Cranfield Airport is an airfield just outside the village of

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 Census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

, in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is south-west of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

and east of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

. It was originally a World War II aerodrome, RAF Cranfield. It is now used for business aviation, private flights, and for research and development activities.

History

RAF Cranfield was built by John Laing & Son on of farmland acquired by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of Stat ...

in 1935 as Britain re-armed to face the growing threats on the continent. It was formally opened on 1 June 1937 and initially became the base for

No. 62 Squadron RAF No. 62 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was originally established as a Royal Flying Corps squadron in 1916 and operated the Bristol F2B fighter in France during the last year of the First World War. After the war the squadron was disbanded and it ...

and

No. 82 Squadron RAF No. 82 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that was first formed in 1917 and last disbanded in 1963. It served at times as a bomber unit, a reconnaissance unit and lastly as an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) unit. History For ...

of No. 1 (Bomber) Group, flying the already obsolete Hawker Hind biplanes. Both squadrons converted to Blenheim 1s in 1938. 62 Squadron was moved to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

in August 1939 where it was destroyed by the invading Japanese Imperial forces. RAF Cranfield's grass airstrip was replaced with three hardened runways in the winter of 1939 and spring of 1940 and became a target for enemy action in the late summer of that year, with mines, bombs and incendiaries dropped on it and the nearby village of

. Aircraftsman

Vivian Hollowday Vivian Hollowday, GC (13 October 1916 – 15 April 1977), sometimes known as Bob Hollowday, was a British recipient of the George Cross, the highest British award for gallantry not in the face of the enemy. He was the first non-commissioned memb ...

, serving at the airfield, won the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...

for the attempted rescue of two crews which crashed there in July and August 1940. August 1941 saw the fast developing station become a night fighter training centre with the arrival of No. 51 Night fighter Operational Training Unit. This was disbanded after the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 and the airfield became the site for a new College of Aeronautics (now

Cranfield University , mottoeng = After clouds light , established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name) , type = Public research uni ...

). This college helped develop the highly successful

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and has serviced the

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...

s and

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. The UK's sole remaining airworthy

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stir ...

was based at Cranfield until 1964. The following units were here at some point:

Description

Cranfield Aerodrome has a

CAA CAA may refer to: Law * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India ** Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act * Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to another party * Clean Air Act, United States law to reduce air ...

Ordinary Licence (number P803) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (

) situated next to the site. The airfield is used for a small number of university-related flights in addition to flying schools and private owners. One of the

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelop ...

research aircraft (a

BAE 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Manufacture by Avro Internation ...

), operated under the

Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements The Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM), based on the Cranfield University campus alongside Cranfield Airport in Bedfordshire, England, is an organisation formed by a collaboration between the Met Office and the Natural Enviro ...

, is usually based on the airfield. Situated to the northeast of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...

and

, the airfield has a large catchment area. Although the length of the runway means that Cranfield can handle commercial aircraft (up to the size of a

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maid ...

), the remaining infrastructure is not suitable for scheduled passenger flights or for the handling of such aircraft. Navigation aids include: * NDB 'CIT' which is located to the north-east of the aerodrome * ILS/DME equipment for runway 21 * VDF * GNSS approaches to both runways

Current operations and planned developments

In September 2016, the press reported that until the end of March 2017, the airport would be closed at weekends while a new air traffic control officer (ATCO) was trained; during this period, there would be days when only a single ATCO was available, and on those days, reduced opening hours would operate. Planned and permanent redistribution of aircraft traffic (PPR) was introduced. During this period, runway rejuvenation work was also carried out. In early 2018, the press reported plans to expand the airport's business aviation activities with a new terminal, a hotel and other improvements and to rename the airport 'London' Cranfield Airport. In April 2018, it was reported that Central Bedfordshire Council had granted planning permission for a new 'Air Park', expected to be completed in 2024.

Planned development

In May 2019, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group (now called

Marshall Group Marshall Group, formerly Marshall of Cambridge and Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, is a British company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Subsidiaries include Marshall Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and desig ...

), owners of Cambridge City Airport, announced that their airport would be closed to all traffic by 2030 at the latest. The Group plans to redevelop their Cambridge site for housing and commercial uses. That announcement said that the Group would be deciding between three potential airfields for its continuing operations:

Duxford Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, about south of Cambridge. It is part of the Hundred Parishes area. History The village formed on the banks of the River Cam, a little below its emergence from the hills of north Essex. One of th ...

and Wyton in Cambridgeshire, and Cranfield Airport in Bedfordshire. On 6 October 2020, Cranfield University and Marshall Group announced that they had signed an option agreement for the potential relocation of Marshall Aerospace to Cranfield Airport. In October 2021, the Group announced that it had decided in favour of the Cranfield option and that "it will leave its current base at Cambridge Airport by 2030". The Group proposes to move its global group headquarters (as well as its Aerospace division) to Cranfield.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Official site
*

*Control Towers Website
RAF Cranfield
{{authority control History of Bedfordshire University and college airports Airports in England Airports in Bedfordshire Airports in the East of England Airports in the London region University and college buildings in England

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...