November 2020

12 Buckden Roundabout November 2020 RAF Gransden Lodge RAF Gransden Lodge, by Richard Storey, Secretary, Buckden Local History Society Part 2 – Pathfinders and Beyond Despite the skills of the scientists, engineers and RAF crews, the early navigation aids did not give the accuracy required for precision bombing of industrial targets. It was decided, there- fore, to bring together a group of highly skilled and experi- enced crews, give them the best navigation systems, tactics and training available, and use them as target finders for the main bomber force. Thus, the RAF ’ s Pathfinder Force (PFF) was born. On the 15 th April 1943 RAF Gransden Lodge officially came into being as an operational station, when it was transferred from Number 3 Group to Number 8(PFF) Group and became a sec- ond satellite to RAF Oakington. On the 19 th April 1943 the PFF Navigation Training Unit (PFFNTU) was formed at Gransden Lodge 1 and was immediately followed by Number 405 Squad- ron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The new squadron, com- manded by Wing Commander JE Farquier DFC, arrived with 700 people and 18 Halifax bomber aircraft, with a significant logisti- cal tail. Not only did the arrival of the Canadians swell num- bers and add yet more accents but it started a friendship be- tween the RCAF and the people of the Gransdens which contin- ues to the present day. With little time to get settled in and trained 405 squadron car- ried out its first operation on 26 April 1943 with an attack on Duisburg. Unfortunately one crew failed to return and again on their next operation on the 30 th . By the end of July and after many operations, 405 Squadron took part in a raid to Hamburg on the 24 th . This was the first of an 8 day and 7 night bombing campaign which resulted in thousands of civilian cas- ualties; however, the raid did inflict severe damage to German armaments production thanks to 2 uses of technology: H2S ground mapping radar, which was the principal navigation aid as all others were out of range; and this was the first raid to use Window . Window was the code name for innocuous - looking aluminium foil strips, which when cut to exact dimen- sions acted as perfect radar reflectors thus neutralising enemy radar. Fortunately for the crews of Gransden Lodge there were no casualties. In the August the squadron received the first of their Lancaster bombers and shortly afterwards the Squadron was part of the successful attack on V - 2 rocket site at Peene- münde. By the end of September 405 Squadron was equipped fully with Lancasters. Perhaps one of Gransden Lodge ’ s greatest memories was that it was the home to the most famous of the Canadian - built Lan- casters KB700 ‘ Ruhr Express ’, which flew across the Atlantic and into Gransden Lodge on 15 September 1943. Assigned to 405 Squadron it flew 49 sorties on numerous missions to bomb industrial sites, support D - Day invasion and the Battle for Ber- lin. It was returning from one of these sorties on 2 January 1945 that the Ruhr Express crashed on landing and was de- stroyed. This was especially unfortunate as the aircraft was due to return to Canada after its 50 th mission and become a memorial to the Canadians who built and flew the Lancaster. On 25 October 1944, Number 142 Squadron arrived using the Canadian built De Havilland Mosquito B Mk 25. Flying as a night bomber squadron it continued for the rest of the war carrying out a mix of bombing and Pathfinder duties. 405 Squadron finally moved to Linton - on - Ouse on 26 May 1945 and on 28 September 1945 Number 142 Squadron was disbanded. In the December Gransden Lodge briefly hosted 53 squadron Liberators before they moved to RAF Upwood in February 1946. The Station then lay vacant but the main runway re- mained in use for emergency landings into the 1950s. This was not, however, the end of Gransden Lodge as it rein- vented itself as a racing venue. On the 15 June 1946 a race meeting was organised by the Cambridge University Automo- bile Club composed of 12 races: 6 for sports cars, 5 for racing cars, and one for specials. The track for the race was 2.13 miles in length, broadly triangular in shape, using the main runway and two sections of the airfield perimeter road. Unusually, the start and finish were at different points on the track. Laps were limited to 3 as petrol was still under ration. Although doubts were expressed beforehand about using runways for motor sport, the day itself - despite atrocious weather - was a great success. It was described by Motor Sport at the time as ‘ a grand meeting, proving that disused aerodromes can offer excellent motor - racing facilities ’. 1 The PFFNTU moved to Upwood and Warboys between 11 - 19 June 1943. The 405 pathfinder Squadron operations and planning room at RAF Gransden Lodge