Cambridgeshire
Aviation Heritage Trail

Further Reading


What follows is only a representative selection of the available reading on the subject of Cambridgeshire and its aviation heritage. Many people new to the subject have become interested because of a family connection they are researching. In this context, probably the most useful books to start with are:

McD F15c Eagle

  • Air Force Records: A Guide for Family Historians
    • William Spencer/2008
  • Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians
    • Phil Tomaselli/2014
  • Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors
    • Simon Fowler/2006

Airfields – General

  • Action Stations: Volume 1: Eastern England
    • Michael Bowyer/2010
  • Action Stations: Military Airfields of Cambridgeshire
    • Michael J F Bowyer/1987
  • Aerodromes of Fighter Command: Then and Now
    • Robin J Brooks/2014
  • Archaeology of Airfields: The
    • Bob Clarke/2008
  • Bases of Bomber Command: Then and Now
    • Roger A Freeman/2001
  • Battle of Britain Airfields
    • Philip Birtles/2010
  • Bomber Bases of World War 2, Airfields of 1st Air Division (USAAF): Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire
    • Martin Bowman/2007
  • Cambridgeshire Airfields in the Second World War
    • Graham Smith/2004
  • Echoes of East Anglia
    • Martin W Bowman/2006
  • Forgotten Aerodromes of World War 1
    • Martyn Chorlton/2014
  • Ghost Fields of East Anglia
    • Martin W Bowman/2007
  • Heroes of Bomber Command: Cambridgeshire
    • Graham Smith/2007
  • Military Airfields of Britain, The: East Midlands (Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire)
    • Ken Delve/2008
  • RAF Airfields of World War 2
    • Jonathan Falconer/2012

Mustang

Airfields – Specific

  • Bassingbourn
    • A History of RAF Bassingbourn
      • M Doubleday/1968
    • Ragged Irregulars of Bassingbourn, The: The 91st Bombardment Group in World War II
      • Marion H Havelaar, William N Hess/1995
  • Bottisham
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 83: Bottisham
      • John F Hamlin/2010
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 2: The Histories of RAF Waterbeach and RAF Bottisham
      • John F Hamlin/1987
  • Bourn
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 85: Bourn & Caxton Gibbet
      • John F Hamlin/2011
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 1: Histories of RAF Oakington & RAF Bourn
      • John F Hamlin/1986
    • Fire by Night: The Story of One Pathfinder Crew and Black Thursday 16/17 December 1943
      • Jennie Gray/2011
  • Brampton
    • RAF Brampton: Draft Urban Design Framework
      • Huntingdonshire District Council/2011
  • Castle Camps
    • History of RAF Castle Camps: A Unique Airfield
      • Roy Brazier/2011
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 3: The Histories of RAF Wratting Common and RAF Castle Camps
      • John F.Hamlin, Ron Pearson/1989
  • Caxton Gibbet
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 85: Bourn & Caxton Gibbet
      • John F Hamlin/2011
  • Duxford
    • Duxford 1940: a Battle of Britain base at war
      • Dilip Sarkar/2009
    • Life at Duxford 1940
      • John Milne/1990
    • Imperial War Museum Duxford
      • Stephen Woolford, Carl Warner/2008
    • RAF Duxford
      • Mike Evans/2012
    • RAF Duxford: a history in photographs from 1917 to the present day
      • Richard Smith/2009
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 1: Duxford
      • Andrew Height/1992
  • Gransden Lodge
    • Trials and Tribulations: the Story of RAF Gransden Lodge
      • Chris Sullivan/2015
  • Mepal
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 47: Mepal & Witchford
      • Martyn Chorlton/2001
  • Molesworth
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 40: Molesworth
      • John N Smith/2000
  • Oakington
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 10: Oakington
      • John F Hamlin/1991
    • RAF Oakington – by Day and by Night
      • John F Hamlin/2009
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 1: Histories of RAF Oakington & RAF Bourn
      • John F Hamlin/1986
  • Snailwell
    • Royal Air Force at Newmarket, The: the histories of RAF Newmarket and RAF Snailwell
      • John F Hamlin/1996
  • Steeple Morden
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 74: Steeple Morden
      • Graham Simons/2009
    • A Village Airfield at War: RAF Steeple Morden 1939-1943
      • Ken Wells/1993
    • Steeple Morden Signals
      • Les Radtke, Ken Wells (ed.)/2011
    • Steeple Morden Strafers 1943-45
      • Ken Wells/1994
  • Upwood
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 70: Upwood
      • John F Hamlin/2005
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 4: The Histories of RAF Upwood and RAF Warboys
      • John F Hamlin/1990
  • Warboys
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 4: The Histories of RAF Upwood and RAF Warboys
      • John F Hamlin/1990
  • Waterbeach
    • At the ‘Beach – The story of RAF Waterbeach and Waterbeach Barracks
      • John F Hamlin and Oliver J Merrington/2011
    • Some of the story of 514 Squadron: Lancasters at Waterbeach
      • Harry Dison/1999
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 2: The Histories of RAF Waterbeach and RAF Bottisham
      • John F Hamlin/1987
  • Witchford
    • Memories of RAF Witchford
      • Barry and Sue Aldridge/2013
    • ‘Airfield Focus’ series, 47: Mepal & Witchford
      • Martyn Chorlton/2001
  • Wittering
    • RAF Wittering: information handbook
      • Anon/1995
  • Wratting Common
    • Royal Air Force in Cambridgeshire, The, Part 3: The Histories of RAF Wratting Common and RAF Castle Camps
      • John F.Hamlin, Ron Pearson/1989

