RAF Cardington Camp
Hello, welcome to the RAF Cardington history website. The station just south of Bedford town was in operation from 1936 to 2000 and although primarily a recruitment centre was home to a large array of units. Balloon Units were stationed here, a direct legacy from the early airship programme begun at Cardington in 1915.
HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL! HOPE 2020 IS GOOD FOR YOU!
Website Updates Jan 2020. Jamie Smith has sent in a photo of his father shown in the Peoples Gallery 1939 page. His
father received Barrage Balloon training at Cardington in 1939/1940. Jamie himself was kitted out at the station in 1952 and his photo can be found in the Peoples Gallery section 1945-1965. Thank you very much Jamie.
Wanted! 1. I have very little information about the WAAFS who were trained at Cardington in WW2 and will be concentrating my efforts this year to find out more about them. If you can help please get in touch as their contribution to
the war and station is under represented here. 2. More photographs and information needed about the former Station Commanders there is a list of these men in the Peoples Gallery section - again if you can help please get in touch.
3. Having recently discovered the arrival of ex RAF Czech pilots at Cardington from 1948-1950 after fleeing their own country it is now proving difficult to track what happened to these unfortunate men hopefully more details will come to light this year. - Jane Harvey. January 2020.
Website updates December 2019. 1. Following on from the new page created in October re the ex RAF Czech pilots who appeared at RAF Cardington from 1948-1950, I have heard from Tom Dolezal of the Free Czechoslovak Air Force Association Ltd. Please go to the Czech Exiles page in the Topic Section for more information.
2. Read about Christmas events held at the station in various years in the Topics section. 3. Wanted! Photo of the Chipmunk airplane at Cardington in 1955. Please visit the Cardington Documents page in the Topics section where two documents have been added that record the loan of a Chipmunk airplane from RAF Henlow to RAF Cardington in 1955.
A March 1940 station concert programme.
A A B Thomson - holder of The Military Cross & Bar. The first Station Commander of RAF Cardington 1936
No 102 Dispersal Unit was set up to 'demob' the thousands of RAF men returning home.
Grp Capt A R Arnold DSO, DFC - the longest serving Station Commander from Nov 1939- Mar 1945
A 1943 RAF Cardington cricket team. Sport of any kind was high on the agenda for staff in their spare time.
The two magnificent sheds still standing proud. Home to airships from 1916-1930 and put to numerous uses by the RAF in later years.
Renamed MU217 RAF Cardington in 1955 - the Gas Plant supplied RAF depots throughout the world.
A Memorial Stone for RAF Cardington.
On the morning of Saturday 18th May 2019 a memorial stone to RAF Cardington was unveiled. Special guests assembled to witness the unveiling of the stone located at the front of the Shorts Building (known as Station HQ in the RAF years).
We were specially honoured to welcome the Lousada family to the memorial. From 1956 to 1959 Group Captain Lousada was Station Commander at Cardington and on July 27th 1959 he accepted the Freedom of Bedford on behalf of the station from the Lord Mayor of Bedford. We were delighted that his youngest son Michael (shown above right) had agreed to unveil the stone.
The memorial was designed and totally financed by Bellway Homes who are the major developers of the former station which is now a housing development. Responding to a request to provide a lasting memorial to the station they agreed without hesitation to support the initiative. Permission was obtained from the MOD to use the RAF emblem on the memorial and the process began.
Thank you Bellway Homes!!
More details of the memorial can be found on the Memorial Unveiling Page in the Topic Section. A huge thank you is due to Bellway Homes for supporting and financing this project right from the beginning. I think you will agree they have done a good job. Certainly without them this memorial would not have happened. Thank you from Jane Harvey.
You are viewing the text version of this site.
To view the full version please install the Adobe Flash Player and ensure your web browser has JavaScript enabled.
Need help? check the requirements page.
