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Part 11, Around Ely

Mepal village sign

Known as the ‘Ship of the Desert’ Ely Cathedral can be seen for many miles away, and from the air, considerably further. It must have been a welcome sight to many returning bomber crews during those dark days of World War 2.

In the shadows of Ely Cathedral lie two RAF bomber stations, Mepal and Witchford.

RAF Mepal

Mepal was built to Class A specification, as a satellite for Waterbeach further to the North. The A142 ran across the middle of the site, it was closed off for construction and traffic diverted away through the nearby village. It originally had three concrete runways; one of 2,000 yards, and two of 1,400 yards. In addition, some thirty-six hard standings were built along with a T2 and  B1 hangar. The bomb store lay to the north-west, with a range of dispersed sites to the east near Witcham. It was designed to accommodate 1,884 males and 346 females.

Mepal housed only one unit in it’s wartime life, the 75sqn (New Zealand) with Stirling bombers and latterly Lancasters. They remained there for two years, after which training sqns arrived in preparation for the war in the Far East. Following cessation of hostilities, Mepal closed to active units and was held in care until its closure.

In 1957 with the increased threat from the Warsaw Pact, Mepal was chosen to house Britain’s missile deterrent the Thor, and three ‘stations’ were built. By the early 1960s, these were no longer needed, being replaced by more up-to-date weapons, and the site was closed. The main road was reopened to by pass the villages it had once protected and the site returned to other uses. The site is best visited in three parts. Firstly, the memorial in the village of Mepal.

Memorial stone to 75 (NZ) Sqn.

The village has two memorials. The first is attached to the village sign and when entering the village, continue straight on without turning off. The sign is at the far end of the village on your left,

Eastern Perimeter Track.

opposite the school. A small insignificant memorial, this has been recently replaced by a much larger and more improved garden of remembrance. Leave the village sign and then turn right, the memorial garden is in here, tucked away on a small section of garden. A large circular stone, with benches and rose bushes, lay close by to a memorial wall. Here plaques have been placed by family members in memory of those brave New Zealand men who gave their lives in the name of freedom.

Leave the village turning left. Drive along the main road and the airfield is on your left. Here you actually cross the runways and perimeter track. Today the site is largely unrecognisable even though when you pass it, there are long stretches of concrete that you automatically consider to be airfield architecture. Theses stretches of concrete were in fact built later and do not represent the original layout. Enter the site and drive straight up; you arrive at what would have been the threshold point of one of the 3 runways. A power station now stands here. Turn right and stop, you are now looking down what was the eastern perimeter track, now an industrial site. To your left is where one of the two hangars would have stood.  If you look right, you are looking at what was the airfield and the views from the hanger. Behind these units there is a small building best viewed from the main road when you leave.

Location of LE10 Thor missile.

The site was prepared for heavy industrial use with a number of small roads built in readiness for larger industrial units. These have never materialised and so there is still a little of the atmosphere that open airfields offer. The bleak unbroken expanses show why this area of the country was so well designed for bomber activity.

Go back to the entrance and cross over the roundabout. This takes you to an agricultural auction site, again large expanses of concrete suggest airfield architecture. This too is a later addition, and was built where the centres of two of runways would have crossed. Turn right again, go back up and you arrive back near the power station. This gives access to where one of the three Thor missile sites (LE10) would have stood. A little of the hard standing remains, but for the larger part, it was all dug up when the power station was built. The remaining two sites and the majority of the airfield would be to your right, and is now a neatly ploughed field. Small sections of concrete do exist in the long overgrown brambles that have taken over, but little else. Better evidence is actually found at the back of the village across the road and the second part of the tour.

Perimeter track.

Finding your way to the remaining parts in the second section of the visit, is a matter of trial and error. Small lanes that end abruptly are the norm but drive into the village go along and take aright at the garage and you will come to a pile of old tarmac chippings. Stop here. To your left is the perimeter track still evident and in quite good condition. Follow it with your eye and you can make out the runway that traverses south – north. This is now a famer’s track, but it gives a sense of the size and location of the structure. Behind you in amongst the shrubbery, is another part of the perimeter track leading round past the houses. It was along here that a MK II Lancaster from 115 Sqn RAF Witchford crashed following an attack by Luftwaffe night fighters. These Lancasters were powered by Bristol Hercules engines unlike the more common Merlins.

RAF Mepal memorial.

Leave the village and return to the main road and the roundabout. Cross back over to the site and pull over. On the exit side is a further memorial showing the location of the runways, perimeter track etc; a recent dedication to the crews that flew from here.

There is little evidence left of this once busy base that thundered under the roar of engines and heavy bombers on their way to Nazi Germany. What is left is rapidly disappearing. Very soon, the remaining site will be gone and Mepal will all but have disappeared into the history books. A sad ending to such an important part of history.

At the roundabout turn left and head toward Ely and our next location, Witchford.

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RAF Witchford

Witchford is found a few miles East of Mepal in the shadows of Ely Cathedral. Now an industrial estate, a large amount of the site is still in existence (and being used) and freely accessible to the general public. This makes it one of the rarer airfields around in terms of visiting.

A typical triangular airfield, it had two runways of 1400 yards and one of 2000 yards, and was served initially by Stirlings of 196sqn, which were later replaced by the Lancaster to which the business park gets it’s modern name. These Stirlings gradually became obsolete for front line use and moved away to cover glider towing, mine laying and transport duties.

