Duxford Aerodrome Duxford Aerodrome is located south of Cambridge , within the Parish of Duxford , Cambridgeshire , England and nearly west of the village . The airfield is owned by the Imperial War Museum ( IWM ) and it is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the American Air Museum , which is conveniently located there , quite near to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial between Madingley and Coton , west of Cambridge City and only north of Duxford . Duxford Aerodrome has a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority ( CAA ) Ordinary Licence ( Number P678 ) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee ( Cambridgeshire County Council ) . The aerodrome is not licensed for night use . History . Royal Air Force . Duxford airfield dates to 1918 when many of the buildings were constructed by German prisoner - of - war labour . The airfield housed 8 Squadron in 1919 – 1920 which was equipped with F . 2Bs . The airfield was then used by No . 2 Flying Training School until April 1923 , when 19 Squadron was formed at Duxford with Sopwith Snipe s . By 1925 Duxford ' s three fighter squadrons had expanded to include the Gloster Grebe s and Armstrong Whitworth Siskin s . No . 19 Squadron was re - equipped with Bristol Bulldog s in 1931 , and in 1935 , was the first squadron to fly the RAF ' s fastest new fighter , the Gloster Gauntlet , capable of 230 mph ( 375 km / h ) . The station was enlarged between 1928 and 1932 . In 1935 , Duxford was the venue for the Silver Jubilee Review before King George V and Queen Mary , the resident squadron still being No . 19 . This squadron gave a special demonstration over Duxford for the King . In 1936 Flight Lieutenant Frank Whittle , who was studying at Cambridge University , flew regularly from Duxford as a member of the Cambridge University Air Squadron . Whittle went on to develop the jet turbine as a means of powering an aircraft , this enabled Britain to produce the Allies ' first operational jet fighter in 1943 - the Gloster Meteor . In 1938 No . 19 Squadron was the first RAF squadron to fly the new Supermarine Spitfire . The first Spitfire was flown into Duxford on 4 August 1938 by Jeffrey Quill , Supermarine ' s chief test pilot . On 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and Duxford was ready to play a vital role . By June 1940 Belgium , the Netherlands and France were under German control and the invasion of Britain was their next objective ( Operation " Sea Lion " ) . Duxford was placed in a high state of readiness , to create space for additional units at Duxford , 19 Squadron moved to nearby Fowlmere . The dominance of the skies over Britain would be totally crucial to keeping German forces out , this became known as The Battle of Britain . Hurricanes first arrived at Duxford in July with the formation of 310 Squadron , which consisted of Czechoslovakia n pilots who had escaped from France . At the end of August Air Vice - Marshal Trafford Leigh - Mallory , the commander of No . 12 Group , ordered the Hurricanes of 242 Squadron commanded by Douglas Bader to come down from Coltishall to join 19 and 310 Squadrons which were on daily standby at Duxford . These units became known as the ' Big Wing ' . On 9 September the Duxford squadrons successfully intercepted and turned back a large force of German bombers before they reached their target . This proved Duxford ' s importance , ( but see the article on the Big Wing ) , so two more squadrons were added , No . 302 ( Polish ) Squadron with Hurricanes , and the Spitfires of No . 611 Auxiliary Squadron which had mobilised at Duxford a year before . On average sixty Spitfires and Hurricanes were dispersed around Duxford and RAF Fowlmere every day . On 15 September 1940 they twice took to the air to repulse " Luftwaffe " aircraft intent on bombing London . RAF fighter Command was victorious , the threat of invasion passed and Duxford ' s squadrons had played a critical role . This became known as ' Battle of Britain Day ' . In recognition of the efforts , achievements and sacrifices made by the squadrons and airmen during the Battle of Britain , the " gate guard " aircraft on display at the entrance gate to IWM Duxford is a Hawker Hurricane II , squadron code WX - E of No . 302 ( Polish ) Squadron , Serial No . P2954 , flown by Flight Lieutenant Tadeusz Pawel Chlopik , RAF ( Polish Air Force ) . Duxford became the home of several specialist units , including the Air Fighting Development Unit ( AFDU ) , which moved to the station at the end of 1940 . The AFDU ' s equipment included captured German aircraft , which were restored to flying condition for evaluation . Duxford was important in developing the Hawker Typhoon into a formidable low - level and ground attack fighter and in 1942 the first Typhoon Wing was formed . Its first operation took place on 20 June 1942 . Other RAF Fighter Command units which operated from Duxford were : 19 , 56 , 66 , 133 , 181 , 195 , 222 , 242 , 264 , 266 , 310 , 312 , 601 , 609 , 611 Squadrons and the AFDU . USAAF . Duxford airfield was assigned to the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) in 1943 and then became known by the USAAF as " Station 357 ( DX ) " . It was allocated to the Eighth Air Force fighter command . Duxford was the initial home of the 5th Air Defense Wing which arrived from Norfolk Municipal Airport , Virginia on 3 July 1943 . The unit was redesignated the ' 66th Fighter Wing ' and was transferred to Sawston Hall near Cambridge on 20 August 1943 . The 350th Fighter Group was activated at Duxford on 1 October 1942 by special authority granted to the Eighth Air Force with a nucleus of P - 39 Airacobra pilots with the intention of providing a ground attack fighter organisation for the Twelfth Air Force in the forthcoming Operation " Torch " , ( the invasion of North Africa ) . Initially , the group received export versions of the Airacobra , known as the P - 400 , and a few Spitfires . The air echelon moved to Oujda , French Morocco during January – February 1943 . After this the last RAF units moved out and on 15 June 1943 Duxford was officially handed over to the Eighth Air Force . The 78th Fighter Group arrived at Duxford from RAF Goxhill in April 1943 . Upon transfer from Goxhill , the group lost its P - 38 Lightning s when these aircraft were withdrawn for use as replacements for units fighting in North Africa . In addition most of the 78th FG ' s pilots were also transferred to the Twelfth Air Force as replacements . Thus the group was re - equipped with P - 47 C ' s and remained at Duxford . Aircraft of the group were identified by a black / white chequerboard pattern . The group consisted of the following squadrons : The 78th FG was first equipped with P - 47s and converted to P - 51 Mustang s in December 1944 . The group flew many missions to escort B - 17 Flying Fortress ( B - 17 ) ) and B - 24 Liberator bombers that attacked industrial complexes , submarine yards and docks , V - weapon sites and other targets in Continental Europe . The unit also engaged in counter - air activities and on numerous occasions strafed and dive - bombed airfields , trains , vehicles , barges , tugs , canal locks , barracks and troops . In addition to other operations , the 78th participated in the intensive campaign against the German Air Force and aircraft industry during Big Week , 20 – 25 February 1944 and helped to prepare the way for the invasion of France . The group supported the Normandy landings in June 1944 and contributed to the breakthrough at Saint - Lô in July . The unit participated in the Battle of the Bulge , December 1944 - January 1945 and supported Operation " Varsity " , the airborne assault across the Rhine , in March . The 78th Fighter Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for activities connected with Operation " Market - Garden " , the airborne attack on Holland , in September 1944 when the group covered troop carrier and bombardment operations and carried out strafing and dive - bombing missions . The group received a second DUC for destroying numerous aircraft on five airfields near Prague and Pilsen in Czechoslovakia on 16 April 1945 . The 78th Fighter Group returned to Camp Kilmer , New Jersey in October 1945 and was inactivated on 18 October . Postwar use . On 1 December 1945 , a few weeks after the departure of the 78th Fighter Group , Duxford was returned to the RAF . For the next sixteen years , it remained an RAF Fighter Command station , although it was closed for two years from October 1949 to have a single concrete runway laid . This , together with a new perimeter track and apron allowed for the better handling of jet aircraft with which Fighter Command was re - equipping . Duxford reopened in August 1951 . In 1957 , 64 Squadron operated Gloster Javelin s and 65 Squadron flew Hawker Hunter s . These were the last two operational squadrons to fly from the airfield . Two years later , Duxford was chosen to provide the aircraft for the 1953 Coronation Flypast . Duxford was too far south and too far inland to be strategically important and the costly improvements required for modern supersonic fighters could not be justified . In July 1961 the last operational RAF flight was made from Duxford by a Gloster Javelin FAW . 7 jet fighter . On 1 August 1961 , a Gloster Meteor NF . 14 made the last take off from the runway before Duxford closed as an RAF airfield and was abandoned . In 1968 Duxford was used as one of the locations for the shooting of the film The Battle of Britain . On 21 June and 22 June , one of the original World War I hangars was blown up in stages for the filming ( without the concurrence of the Ministry of Defence ) and the airfield was spectacularly filmed from the air in a realistic bombing sequence . Ironically this was the nearest Duxford came to being destroyed as no significant wartime German raids were carried out on the aerodrome . The French château , seen at the beginning of the film , was constructed on the south - west corner of the airfield . Around 1968 the Cambridge University Gliding Club moved some of its flying to Duxford . Subsequently all club flying was moved to the site . In 1969 The Ministry of Defence declared its intention to dispose of Duxford . Plans were even made for a sports centre or a prison were but were never finalised . Today , RAF Duxford is owned by the Imperial War Museum and is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford , and the American Air Museum . The museum had been looking for a suitable site for the storage , restoration and eventual display of exhibits too large for its headquarters in London and obtained permission to use the airfield for this purpose . Cambridgeshire County Council joined with the Imperial War Museum and the Duxford Aviation Society and in 1977 bought the runway to give the abandoned airfield a new lease of life . Also in 1977 the main runway was shortened from by about due to construction of the M11 motorway , which passes along the eastern side of the airfield . The final aircraft to land at Duxford before the runway was shortened was Concorde test aircraft G - AXDN , now on display in the Airspace hangar . In October 2008 , an agreement was reached between Cambridgeshire County Council and the Imperial War Museum , under which the runways and of surrounding grassland would be sold to the museum for approximately £1 . 6 million . The Imperial War Museum and Cambridge University Gliding Club coexisted on the site for many years , but In 1991 increasing restrictions led the club to move to Gransden Lodge . The site is sometimes used by Formula One teams such as Renault and Lotus for testing . On Tuesday , 3 July 2012 María de Villota suffered an ultimately fatal accident while testing at the airfield for Marussia F1 . The following day , team principal John Booth issued a statement which confirmed that the accident resulted in the loss of de Villota ' s right eye . De Villota later died in October 2013 , as a result of long - term neurological damage sustained in the accident .