Qualla: RAF Bottisham https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/2/1/raf-bottisham-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: RAF Bottisham https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham RAF Bottisham: Introduction https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham/ Photo credit Turkmenistan.airlines.frontview.arp.jpg: elfuser derivative work: Elfuser (talk), Public domain. On 26 July 1944, four P-51 Mustangs of the 375th Fighter Squadron lifted off the pierced-steel-planking runway at Bottisham and turned east for the Continent. The photographs of that flight - 'The Bottisham Four', taken in formation against the English sky - became one of the most famous images of the air war over Europe. All four aircraft were lost or crashed before the war ended. The airfield where those Mustangs roared off has now mostly returned to farmland. But run a finger along an aerial photograph of the fields five miles east of Cambridge and you can still find the runway: it is a long thick row of trees, planted along the trace of the wartime PSP runway, with a permanent road cutting through it where a wartime track once crossed.

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/2/1/raf-bottisham-wp/u121-raf-bottisham-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full RAF Bottisham: Tiger Moths and Anti-Invasion Drills https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham/ Photo credit Turkmenistan.airlines.frontview.arp.jpg: elfuser derivative work: Elfuser (talk), Public domain. RAF Bottisham opened in March 1940, when Britain was still bracing for invasion and the Battle of Britain had not yet begun. Its first occupants were de Havilland Tiger Moths - bright yellow biplane trainers - transferred from No. 22 Elementary Flying Training School and improbab...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/2/1/raf-bottisham-wp/u121-raf-bottisham-tiger-moths-and-anti-invasion-drills.mp3 0:06 2 full RAF Bottisham: The Yellow-Nosed Mustangs https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham/ Photo credit Turkmenistan.airlines.frontview.arp.jpg: elfuser derivative work: Elfuser (talk), Public domain. On 30 November 1943 the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force 361st Fighter Group arrived from Richmond Army Air Field, Virginia, and Bottisham became American. The group was assigned to the 65th Fighter Wing of VIII Fighter Command and identified by yellow paint around ...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/2/1/raf-bottisham-wp/u121-raf-bottisham-the-yellow-nosed-mustangs.mp3 0:06 3 full RAF Bottisham: Big Week to D-Day https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham/ Photo credit Turkmenistan.airlines.frontview.arp.jpg: elfuser derivative work: Elfuser (talk), Public domain. The 361st flew through some of the war's most consequential weeks. It took part in Big Week, the all-out assault on the German aircraft industry from 20 to 25 February 1944. It covered the Normandy invasion in June and the Saint-Lo breakthrough in July. Between escort missions, i...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/2/1/raf-bottisham-wp/u121-raf-bottisham-big-week-to-d-day.mp3 0:06 4 full RAF Bottisham: Trees and a Museum https://qualla.com/raf-bottisham/ Photo credit Turkmenistan.airlines.frontview.arp.jpg: elfuser derivative work: Elfuser (talk), Public domain. In September 1944 the 361st moved to RAF Little Walden, a Class A airfield with concrete runways and much better facilities than Bottisham's PSP and Nissen huts. From mid-1945 until 5 January 1946, Bottisham was used temporarily by Belgian airmen before closing. The land was retu...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/2/1/raf-bottisham-wp/u121-raf-bottisham-trees-and-a-museum.mp3 0:06 5 full