Buildings 53, 55, 57, 58 and 292

Details

DUXFORD

1767/0/10032 SOUTH CAMP, IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM (FORME 01-DEC-05 R RAF DUXFORD) Buildings 53, 55, 57, 58 and 292

GV II
Group of hutted training buildings, originally comprising photographic, gunnery training and workshops, and navigation huts. 1917 and 1918. By the War Office's Directorate of Fortifications and Works. Drawing Nos. 293/17 (57) and 1852/18 (58). Painted brickwork, corrugated asbestos-cement roofing on steel trusses.

PLAN: A group of five simple gabled huts; the former photographic hut (53) lies at the rear of the site, parallel with the A505, the others are at right angles to this, in 3 parallel rows.

EXTERIOR: All huts have the original steel casement windows, in 16 panes, four of these in the top half as a pivoted opening light. The long 6-bay huts have a series of external brick buttresses defining the bays and at the corners, with a plain plank door in the gable ends; the two smaller huts, originally the gunnery workshops are in 2 bays, without buttresses; hut 53 has a door in the S end, and 292 on the W side.

INTERIORS: Plain, with timber trusses.

HISTORY: Duxford is the finest and best-preserved example of a fighter base representative of the period up to 1945 in Britain, with a uniquely complete group of First World War technical buildings in addition to technical and domestic buildings typical of both inter-war Expansion Periods of the RAF. It also has important associations with the Battle of Britain and the American fighter support for the Eighth Air Force. See descriptions of the aircraft hangars for further historical details.

These modest-looking huts are historically important, since they remain from the original layout and designs of 1917; they have not been altered externally, and are representative of the basic designs in use during the early years of the Royal Flying Corps. The Training Depot Station at Duxford is the most complete WWI airfield group, with hangars and ancillary buildings, in Britain. The training of pilots for service overseas formed a critical aspect of Britain's air service in the First World War period, and the Training Depot Stations - initiated in 1917, and of which 63 were built by November 1918 - comprised the largest airfield construction programme of the First World War period. Each TDS comprised three flying units, each having a coupled general service shed, and one repair section hangar (the only surviving examples of the latter is at Old Sarum, Wiltshire) for the provision of serviceable engines and aircraft. Other specialist buildings, such as carpenters' shops, dope and engine repair shops, and technical and plane stores, characterised these sites.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

495999

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.