Duxford: Operations Block and Blast Walls (Building 59)

Former Operations Block built in 1928 to the design of the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings and extended in 1938.

MATERIALS: beige brick laid in English bond and asbestos-cement diagonal slate roofing. The north extension is boarded timber framing.

PLAN: the building has a rectangular plan with a central entrance on the east side opening into a short corridor. This leads to an axial corridor on the right providing access to three small storage rooms and a cupboard, followed by the Operations Room, and the former Searchlight Room. To the left are five main rooms, two of which are subdivided, now used as office accommodation, and a small boiler room.

EXTERIOR: the single-storey building has a hipped roof with ridge tiles along the verges and exposed rafter feet at the eaves. The double-leaf, flush-panelled entrance doors are below a three-light, multi-paned overlight. The entrance is flanked by two-light steel casement windows with small panes and a transom, and concrete sills and lintels. There are four to the right and two to the left. At the far left end is the boiler house with a tall, square brick stack, and a red brick extension which houses a tank. The return (south gable end) has three windows. On the north gable end is the later extension which has a pitched roof and a brick plinth below the horizontal timber cladding. It is lit on the east side by a two-light casement window and on the north gable end by two windows. On the west elevation a door with glazed upper panes has been inserted at a later date. Beyond the extension, the main building is lit by seven two-light and two three-light casements, plus a centrally placed door, also inserted at a later date.

INTERIOR: when the IWM took over the building in 1976 the interior had been gutted, the fixtures and fittings removed, and the layout altered. This has been reinstated, with light-weight partitions between rooms, and king-post timber trusses in the Operations Room which was reconstructed between 1986 and 1987 to show how it was in 1940 when the tactical deployment of Duxford’s fighter aircraft was organised there during the Battle of Britain. None of the fixtures and fittings of the display are original, including the balustrade and steps, except for the partially glazed wall on the south side. The four-panel door also appears to be original, as do those to the small store rooms and cupboard to the south side of the Operations Room.

The rooms arranged along the left hand side of the entrance have been converted for office use and do not appear to retain any original features. The common rafter roof with side purlins is accessed from a hatch in the room to the far left.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES:

The building is enclosed and protected by an earth breast-work about 1.75m high with breaks for the front and rear entrances.