RAF Cardington Camp
Hello, welcome to the RAF Cardington history website. The station was in operation from 1936 to 2000 and this website was created in 2012 to make sure it is not forgotten. As you can see below Saturday 18th May 2019 was a very special day as a memorial stone to the station was unveiled. The history research is still ongoing so if you have any photos and stories you would like to share please make contact. Thank you.
Jane Harvey.
June 2019
A Memorial Stone for RAF Cardington.
There were smiles all round at Shortstown on Saturday 18th May when a memorial stone to the station 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).
The memorial was designed and totally financed by Bellway Homes who are the major developers of the site 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.
Guests included representatives from RAF Henlow (shown above), 134 (Bedford) Squadron Air Cadets, Susan Lousada Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire on behalf of HM Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire Helen Nellis, Dave Hodgson, Lord Mayor of Bedford, Jacek Bernasinski from the Polish Ex-Combatants Association, Barry Tomlinson from Bedford Aeronautical Heritage Group, local members of The Royal British Legion, Kim Burrows and a colleague from bpha and Stephen Smith the Vicar of Cardington.
There were history and information stands inside the Shorts Building from Beds and Luton Archives, The Shuttleworth Collection, The Balloon and Barrage Reunion Club, The Airship Heritage Trust, Bedford RAFA, and the Cardington Camp collection. Bedford Radio Club were camped outside relaying messages along their network.
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 left) had agreed to unveil the stone.
For more images of the day go to the Memorial Unveiling Page found in the Topic Section.
Thank you Bellway Homes!!
Some time ago I approached Bellway Homes and asked if it was possible to have some sort of memorial to RAF Cardington on the site. A huge thank you is due to them 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.
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