RAF Bassingbourn

RAF Bassingbourn was constructed by John Laing & Son between 1937 and 1939 in the parishes of Wendy and Bassingbourn immediately to the west of the old A14 road (now marked as the A1198). The site selected was low ground between several tributaries of the River Cam. The area had been long cleared of forest and tended to be swampy and unstable, and because the boggy ground produced a persistent mist over the large meadow the site was considered ideal for airfield camouflage. The project was begun in April 1937 under the direction of Maurice Laing, with Reginald Silk as the site engineer and John Crowther the site surveyor. Four C Type hangars (300 ft long by 152 ft wide by 29 ft high, with…

W. & C. French Ltd. constructed three concrete runways surfaced with asphalt during the winter of 1941–1942: a 3600 ft runway aligned southwest to northeast, one of 2800 ft crossing it north–south, and a 3300 ft runway connecting the northern ends of the first two. The Class A airfield standard was promulgated by the Air Ministry in August 1942 and the runways at Bassingbourn were immediately extended. The main runway was lengthened to 6000 ft by extending it west, with the use of extensive tile drainage, across a moat off the Mill River. The north–south runway was extended 1300 ft south, and the third runway lengthened 1000 ft to the northwest. Additional perimeter track was added around…