal Anglian Regiment Memorial by Ian Capper
TL4546 : Hangar 5 by Ian Capper
TL4646 : World War II Control Tower, Duxford Aerodrome by David Dixon
TL4546 : Nissen Huts at Duxford Airfield by David Dixon
TL4646 : Control Tower/Watch Office by Ian Capper

... and 41 more images.

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