I came across a news article about RAF Upwood, the former wartime airbase near Ramsey, Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire). Josef Jakobs landed southeast of Ramsey near both RAF Upwood and RAF Warboys. Let’s see how the article did in terms of historical accuracy. I have added italicized comments in square brackets where needed.
The derelict RAF base in Cambs where a German spy was captured during WWII
The derelict site has been the target of arson attacks and vandalism in recent years
Author: Cait Findlay
“The first lesson in spy school is probably “don’t get caught”. The second may well be “don’t break your leg parachuting into enemy territory”.
German spy Josef Jakobs failed on both of these counts when he parachuted into Cambridgeshire in February 1941. [He landed on the evening of 31 January, so technically, he parachuted in January 1941] The broken-legged spy was caught [discovered would be more accurate, since he shot off his pistol to attract their attention] by farmers and discovered to have maps of RAF Upwood, [No. He had a Shell map of the UK which had a couple of pencilled marks on it, neither of which marked the location of RAF Upwood.] a code device, [and a radio transmitter – the code device was torn up] and almost £500 on his person – hardly subtle. He was later executed by firing squad, so he probably wished he’d never even heard of the RAF Upwood. [He may never have heard of it.]“
Let’s interrupt this news article to show the map that Josef had in his possession and the marks on it. I have added a red star for the location of RAF Upwood. The red line was also added by me, and interested readers can find the full story of this in another blog post.
The word Ramsey is underlined in pencil, this was done by the President of Josef’s court martial and is documented in the court transcript.
The penciled “X” at the end of the red line, just south of Conington was on the map and is directly on one of the rail lines. The circle/oval is just northwest of Warboys. The straight pencil lines mark the perimeter of a triangle on the map.
My own interpretation of this map is that the navigator told Josef they would enter the triangle at the circle/oval mark and that they planned to drop him near the railway line.
Just to be clear, again, he did not have maps of RAF Upwood. Let us return to the article…
“The RAF base which led to Jakobs’ downfall was opened in 1917 when a farm was requisitioned for use as an emergency landing ground during the First World War. A year later, permanent huts and five hangars had been built, housing No. 191 (Night) Training Squadron and No. 190 (Night) Training Squadron. After the war ended local farmers reclaimed the land and used the buildings for agricultural purposes.
Between the wars, the RAF expanded as Britain realised its need for improved air defence. The RAF returned to Upwood in 1937, with the first two flying units being No. 52 Squadron RAF, who flew Hawker Hinds, and No. 63 Squadron with Hawker Audaxes. When the two squadrons were reassigned as training units a new squadron came in: No. 90 Squadron flying Bristol Blenheims.
After the start of WWII, the squadron at RAF Upwood spent most of its time practising air-to-air fire and bombing. The Upwood units did not take an active part in the early years of the war, but it was raided twice by the Luftwaffe, seeing one person killed.
The runways proved to be an issue as they frequently became unusable. Three concrete runways were built in 1943 and were first used by No 139 Squadron flying De Havilland Mosquitoes, who were later joined by home to No 156 Squadron with Avro Lancasters. The two squadrons went on missions to attack Berlin and Stuttgart.
The RAF ended their use of the station in 1981, handing over control to the United States Air Force (USAF). Much of the site was closed in 1994 and it remains mostly derelict.
It has been the victim of vandalism and trespass in recent years, with six people entering the base and climbing onto the roofs of buildings in 2017. It became the target of arson attacks in 2020, and most recently a derelict building was set alight in July 2023.”
The history of RAF Upwood is undoubtedly interesting but one does wish that writers stuck to the facts. Undoubtedly, part of the problem lies with websites that still have inaccurate information about Josef. For example, the RAF Upwood site (you have to scroll down on the left-hand sidebar to find Josef’s story) still notes that Josef had “a map that was marked in positions corresponding to the RAF aerodrome of Upwood and the satellite airfield of Warboys”. I had emailed the author of that website eons ago, but my suggested changes have not been made. Ah well.
I have written a previous blog about the derelict ruins of RAF Upwood which has links to some amazing photography sites.