Qualla: Fowlmere Airfield

Fowlmere Airfield: Introduction

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The red-and-white chequerboard markings of the 339th Fighter Group's P-51 Mustangs were the last military aircraft to operate from Fowlmere Airfield before the Americans went home in 1945. The concrete was eventually broken up, sold as aggregate for local construction projects, and the land returned to farmers. Today the airfield is a grass strip — runway 07/25, PPR required — where the British Aerobatic Academy trains pilots and the Fowlmere Airfield Museum opens one Sunday a month. The ghosts of the Spitfires that scrambled from here to defend London in September 1940 are not visible, but they are present.

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Fowlmere Airfield: Born in Wartime

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Flying at Fowlmere began during the First World War. In 1918, three Royal Air Force squadrons — Nos. 124, 125, and 126 — used the field. American flying cadets from the Air Service of the United States Army were trained here by RAF instructors before deployment to the Western Fro...

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Fowlmere Airfield: Spitfires Over the Scrubs

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

During the Battle of Britain, 19 Squadron based their Supermarine Spitfires at Fowlmere after moving from Duxford to create space for additional units. On any given day during the summer and autumn of 1940, aircraft from both Fowlmere and Duxford would have been airborne over sou...

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Fowlmere Airfield: The American Chapter

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When the Americans took over, Fowlmere was expanded to accommodate a complete fighter group. Designated USAAF Station 378, it became home to the 339th Fighter Group, which arrived from Rice Army Air Field in California on 4 April 1944. The 339th flew under the 66th Fighter Wing o...

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Fowlmere Airfield: Flight Context

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Fowlmere Airfield (EGMF) is located at 52.0788°N, 0.0580°E, approximately 4.2 miles northeast of Royston and 8.8 miles southwest of Cambridge. The grass runway 07/25 is visible from the air as a pale strip in the agricultural landscape. PPR is required before landing. Duxford Aerodrome (EGSU) is 8 miles to the northeast. London Stansted Airport (EGSS) is approximately 28 km to the south-southwest. The M11 motorway is visible to the east, and the flat Cambridgeshire countryside makes the airfield easy to identify from altitude.

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