CAMBRIDGESHIRE AIRFIELDS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR

GRAHAM SMITH

COUNTRYSIDE BOOKS
2002

Cambridgeshire's flat terrain and its proximity to the east coast made it an ideal location for the allied air forces during the last war. By 1944 there were 24 operational airfields, from which RAF and US A AF bombers flew increasingly larger raids into the dangerous, smoke-filled skies of occupied Europe.

The first operational air sortie of the war was made by a lone Blenheim from Wyton. The county was the home of Bomber Command's No. 8 Group, the Pathfinders, using airfields such as Alconbury, Bourn, Oakington, and Warboys. And it was at Bassingbourn that the American B17 Memphis Belle, immortalised in the film of the same name, was based.
This book describes the history of each airfield - both RAF and USAAF - and highlights the major operations and raids carried out from them. The effects of the war on the daily lives of the people of Cambridgeshire, and the constant dangers they suffered, are also detailed.

Graham Smith's action-packed book will appeal equally to aviation enthusiasts and to readers who recall the era when the skies over Cambridgeshire never ceased to throb with the drone of departing and returning aircraft.

21 x 15 cm. 288 pp.

Very good + condition, small (3mm) crease to top corner of last page and rear cover, otherwise like new.