Babraham Research Campus plaque honours US fighter pilot’s death during WW2

A new plaque has been unveiled outside the recently opened Glenn Berge building at Babraham Research Campus to commemorate the life of Lt Glenn Berge.

Lt Berge, a US Air Force pilot from Minnesota, was in a squadron that escorted large bombers as they headed out over the English Channel towards Europe on bombing raids, then went back up to meet them on return flights.

Lt Berge lost his life on March 5, 1944, when his P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane malfunctioned a short distance from base and exploded on impact at Copley Hill Farm, part of the wider campus. He was 26.

The unveiling event was attended by local and international stakeholders, including members from South Cambridgeshire District Council and the US Air Force, as well as representatives from life sciences real estate company BioMed Realty and the Babraham Institute, one of the Campus’s main shareholders.

The event was hosted by BioMed Realty, which owns and operates nearly 1million sq ft of Class A laboratory and office space in Cambridge.

The company announced in October last year that it is expanding its footprint at the Babraham Research Campus following the formation of a joint venture with Babraham Research Campus Ltd to deliver a 40,000 square feet purpose-built building with new fitted laboratory space.

BioMed Realty is also helping to advance the Babraham Research Campus’s Accelerate@Babraham programme.