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RAF Upwood 1997 (Bldg 70 - The
Guardroom)
Just south of the village of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, a
promontory of higher ground projects into the Fenland levels and
during the last six months of the First World War a Home Defence
landing ground was brought into use here, housing two night training
squadrons with their mixed fleets of Fe2's and Be2's. It was only a
temporary arrangement and following the end of hostilities the site
reverted to agriculture in 1919. Less than twenty years later,
Hitler had come to power and it was becoming desperately urgent to
increase the strength of the RAF. Sites for eleven new bomber
stations were being sought in East Anglia and in 1935 the old Upwood
landing ground came back into service as part of a much larger area
of land which was requisitioned for one of the new airfields,
During the next eighteen months construction rapidly gathered
momentum, and four ‘C’ type hangars were constructed and as with all
of the airfields built under the RAF Expansion Scheme, the station
buildings were laid out in typically formal arrangement alongside
the Ramsey-Upwood road. These included a headquarters building,
workshops, stores, messes and barrack blocks, all built in the
modern neo-Georgian style and similar to other bases being
constructed at this time. The opening process began in January 1937
and during that year 52 and 63 Squadrons worked up here on their
newly received Battles. To create the Bomber Command of 1939, an
enormous expansion was needed and between now and the outbreak of
war the station was absorbed into a continuous regime of training.
As the threat of war and enemy bomber attacks increased, so
dispersals were constructed around the perimeter and the station
buildings were camouflaged, whilst over at Alconbury, six miles to
the south west, a grass satellite was prepared.
In the spring of 1939 it was decided that both of the Upwood
squadrons would form part of the crew training organisation, rather
than becoming operational, and within the first week of war they
left en route for their new home at Benson. Upwood, henceforth would
continue as a Group Pool / Operational Training Unit (OTU) station,
but now with Blenheims, rather than Battles, and would prepare crews
for the squadrons in 2 Group. The first Blenheims, a mixture of
short-nosed Mark I's and the operational Mark IV's, flew in with 90
Squadron on 16 September, and Upwood's complement of aircraft was
later brought up to strength when 35 Squadron moved in the following
February. At this stage the airfield was still a modest grass
landing ground, oval in shape and giving a maximum take off run of
1,150 yards in the direction north east / south-west. A perimeter
track was still under construction and seven branches led from it to
clusters of five or six distinctive ‘spade’-shaped hardstandings.
Across the airfield, on the north west side, was a bomb stores of
the inter-war design, which were later superseded by a standard
wartime bomb dump nearby, whilst on the south side was a cluster of
technical buildings which would later prove to be an obstruction
when hard surface runways were built.
In April 1940, 35 and 90 Squadrons were amalgamated to form 17 OTU,
and although it was always intended to base all OTU's outside the
areas in the east of the country which contained most of the
operational airfields, this unit was to remain here for the next
three years as the most easterly of all the bomber training
stations. This had always been intended as a temporary measure,
until a suitable alternative base could be found, and in March 1941,
for example plans were being drawn up to house squadrons of Bostons
here operating under the proposed new 8 Group. Meanwhile Upwood was
a busy place, with an establishment of over 50 aircraft:
24 + 8 Blenheim IV
12 + 4 Blenheim I (Dual)
12 + 4 Anson
The flying programme was often intensive but unfortunately was
hampered by the frequent unserviceability of the landing ground.
Alconbury was no longer available, as it had been taken over by RAF
Wyton and was in use for operational flying, so a new satellite for
Upwood, complete with runways, was being prepared at Warboys, but
this would not be ready until July 1941. Much use had to be made
therefore of whatever airfield capacity could be found in the area.
From January 1941 the unit maintained a large detachment at the
uncompleted airfield at Polebrook for example, located eleven miles
to the west and on the other side of the Great North Road.
It was at Upwood that the service trials were carried out of
‘synthetic’ night flying training, using coloured goggles and hood
panels and in September 1941, 1511 Flight was also formed here to
carry out Blind Approach Training on the local beam equipment. At
about the same time an extension on the south side of the airfield
was brought into use which increased the length of the longest grass
runway by some 300 yards. Training continued apace and the course
included practice bombing on ‘ship’ targets at North Wootton and
Whittlesey as well as on ranges further inland at Grimstone Warren
and Yardley Hastings.
The opening of the much more convenient satellite at Warboys
simplified training considerably but only for about twelve months,
since in August 1942 this, too, had to be given up to become one of
the first ‘Pathfinder’ stations. At the same time 17 OTU was reduced
to half size and for a while it made use of Steeple Morden. The days
of Blenheim training were now numbered and in April 1943 the unit
closed down at Upwood and transferred to the new airfield at
Silverstone where it converted to Wellingtons.
RAF Upwood was now at last, earmarked for operational use and was
allocated to the Pathfinder Group. Before it could be used by heavy
bombers, however, it was essential to lay concrete runways, and
major extensions were made on the south and east to provide for a
main north east / south-west strip of 2,000 yards, and north / south
and east / west subsidiaries of 1,400 and 1,600 yards respectively.
Unfortunately due to this expansion a large number of the former
dispersals became ‘sterilised’ because they lay in the immediate
approaches and overshoot areas of the new runways and to take their
place it was necessary to construct thirty new ‘loop’ hardstandings
around the greatly extended perimeter track. This had to be pushed
out in all directions, except, of course, towards the hangars and
substantial lengths of the old track were left, cut off, within the
new circuit.
