99 Squadron, Royal Air Force

1939 to 1945

RAF Waterbeach was a brand new facility about four miles north of Cambridge. It was very different from Newmarket - it had three concrete runways, purpose-built living quarters, proper workshops and hangers. A more different environment from the ad-hoc arrangements at Newmarket would be difficult to imagine.

It still exists today, but has been taken over by the Army. One runway survives in part, but is in no sense operational. The original control tower remains, and would doubtless still be recognised today by those for whom it would have been a familiar sight. My thanks to Ian Mackenzie-Smith from Australia for organising a trip to Waterbeach, in the company of his wife Jan and Alfred Jenner, ex-99 aircrew. Ian's father Ian Ogg Mackenzie-Smith flew a MkII Wellington serial W5400 from Waterbeach and, like so many others, failed to return.

Written material about Waterbeach from those who were there is a little thin on the ground. The piece that follows is an extract from "Each Tenacious" reproduced, as always, with the permission of the author S/Ldr Bert Edgerley.

Click here to read the article.

For Waterbeach photos and serial numbers, click below.