Old Warden
OLD WARDEN: Private aerodrome
(Also known as SHUTTLEWORTH and BIGGLESWADE)
Notes: I cut this picture out of a magazine many years ago, and forgot to pen a note where it came from. (What a plonker!) If asked today I would guess it was from an article in Popular Flying / Light Aviation magazine? If anybody can give advice on this, and who took the picture, this will be most welcome.
In July 2022 I was kindly contacted by Mr Steven Jefferson who tells us the picture was taken between the early 1980s and mid 1990s.
Operated by: 1930s: Warden Aviation Company
(briefly undertook banner towing)
1960s/1990s: Warden Aviation & Engineering Co
2000: The Shuttleworth Collection
Flying school: Post 1945: Angels One Five and the Stevenage Flying Club
Location: 2.5nm W of Biggleswade, 5nm ESE of Bedford
Period of operation: 1932 to present day
Note: These maps are reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014.
Runways:
1965: NE/SW 438 grass SSE/NNW 402 grass SE/NW 640 grass
1990: 04/22 613 grass 12/30 733 grass
2000: 04/22 613 grass
(Runway 12/30 roughly 700 grass restricted to use by Shuttleworth pilots only)
Note: What I think is also of interest is that, on this map, a short 07/25 runway is also shown.
2001: 03/21 618x40 grass
A MIKE CHARLTON GALLERY
Note: These pictures from postcards have been kindly sent by Mike Charlton who has an amazing collection. See, www.aviationpostcard.co.uk
If anybody can kindly put a date on these pictures, this advice will be most welcome.
First picture: For those of us interested in aviation history the DH Comet 'Racer' is iconic. But what a bugger to fly, far from being pilot 'user friendly' - see the article in the October 2017 edition of Light Aviation magazine. One of three Comets competing, and now fully restored, G-ACSS was designed purely to win the race - which G-ACSS did - and full credit to the pilots, C W A Scott and Tom Campbell Black. Their fllght time was 71 hours, the second to arrive being a Douglas DC-2 PH-AJU in 90 hours 13 minutes, flown I think by a KLM crew.
The third picture: This seems a rather odd picture to portray the Shuttleworth Collection for a postcard - but here we have it.
The fifth picture: Can anybody kindly offer advice about this picture?
NOTES:
In April 2016, Bill Grigg, the editor of Prop-Swing magazine, kindly contacted me on a number of matters and pointed out a couple of errors in this listing. Thank heavens so many people are so kind and generous - it helps make this 'Guide' so much more worthwhile.
He also informed me that the opening of the airfield can be dated most precisely - the 26th September 1932. This is because the information comes from Richard Shuttleworth's pilot log-book.
UNIQUE AND A TREASURE
This airfield is unique and the activities regarding aircraft preservation and restoration a national treasure. Their air shows are a delight and deliberately planned to reflect a past era. Largely due to the foresight of Richard Shuttleworth's mother in setting up a ‘Trust’ to safeguard his memory, (He was killed in 1940 after “signing up” for military duty), she laid plans to “moth-ball” his collection of historic aircraft to prevent them falling into the hands of the Air Ministry and being destroyed. A favourite pastime of the RAF in WW2 was to try and destroy every notable aircraft from previous eras as they were usually regarded as junk - fit only to be burnt on the scrap heap.
The Shuttleworth Collection has a large ‘fleet’ of old, rare and classic aircraft, (some very, very, old and very, very rare - indeed unique), and nearly of them are usually flyable and regularly displayed here. The really old aircraft can only be flown in calm conditions which generally means summer evenings. To see these wonderful displays of so many classic aircraft is a privilege of course but available to everybody. But be warned and take a large bucket - to take your nostalgia home in! The real beauty of OLD WARDEN is that the aircraft can be seen flying at close quarters, a quite unusual aspect at so many air shows where these old types seem a bit lost, or distant..
