Duxford: Operations Block and Blast Walls (Building 59)

This is a former Operations Block, built in 1928 to a design by the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings, and extended in 1938. The building is constructed of beige brick in English bond, with an asbestos-cement diagonal slate roof. A north extension is framed with boarded timber.

The building has a rectangular plan, with a central entrance on the east side opening to a short corridor. This leads to a central corridor on the right, providing access to three small storage rooms, a cupboard, the Operations Room, and a former Searchlight Room. To the left are five main rooms, two of which have been subdivided for office use, along with a small boiler room.

The single-story building has a hipped roof with ridge tiles and exposed rafter feet. The main entrance features double-leaf, flush-panelled doors with a three-light, multi-paned overlight. This is flanked by two-light steel casement windows with small panes and a transom, resting on concrete sills and lintels; four are located to the right and two to the left. A tall, square brick stack rises from the boiler house at the far left end, alongside a red brick extension housing a tank. The south gable end features three windows. The later north gable extension has a pitched roof and a brick plinth below horizontal timber cladding, with a two-light casement window on its east side and two windows on its north gable end. A door with glazed upper panes has been inserted on the west elevation, alongside seven two-light and two three-light casements and a centrally placed door, both also inserted at a later date.

Following a 1976 refurbishment by the Imperial War Museum, the interior was reconstructed to reflect its 1940 appearance, when it served as the centre for tactical deployment of Duxford’s fighter aircraft during the Battle of Britain. The Operations Room features king-post timber trusses. Display fixtures and fittings are not original, with the exception of a partially glazed wall on the south side and four-panel doors, as well as those to the small store rooms and cupboard to the south side of the Operations Room. Rooms on the left side have been converted for office use and do not retain original features. The common rafter roof with side purlins is accessed from a hatch in the room furthest to the left.

The building is protected by an earth breastwork approximately 1.75 meters high, with openings for the front and rear entrances.