Also known as Station 374
The story of RAF Bottisham
In 1943 the field went to the Eighth Air Force as Station 374. The 361st Fighter Group arrived on 30 November 1943, its aircraft marked with yellow cowlings and tails. It entered combat with P-47 Thunderbolts on 21 January 1944 and switched to P-51 Mustangs in May. The heavy P-47s struggled on the wet grass. In January 1944 American engineers laid a 1,470-yard runway of pierced-steel planking in three days, then a record. The group escorted bombers and joined Big Week and the Normandy invasion. It moved to Little Walden in September 1944.
Belgian airmen used Bottisham until it closed on 5 January 1946. The land went back to farming. The line of the steel-plank runway survives as a long, thick row of trees. The Bottisham Airfield Museum opened in 2009 in the last buildings inside the original perimeter.
Flying units
| Unit | Years | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|
| No. 241 Squadron | Westland Lysander, Curtiss Tomahawk, North American Mustang I | |
| No. 652 Squadron | 1942 | |
| No. 4 Squadron | 1943–1943 | Curtiss Tomahawk IIA, Mustang I |
| 361st Fighter Group, USAAF | 1943–1944 | Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang |
What survives
- The last wartime buildings inside the perimeter, restored by the museum
- The line of the steel-plank runway, now a row of trees
- A new Nissen hut on the site of a 1944 original
The museum on the airfield
| Museum | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottisham Airfield MuseumCambridge, Cambridgeshire | £6 | 4 | Bottisham hosted the 361st Fighter Group's Mustangs; the museum's restored buildings, Mustang connections and WWII jeep rides make it… |