Witchford Perimeter track.

115 sqn moved into Witchford and in August 1941 began trials of GEE, and then in 1943 the Wellingtons that had served so well, were replaced by the Armstrong Whitworth (Bagington) built Lancaster IIs with their Bristol Hercules engines. (My father, the inspiration to my love of aircraft, worked in the AW Bagington site after demobbing). It was with these aircraft that the Squadron dropped the first 8000lb bomb on Berlin during Air Chief Marshal Harris’s bombing campaign against the capital.

Enemy action over this area was commonplace, and on April 19^th 1944 an ME 410 joined the circuit over nearby Mepal (above) and shot down two Lancasters from 115 sqn. When 115 sqn’s war finally came to an end, it had one of the finest records in Bomber Command. A total of 678 operations in all, second only to 75(NZ) Sqn at Mepal. But the price was high, over 200 aircraft being shot down or lost in action.The airfield closed in March 1946 with the withdrawal of all operational units at the end of hostilities.

Original stores building.

Today the site is a business park, with a wide range of businesses working where the main ‘admin’ area of the field once stood. On entering the park, you drive down a long straight road, this is the original perimeter track and on your right is where the main hangers and maintenance area would have been located. If you drive the length of this road you come to a security gate. Just to your right are a number of small huts. These are the original and in remarkable condition. Many are used for vehicles repairs and the like, but their features and layout clearly represent airfield architecture. Tucked away in here, in the foyer of one of the businesses, is a small but significant museum dedicated to the crews and personnel of RAF Witchford and nearby Mepal. It has a fantastic array of photographs, personal items and one the Hercules engines from the downed 115 sqn Lancaster IIs. A free museum, it has a bizarre feeling to it as workers casually walk through between offices while you peruse the items neatly displayed on the walls. Do spend some time here; it is a fascinating insight into life on the base. (Further details are available later in the blog).

RAF Witchford memorial.

After leaving the museum, return back up the road taking the first right turn. On your right is the location of the control tower, now long gone. This brings you onto the remains of the main runway. If you drive to the top and turn back, you will see that it has been cut by a hedge that now separates the runway with the field. To the left of the hedge, you can still see the concrete of the original track. Continue to the top and turn the corner, then turn right.

Witchford diary.

This is the threshold of the runway and joining perimeter and is marked by a superb memorial dedicated to the crews of the airfield. Also on here, is the remarkable ‘factual diary’ of the squadron and makes for very interesting reading. Look back from here you have views across the airfield, along the perimeter track and down the runway; you just can sense the roar of lumbering bombers on their way to occupied Europe.

Perimeter track and runway threshold to the right.

If you now leave the site, and turn left out of the park, follow the road down and turn left. Drive along as far as you can and stop at the gate. Vehicle access is only by permission, but a 'kissing gate' allows walkers free access and walks across the field. Go through. On your right are the entrances to various works stations, denoted by covered brickworks. keep going, and on your left you will see the huts mentioned previously. You finally arrive at the rear of the security gate. Turn right and walk through another gate and you are on the remainder of the perimeter track. From here you can walk around the track, having great views across the field. In a short distance you join where the threshold of the second runway would have been, but now gone. 

In front right, location of T2 hangar.

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Continue walking round the peri track, after a while, you see the track narrows, eventually arriving at a split. Access straight on is not permitted, but you can turn right and in front you will see what remains of the armoury. Walking down this section will eventually bring you onto the main Ely to Cambridge road. If you look straight ahead and to the right from where you are standing, you will see the

location of one of the two type T2 hangers (the other being a B1). To your right and behind, is the bomb store, a significant size in its day, little exists now. This part of the track is well preserved and shows use by the local farmer who now owns the middle. But looking across to the main area, you get a real sense of wartime activity, Lancasters and Stirlings rumbling where you stand, bomb crews reading aircraft and vehicles hurrying from one aircraft to the next. Take in the atmosphere before walking back the way you came. Keep you eye open to the right. Part way along here, you can see the length of the second runway and to the point you stood earlier by the memorial. The original concrete still evident and witness to the many aircraft that flew from here. A poignant moment. Continue back the way you came taking in views across the filed and the stores area.

After leaving the site, drive back along the main road away from Ely, you will pass a number of derelict buildings once used by the RAF at Witchford. Indeed one such building is now a small industrial unit, the others overgrown and in a poor state of disrepair. Further photographs are available on the Flickr site.

Runway Looking northerly.

One of the happier stories to emerge from wartime Witchford is that of Sgt. Nicholas Alkemade, who given the choice of staying in his burning Lancaster, to die a terrible death, or jump minus his parachute, to a rather quicker death, opted for the latter. Amazingly for him, jumping from 18,000ft he landed in fir trees and soft snow, surviving with little injury. The Germans, after questioning him, confirmed his story after finding burnt sections of his parachute in the aircraft wreckage. He survived the war and returned to England later marrying his sweetheart.

There are few wartime airfields today that exist in any form let alone accessible to the general public. Witchford has a few little gems tucked away in amongst the now busy business park, none more so than the museum and memorial. But walking round the perimeter track, you do so knowing that many years ago, Lancasters, Stirlings and Wellingtons also rumbled here, and that many a young man left here never to return again. We owe them so much more than a decaying field and tumbled down buildings.