Podcast Episode Details

WONZ 334 – Mike Murray and RAF King’s Cliffe

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Guest: Mike Murray

Host: Dave Homewood

Recorded: 6th of September 2025

Published: 7th of September 2025

Duration: 2 hour 11 minutes, 57 seconds

Mike Murray is one of the founders of the King’s Cliffe Airfield Museum. RAF King’s Cliffe was a wartime Air Force station in Northamptonshire. It is located 19 kms west of Peterborough, and lies between the villages of King’s Cliffe and Wansford.

Initially used as a night landing ground during WWI, and returned to agriculture between the wars, work commenced to develop King’s Cliffe into a proper airfield in October 1940 as a new satellite to RAF Wittering, which is a permanent station. Kings Cliffe became a fighter station within No. 12 Group, with its first unit being No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, moving in during 1941. They were replaced by No. 616 Squadron at the beginning of 1942, in which were several New Zealanders.

In July 1942, No. 485 (NZ) Squadron moved in to RAF King’s Cliffe, taking over from No. 616 Squadron. This New Zealand squadron was flying Spitfire Vb’s at the time, under the leadership of Squadron Leader Reg Grant. They were part of the Wittering Wing that was commanded by another Kiwi ace, Wing Commander Patrick “Jamie” Jameson.

No. 485 (NZ) Squadron flew convoy patrols, and Rhubarb low level sweeps over France and the Lowland countries from Kings Cliffe. They temporarily moved to Ballyhalbert, in Northern Ireland, in October 1942 to cover the departing convoy that was heading to North Africa for Operation Torch. They then returned to Kings Cliffe and continued operations. In early 1943 the squadron moved down to RAF Westhampnett, at Goodwood.

Numerous other RAF squadrons and units spent time at Kings Cliffe, and the USAAF also moved various fighter squadrons in too. These included the 347th Fighter Squadron with Bell P-400 Airacobras, the 56th Fighter Group with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, the 20th Fighter Group with North American P-51D Mustangs of the 77th Fighter Squadron and Lockheed Lightnings of the 79th Fighter Squadron.

You can visit the King’s Cliffe Airfield Museum at Wansford Road, King’s Cliffe, Peterborough PE8 6PB, United Kingdom. The museum is open on the second Sunday of every month. See the Facebook link below to see more and to get in touch.

Quick Links:

• The Kings Cliffe Airfield Museum

• The King’s Cliff Airfield Museum’s Fundraiser

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Published on 1 week ago