WW2 events

Open Cambridge have 3 events on the programme for this year which might be of interest to our members

1. A spider's web of airfields

A Spider’s Web of Airfields | Open Cambridge

Cambridge American Cemetery, Madingley Road Coton, CB237PH

Several dates and times are available in September. See link above for more details.

A huge network of aircraft bases was built up during World War II. Carrying the strategic air war to the economic, industrial and military heartlands of the Nazi regime required a lot of planes. The aircraft had to have somewhere to land where they could be refueled, serviced and repaired. Fighter aircraft escorting and protecting the heavy bombers also needed airfields. It was these bases that the Americans called home.

Taking off, even before dawn, the U.S. Army Air Forces took their share of missions and sorties, with daylight bombing raids. Using secret technology, the U.S. fliers boasted they could “drop a bomb in a pickle barrel!”

Cambridge American Cemetery’s team will tell you the stories of the Americans who built the airfields and flew from them

2. Newnham and Bletchley Park: Women’s Work in World War II

Newnham and Bletchley Park: Women’s Work in World War II | Open Cambridge

Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DF

Friday 6th and Saturday 7th September. 1.30 to 3.30. See link above for further details.

Women were the backbone of Bletchley Park during World War Two, making up 75% of the workforce at its peak in January 1945, yet their stories have largely gone untold. A new exhibition unveiled earlier this year tells the incredible story of Newnham College women’s war work, at Bletchley Park and beyond. More than 70 students and alumnae were secretly recruited for World War Two codebreaking work at Bletchley Park.

The Newnham stories showcased in this exhibition have been uncovered by alumna Dr Sally Waugh (NC 1973), historian and Fellow Emerita Dr Gillian Sutherland, and College Archivist Frieda Midgley, who worked closely with staff at Bletchley Park.

3. Bottisham Air Museum - free entry

A hidden WW2 gem: Bottisham Air Museum | Open Cambridge

Bottisham Air Museum, Wilbraham Road, CB25 9BU

Several dates and times are available in September. See link above for further details.

Enjoy free entry* of this less well known World War II airfield and see the collection of artefacts telling the personal stories of some of those based at the airfield. Bottisham was unique as the only airfield to host three different Air Forces, during World War II.
The Museum opened in 2009 and is the only UK museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force, United States 8th Army Air Force and Belgian Air Forces. The museum operates out of the last remaining airfield buildings to exist within the airfield's original perimeter.

*Free entry slots must be booked as they are limited. Only those who have booked via the Eventbrite link will be given free entry