| RAF Castle Camps | |
| Ensign: | Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg |
| Ensign Size: | 90px |
| Location: | Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire |
| Country: | England |
| Type: | Royal Air Force satellite station 1940 & 1941-42 & 1943- Parent station 1942-43 |
| Coordinates: | 52.0514°N 0.3786°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Cambridgeshire |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Shown within Cambridgeshire |
| Pushpin Label: | RAF Castle Camps |
| Ownership: | Air Ministry |
| Operator: | Royal Air Force |
| Controlledby: | RAF Fighter Command |
| Code: | CC |
| Used: | June 1940 – January 1946 |
| Builder: | John Laing & Son Ltd |
| Battles: | European theatre of World War II |
| Elevation: | 127m (417feet) |
| R1-Number: | 00/00 |
| R1-Surface: | Tarmac |
| R2-Number: | 00/00 |
| R2-Surface: | Tarmac |
| R3-Number: | 00/00 |
| R3-Surface: | Tarmac |
Royal Air Force Castle Camps or more simply RAF Castle Camps is a former Royal Air Force satellite station, it was listed as being in Cambridgeshire as it is close to its namesake Cambridgeshire village. It is very near the Suffolk border and the airfield straddled the Essex and Cambridgeshire county border. Construction of the station was started in September 1939. It opened as a satellite of RAF Debden in June 1940 and became a satellite of RAF North Weald in July 1943.
During the Battle of Britain, one of the units operating from Castle Camps was 85 Squadron, whose Hawker Hurricanes were commanded by Peter Townsend.
The airfield was used by numerous squadrons throughout the Second World War. In 1945, it was commanded by Battle of Britain ace Tim Vigors.[1] It closed in January 1946.
| Unit | From | To | Aircraft | Version | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 May 1940 3 September 1940 | 19 August 1940 5 September 1940 | Hawker Hurricane Hawker Hurricane | I I | As a detachment. Full strength. | ||
| 5 September 1940 | 6 November 1940 | Hawker Hurricane | I | |||
| 18 December 1941 | 15 March 1943 | II | ||||
| 15 March 1943 | 6 October 1943 | de Havilland Mosquito | II/VI | |||
| 29 March 1943 | June 1943 | Bristol Beaufighter de Havilland Mosquito | IIF II/VI | |||
| 15 June 1943 | 28 February 1944 | IV I | Formed here. | |||
| 29 February 1944 | 17 March 1944 | XII/XIV | ||||
| 6 March 1944 29 March 1944 | 21 March 1944 29 April 1944 | IB | ||||
| 30 December 1943 | 29 April 1944 | de Havilland Mosquito | XIII | |||
| 23 June 1944 | 28 December 1944 | de Havilland Mosquito | XVII/XIX | |||
| 8 October 1944 | 19 November 1944 | de Havilland Mosquito | XXX | |||
| 27 October 1944 | 14 July 1945 | de Havilland Mosquito | XXX/VI | |||
| 27 January 1945 | 31 May 1945 | de Havilland Mosquito | XXX |
The following units were also here at some point:[2]
The site has reverted to agricultural use. However the outlines of portions of the runways in the fields (when viewed on Google Earth), can still be seen and some of the perimeter roads are even now in use as farm tracks.
Some of the airfield buildings are still present and being used by local farms and industry.