RICHARD SHUTTLWORTH
Richard Shuttleworth was a bit of a lad in many respects. Certainly not the usually expected result from a Eton education, (where he didn’t do very well being much more interested in engineering and so on), but once into aviation he saw no limits to his enthusiasm for the subject by getting going with a de Havilland DH.60 Moth for which it seems he established the original OLD WARDEN airstrip. (That same DH Moth is still flying here today!) Incredibly it seems to me, he flew a Comper Swift to Delhi in 1933, the flight taking about three weeks. Please correct me if I’m wrong in thinking you’d be hard pushed to pack a toothbrush and spare pair of underepants into this small aeroplane! Having arrived he then took part in the Viceroy Air Races.
A MISTAKE?
In the 1939 handbook compiled by Reading Aero Club there is a list of airfield destinations members could use together with the direction and distance from READING/WOODLEY. However BIGGLESWADE is given as 165° and 187 miles from Woodley which would of course place it somewhere in France roughly 70nm NW of Paris! The heading should have been 030 (I reckon) and the distance just less than 70 miles.
A QUESTION?
OLD WARDEN was known as BIGGLESWADE in the 1930s, (see below), but I have found BIGGLESWADE has being referred to as being a military aerodrome and I don’t think OLD WARDEN was ever a military aerodrome…now confirmed! See BIGGLESWADE WW1 listing.
A VERY SAD EXPERIENCE
On a more sombre note influenced by personel experience ever since first learning to fly, I have long believed the Slingsby T.67 series of aircraft should have been grounded as they had a fatal flaw or flaws. Indeed I had registered this opinion with the CAA and AAIB in about 1990, but nothing of course was done - and why should they take any notice of a PPL with no qualifications worth talking about? A few years later I watched an air display here, when the Slingsby chief test pilot Pete Clarke, flying a T.67 type crashed whilst spinning and was killed. As have numerous other pilots flying this aircraft type. See LEAVESDEN (HERTFORDSHIRE) for more info.
A VERY SMALL DETAIL
Just one very anoraky point, it appars that for quite a period of time, Dollar Helicopters used OLD WARDEN as a kind of temporary base on weekdays only whilst undertaking pipeline inspection duties in this region.
OLD WARDEN PICTURE GALLERY
Note: All pictures by the author unless specified. See also my air shows article for more pictures.
PICTURES FROM PETER MILLER
It is always a treat to feature pictures sent in by visitors to this 'Guide'
The first four date from October 1974.
The second batch are from September 2020.
AIRFIELD INFO FROM THE AIR PILOT IN 1937
In July 2024 I was kindly sent these items by Mr John Munn, Head of Engineering at The Shuttleworth Collection. As he points out on the info page, cars can be rented with or without a driver. In those days I reckon, a most unusual option? My impression being that the idea of self-drive rental coming about after WW2.
Michael Owen
This comment was written on: 2018-04-28 16:46:02I know Sid Miles was involved at Old Warden and a bust of him was put in the foyer. I have not been to Old Warden for quite a number of years as I live in Spain, so could you please advise if his memory still lives on. Thank you.
Michael T Holder
This comment was written on: 2020-05-25 16:21:22From the Biggleswade Chronicle – Friday 06 December 1929 – The three-seater aeroplane with which the Berkshire Aviation Tours Ltd have been giving aerial trips, also did not escape the ravages of the gale. On Wednesday evening those in charge left the machine pegged down in the field at Brooklands, which has been used as an aerodrome. When they visited the spot on Thursday morning they found it had been blown by the gale for quite 20 yards, and had been turned upside down with the wheels in the air. As far as could be seen, little damage was done. Based on a report in the 22 Nov 1929 edition of the Biggleswade Chronicle, I thought they had been using the site where Old Warden developed. This clears it up. The address was Froghall Lane. Brookland Farm is in position 52 05 11”N 000 16 38”W and 300 yards south of it is Froghall. Mill Lock lies on the west of Biggleswade and Mill Lane comes out of the town and crosses the River Ivel by the Corn Mill. Once across the River I assume it becomes Froghall Lane which leads to the small hamlet of Froghall. A road runs south from Hill Lane just to the west of Brookland Farm so I would guess they probably used the large field to the west of that road next to Brookland Farm.
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