RAF Fowlmere RAF Fowlmere is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , England Royal Air Force use . Flying at Fowlmere originated in 1918 when the airfield was used by Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Service Aero Squadrons . After the First World War ended , the hangars were all demolished along with the assorted buildings by 1923 . With the eruption of the Second World War , Fowlmere was intended to be a satellite for nearby RAF Duxford and was used by 19 Sqn with Supermarine Spitfire s along with 310 ( Czech ) , 133 ( Eagle ) , 154 , 111 , 655 , 411 ( Canadian ) and 2 Squadron ' s until March 1943 . United States Army Air Forces use . When the airfield was turned over to the USAAF , Fowlmere was expanded to meet the requirements of a complete fighter group . The airfield was assigned USAAF designation Station 378 It was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force fighter command . 339th Fighter Group . The 339th Fighter Group arrived at Fowlmere from Rice AAF , California on 4 April 1944 . The group was under the command of the 66th Fighter Wing of the VIII Fighter Command . Aircraft of the group were identified by a red / white chequerboard pattern . The group consisted of the following squadrons : The 339th FG Began operations with a fighter sweep on 30 April . The unit engaged primarily in Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress / Consolidated B - 24 Liberator escort duties during its first five weeks of operations , and afterwards flew many escort missions to cover the operations of medium and heavy bombers that struck strategic objectives , interdicted the enemy ' s communications , or supported operations on the ground . The group frequently strafed airfields and other targets of opportunity while on escort missions . the 339th received a Distinguished Unit Citation for operations on 10 and 11 September 1944 . On the first of those days , when it escorted bombers to a target in Germany and then attacked an aerodrome near Erding , the group destroyed or damaged many enemy planes despite the intense fire it encountered from anti - aircraft guns and small arms . The following day the bomber formation being escorted to Munich was attacked by enemy fighters , but members of the 339th group destroyed a number of the interceptors and drove off the others and at the same time , other members of the 339th were attacking an airfield near Karlsruhe , where they encountered heavy fire but were able to destroy or damage many of the aircraft parked on the field . The 339th provided fighter cover over the English Channel and the coast of Normandy during the invasion of France in June 1944 . Strafed and dive - bombed vehicles , locomotives , marshalling yards , anti - aircraft batteries , and troops while Allied forces fought to break out of the beachhead in France . Attacked transportation targets as Allied armies drove across France after the breakthrough at Saint - Lô in July . Flew area patrols during the airborne attack on Holland in September . Escorted bombers to , and flew patrols over the battle area during the German counter attack in the Ardennes ( Battle of the Bulge ) , December 1944 - January 1945 . Provided area patrols during the assault across the Rhine in March 1945 . Among all these varied activities , the outstanding feature of this group ' s combat record is the large number of enemy aircraft it destroyed in the air or on the ground during its one year of operations . The 339th Fighter Group returned to Camp Kilmer , New Jersey during October 1945 and was inactivated on 18 October . Postwar Royal Air Force use . With the departure of the Americans , Fowlmere was used briefly by No . 11 Group RAF RAF Fighter Command until January 1946 then closed and placed into care and maintenance status . It was eventually sold back to local farmers in 1957 . Current use . With the end of military control , the concreted areas and buildings of Fowlmere airfield were largely ground into aggregate and sold for local construction projects . The T - 2 hangar is still in use by a local farmer and there are a few decaying huts on the west side of Fowlmere village . Other than that , there is little else to indicate previous use of the site as an active fighter airfield . Only fragments of taxi - track remain , and part of a secondary runway is used for light aircraft .