RAF Bassingbourn

RAF Bassingbourn
USAAF Station 121
Royston, Cambridgeshire in England
1955 Aerial photograph
RAF Bassingbourn is located in Cambridgeshire
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Bassingbourn
Shown within Cambridgeshire
Coordinates52°05′48″N 000°03′11″W / 52.09667°N 0.05306°W / 52.09667; -0.05306
TypeRoyal Air Force station
* Parent Station
CodeBS[1]
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence
OperatorRoyal Air Force[2]
United States Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
Controlled byRAF Bomber Command (1938-1942; 1951-1969)
* No. 3 Group RAF
* No. 6 (T) Group RAF
* No. 7 (T) Group RAF
* No. 92 (OTU) Group RAF
Eighth Air Force (1942-1945)
RAF Transport Command (1945-1949)
United States Air Forces in Europe (1950-1953)
British Army (1969 – present)
Site history
Built1937 (1937)/38
Built byJohn Laing & Son Ltd
In useMarch 1938 - 2014 (2014)
Battles/warsEuropean theatre of World War II
Cold War
Airfield information
Elevation24 metres (79 ft)[1] AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
07/25 1,825 metres (5,988 ft) Asphalt
13/31 1,310 metres (4,298 ft) Asphalt
17/35 1,270 metres (4,167 ft) Asphalt

Royal Air Force Bassingbourn or more simply RAF Bassingbourn is a former Royal Air Force station located in Cambridgeshire approximately 3 mi (5 km) north of Royston, Hertfordshire and 11 mi (18 km) south west of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.

During the Second World War it served first as an RAF station and then as a bomber airfield of the Eighth Air Force, of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). It remains the home of the Tower Museum Bassingbourn.

  1. ^ a b Falconer 2012, p. 46.
  2. ^ "RAF Bassingbourn". Control Towers. Retrieved 26 March 2015.