Building 288 (Sergeants' Mess)

Sergeants' Mess

This single-storey building was constructed in 1932 by the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings, with significant extensions added in 1935 and further modifications in 1943. It is built of red brick in stretcher bond with cavity walls and a slate roof on timber trusses.

The building is arranged with a central entrance set to the right of the south-facing front, flanked by two gabled wings that project forward at each end. The original layout included a billiard room to the right of the entrance and the mess with an external eaves stack to the left, with kitchen and services positioned to the rear. In 1935, the billiard room was relocated to a new matching wing on the left, and a new mess room designed to accommodate 55 members was added to the rear, adjacent to the billiard-room wing. Further extensions were made in 1943 when a new officers' mess was constructed and service facilities extended to the rear, though these changes did not alter the appearance of the front elevation.

The south-facing entrance front is the principal elevation. The projecting gables feature triple sashes of 12:18:12 panes set beneath flush semicircular arches with herring-bone brick tympana. Above each are small ventilation slits and shouldered gables with stone copings. The inner returns have small 8-pane sashes. The set-back central section contains a square bay with tall 8:12:8-pane sashes set into brick mullions, flanked by small 8-pane sashes on the returns. This bay rises to a coped parapet above eaves level and bears a 1932 date stone. To its left stands the external eaves stack with bold brick capping, flanked by tall 8-pane sashes. To the right is a pair of panelled doors with glazed top panels in a cast stone surround with simple architrave flat cornice, similarly flanked by tall sashes. A broad capped ridge stack stands to the left of the entrance. Other elevations feature timber-bar sash windows with stone sills and slightly cambered brick voussoir heads. The left return has 12-pane sashes. The right return has a part-hipped outer end beneath a louvred half-gable, leading to a lower set-back wing with a hipped end, a plank door, and 2 + 1 four-pane sashes.

The interior retains original doors and joinery. Although considerably modified, the principal spaces of the billiards room, ante-rooms, and mess remain substantially intact.

The building forms part of Duxford's exceptionally complete group of inter-war domestic buildings and represents the finest and best-preserved example of a fighter base from the period up to 1945 in Britain. The Sergeants' Mess completes a significant group with the Pilots' Block and Sick Quarters. Its alterations reflect major changes at Duxford following increased personnel numbers, particularly with the arrival of US personnel. The Air Ministry's Works Directorate noted that Sergeants' Messes were more greatly affected by RAF personnel policy development than any other domestic buildings it designed. The original design assumed 50 per cent of sergeants were married and would not use the mess; however, the growth in sergeant pilot numbers—of whom only 10 per cent were entitled to marry—rendered the original areas inadequate in relation to regular users.