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.
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 was both thrilled and humbled to hear from Tom Dolezal of the Free Czechoslovak Air Force Association Ltd. This wonderful organisation was formed to honour the Czech personnel who served in the RAF during the war. Please go to the Czech Exiles page in the Topic Section for more information.
2. Read about Christmas events held at the station in 1943, 1945, 1948 and 1964 in the new Christmas at Cardington page in the Topics section. Please take a look and if you recognise anyone please shout! Thanks. 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.
And finally coming towards the end of 2019 which has been a fantastic year for RAF Cardington with the unveiling of the memorial stone back in May, I would like to say thank you and a Happy Christmas and New Year to all at Bellway Homes for building the memorial, to Michael Lousada and members of his family who came along to the unveiling and to all the people who have made contact and supported this website over the years. Thank you and live long and prosper! Jane Harvey Dec 2019.
A A B Thomson - holder of The Military Cross & Bar. The first Station Commander of RAF Cardington 1936
A March 1940 station concert programme.
A 1943 RAF Cardington cricket team. Sport of any kind was high on the agenda for staff in their spare time.
Renamed MU217 RAF Cardington in 1955 - the Gas Plant supplied RAF depots throughout the world.
Grp Capt A R Arnold DSO, DFC - the longest serving Station Commander from Nov 1939- Mar 1945
No 102 Dispersal Unit was set up to 'demob' the thousands of RAF men returning home.
The two magnificent sheds still standing proud. Home to airships from 1916-1930 and put to numerous uses by the RAF in later years.
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).
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.
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.
Thank you Bellway Homes!!
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.
For more images of the day go to the Memorial Unveiling Page found in the Topic Section.
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