RAF Castle Camps
Royal Air Force Castle Camps or more simply RAF Castle Camps is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal [Air Force stations|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 RAF|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. It closed in January 1946.
Operational Units and Aircraft
The following units were also here at some point:- No. 25 (Base) Defence Wing RAF
- No. [85 Group Communication Squadron RAF]
- No. 149 Airfield Headquarters RAF
- No. 2771 Squadron RAF Regiment
- No. 2879 Squadron RAF Regiment
- No. 2887 Squadron RAF Regiment
Current use
The site has reverted to agricultural use. However the outlines of portions of the runways in the fields, 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.