Decoy Sites

  • Fields of Deception: Britain’s Bombing Decoys of World War II
    • Colin Dobinson/2000

Sopwith

General Military History

  • 3 Group Bomber Command: An Operational Record
    • Chris Ward, Steve Smith/2008
  • 20th Century Defences in Britain: Cambridgeshire
    • Mike Osborne/2001
  • Air Raid! The Enemy Air Offensive Against East Anglia 1939-1945
    • Michael JF Bowyer/1986
  • Bomber Command War Diaries, The: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945
    • Martin Middlebrook, Chris Everitt/2014
  • Britain’s War Machine: Weapons, Resources and Experts in the Second World War
    • David Edgerton/2011
  • Cambridgeshire at War
    • Jeffrey Barham/1977
  • Chronology of World War Two
    • Edward Davidson, Dale Manning/1999
  • Cold War: Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989
    • Wayne D Cocroft, Roger JC Thomas/2003
  • Cold War East Anglia
    • Jim Wilson OBE/2014
  • Defending Britain: Twentieth-Century Military Structures in the Landscape
    • Mike Osborne/2004
  • Defending Cambridgeshire: A Military History from Prehistory to Present
    • Mike Osborne/2013
  • East Anglia at War 1939-45
    • Derek E Johnson/1978
  • East Anglia at War
    • Michael Evans/2015
  • England and the Aeroplane: Militarism, Modernity and Machines
    • David Edgerton/2013
  • Huntingdonshire in the Second World War
    • Caroline Clifford, Alan Akeroyd/2007
  • Intruders over Britain: The Luftwaffe Night Fighter Offensive 1940-45
    • Simon W Parry/1987
  • Night after Night: New Zealanders in Bomber Command
    • Max Lambert/200
  •  Project Emily: Thor IRBM and the RAF
    • John Boyes/2008
  • Somewhere in England: American Airmen in the Second World War
    • Jenny Cousins (ed.)/2015
  • War-Torn Skies of Great Britain: Cambridgeshire
    • Julian Evan-Hart/2008

Squadrons

  • 7
    • No.7 Bomber Squadron RAF in World War II
      • Tom Docherty/2007
  • 19
    • Spitfire Squadron: No. 19 Squadron at War 1939-1941
      • Dilip Sarkar/1990
  • 75
    • Forever Strong: The Story of 75 Squadron RNZAF 1916-1990
      • Norman Franks/1991
  • 97
    • Fire by Night: The Story of One Pathfinder Crew and Black Thursday 16/17 December 1943
      • Jennie Gray/2011
  • 115
    • Wellingtons of 115 Squadron over Europe
      • George Bury/1994
  • 514
    • Nothing Can Stop Us: The Definitive History of 514 Squadron RAF
      • Simon Hepworth, Andrew Porrelli, Harry Dison/2015
    • Some of the Story of 514 Squadron: Lancasters at Waterbeach
      • Harry Dison/2015
    • Striking Through Clouds: The War Diary of 514 Squadron RAF
      • Simon Hepworth, Andrew Porrelli/2014