On the old airfield there had been a four-way junction between two
stretches of the perimeter track on the south side, one of the
dispersal branches leading to a small cluster of hardstandings and
the internal roadway linking the hangars with a group of technical
buildings in this vicinity. For convenience and to ease marshalling
of aircraft, a large rectangular apron had been built at this
junction, which had then been quite a focal point, but with the new
layout it was marooned between two runways and could only be reached
from the south.
By November 1943, the new runways were virtually complete, and
although much remained to be done to make the camp itself ready for
its new role, the hangars were brought back into use to house the 8
Group centralised Mosquito Servicing Section, which handled all
major work on the growing fleet of aircraft of this type which were
playing such a key part in Pathfinder operations. At last, on 1st
February 1944 the Mosquitoes of 139 Squadron arrived at Upwood to
become the station's first operational unit. They were joined five
weeks later by the Lancasters of 156 Squadron, which had been flying
from Warboys since August 1942. Although both units were Pathfinder
squadrons, their activities were quite different. Whilst the
Lancasters led and formed part of the Main Force (MF), marked the
targets, maintained the illumination of the target area and dropped
a considerable weight of bombs, the Mosquitoes adopted a more
tactical approach. Instead they flew ahead of the MF in smaller
numbers, creating diversions, dropping ‘Window’ and target marking
for the Light Night Striking Force by using their special
navigational equipment.
For over a year, at a time when Bomber Command was bigger and busier
than ever before, Upwood played a full part in the offensive,
attacking numerous targets in support of D-Day and then carrying the
campaign deep into Germany itself. The final wartime bomber
operation for the Lancasters came on 25 April 1945, when sixteen
attacked Wangerooge, and for the Mosquitoes on 2 May, when fourteen
bombed Kiel.
For a few weeks the Lancasters carried out a series of food dropping
and prisoner of war transport flights, but this did not last long
and in September 1945, 156 Squadron was disbanded. The H2S
Mosquitoes of 139 Squadron had meanwhile left in June and been
replaced by 105 Squadron, but only until the following February,
when it too disbanded. Liberators engaged in trooping to and from
the Far East made a brief appearance with 53 Squadron in the first
six months of 1946 and then this squadron too, like its predecessors
ceased to exist.
At last, in July 1946 the station settled down to its peacetime role
as one of the seven ‘permanent’ operational bomber bases, and by
the end of the year had become the home of the three units which
were to be based here for most of the next nine years - 7, 49 and
148 Squadrons, All three flew Lancasters until the beginning of
1950, when each in turn was re-equipped with the bigger and more
powerful Lincoln. Quite frequently one of the squadrons would send a
detachment overseas, and 49 Squadron was absent for almost eighteen
months between July 1952 and February 1954, spending part of this
time in Aden and at Eastleigh, in Kenya.
By 1955 only five of Bomber Command's 31 squadrons were still flying
Lincolns, and whilst Canberras now predominated, the first
squadrons of Valiant V-Bombers were also beginning to form. At
Upwood the jet age began with the arrival of the Canberras of 18
Squadron on 25 May 1955, and over the next seven months the three
squadrons of Lincolns (7, 49 and 48) were replaced by three
squadrons of Canberras (18, 50 and 61). With the departure of the
impressively large, but archaic looking Lincoln, the mighty roar of
the Merlin would now be heard no more and it was the whine and
whistle of the sleek and silver jet bombers which now filled the
local skies instead.
Upwood was not one of the airfields selected for development as a
V-Bomber base, and the Canberras were able to do virtually all of
their flying from the 2,000 yard wartime main runway, although the
1,600 yard 11/29 runway was also kept open for use ‘under high wind
conditions’. The short north / south runway however was now taken
out of use.
As the number of Valiant, Vulcan and Victor squadrons increased, so
the size of the Canberra force was reduced, and Upwood would
ultimately be the home of the very last Canberra bomber squadron to
be based in Britain. Five years before this in July 1956, 35
Squadron arrived to become the fourth resident unit and at the end
of the year 40 Squadron also arrived, but in this case to be
amalgamated with 50 Squadron.
The phased rundown of the Canberra force at Upwood had now begun,
and early in 1957, 18 Squadron was disbanded, followed a year later
by 61 Squadron, This was a time when a series of nuclear tests was
being carried out in the Pacific, and the rear headquarters for the
two squadrons of Canberras which formed part of the Task Force was
based at Hemswell, This airfield was closed to flying however in the
autumn of 1958 whereupon Upwood became responsible for the support
of these units - 76 Squadron, which was engaged on gathering air
samples in the test areas, and 542 (renumbered 21 on arrival at
Upwood) which carried out photo reconnaissance,
1959 saw further cutbacks, and after a very short stay, the newly
arrived 21 Squadron was disbanded in January. 50 Squadron followed
in October, prior to reforming as a Vulcan unit, but its departure
was offset by the return of the large detachment of 76 Squadron,
which had been delayed in Australia, since the completion of the
‘Grapple Z’ nuclear tests.
By early 1960 there were only four Canberra bomber squadrons left in
England - 9 and 12 at Coningsby, and 35 and 76 at Upwood. The latter
was next to go in December 1960, followed by both of the Coningsby
units in July 1961. And then there was one - 35 Squadron. Only two
months later this unit was also disbanded and once its Canberras had
been flown out, Upwood, like Hemswell became one of the growing
number of once busy ‘Expansion Scheme’ stations where flying had now
finished for good. For some years afterwards, the station buildings
remained in use for ground units, but eventually, under continuous
pressure for defence cuts everything was closed, vacated and sold -
with the result that RAF Upwood is finally no more.
Denis Corley, 11-03-95
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