This cache is dedicated to the memory of RAF 156 Pathfinder Squadron aircrew and ground crew who operated Vickers Wellington and then Avro Lancaster bombers from this airfield between 05.08.42 and 04.04.44. During those 19 months, 16 Wellingtons and 83 Lancasters took off from close to where the cache is situated, and did not return. As a result 592 Commonwealth aircrew were killed and many of the survivors seriously injured or taken as prisoners of war. Some of the 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew who did not survive the war.
The commanding officers for 156 Squadron while based at RAF Warboys were:
Wing Commander R N COOK 30/07/42 to 28/10/42
Wing Commander T S RIVETT-CARNAC DFC 28/10/42 to 08/06/43
Squadron Leader S G HOOKWAY DFC 01/43 to 13/02/43 (K. I.A. 05.03.43)
Group Captain R W P COLLINGS DSO,AFC 08/06/43 to 15/01/44 ;
Wing Commander E C EATON DFC 15/01/44 to 27/04/44 (K.I.A. 28.04.44)
156 Squadron was formally disbanded on 29.09.45
The Old Airfield
I lie here still beside the hill, abandoned long to nature’s will.
My buildings down, my people gone, my only sounds the wild bird’s song.
For my mighty birds will rise no more, no more I hear the Merlins roar.
And never now my bosom feels the rumbling of their giant wheels.
Laughter, sorrow, hope and pain, I shall never know these things again.
Emotions that I came to know, of strange young men so long ago.
And in the future should structures tall, bury me beyond recall, I shall still remember them, my metal birds and long dead men.
W.Scott
The airfield is located seven miles-south west of Chatteris and south of Warboys village. The airfield was built in 1941-42. The runways were extended before it was completed. To achieve the required length for the 12-30 runway it was necessary to take it across the A141, so a new length of public road was built to bypass the airfield and the village. The final runway lengths were 12-30 at 2,097 yards, 07-25 at 1,447 yards and 18-36 at 1,350 yards.
Twenty four pan hard standings were originally constructed but two of these were lost to hangar construction. With 18 loop type hard standings added, the total of aircraft standings was 39. The hangars were a T2 type on the technical site on the south-east side near the start of the new bypass road with another on the north side and a Bl type east of the 18-36 runway head.
The bomb stores lay off the west side and eleven domestic, mess and communal sites dispersed either side of the A141 south to Oldhurst. Maximum accommodation was given as 1,959 males and 291 females.
The King & Queen Elizabeth came to visit RAF Warboys in February 1944 as a morale booster for 156 Squadron who had lost 17 aircraft in 9 operations in January 1944.
It was estimated that during the winter of 1943/44 a Pathfinder bomber crew stood about a 15% chance of survival. On 15th December 1945 the airfield was no longer in use and placed under care and maintenance. The airfield gradually reverted back to agricultural use with the buildings becoming derelict and the runways and hard standings broken up.
It was however used from 1960 to 1963 by the RAF for the Bloodhound air defence missiles, but with no accommodation as staff were based at RAF Upwood. The missile systems were withdrawn by December 1963 when the station finally closed for good. The control tower was demolished on 10.12.84.
There are two memorial plaques to the Pathfinder Units close to the road and entrance to the farm now on the East side of the airfield. There is also a stained glass window in the village church, St Mary Magdalene, in memory of the Pathfinder Force, incorporating the 156 Squadron badge.
THE RUNWAY GHOST
There was rumoured to be a female ghost on the airfield. Several planes came in to land making perfect landings but then veering suddenly off course with two crashing, one with fatal results. The pilots were questioned independently, one finally admitting that as he came in to land he saw the figure of a little girl crossing the runway right in front of them. Others subsequently independently advised of the same thing. Not long after, the shallow grave of a young girl was found close to the runway. She was never identified and was removed and properly buried in a nearby Churchyard. Her ghost was never seen again after she had been properly buried.