Woburn Abbey
WOBURN ABBEY: Private airfield and in WW2 Satellite Landing Ground – RAF WOBURN PARK
Note: Now a major tourist attraction, not only for the wildlife safari park but also the stately home.
Note: Both of these pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Military users: 34 SLG (RAF)
Operated by: 1930s: The Duchess of Bedford WW2: RAF SLG
Location: W of the A4012, 5nm ESE of Bletchley
Runway: WW2 Grass area
NOTES: In WW2 Short Stirling bombers were seen stored here, possibly Avro Lancasters also?
MARY RUSSELL, THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD
The flying history of the Duchess of Bedford is well worth looking into. She took up flying quite late in life, in her sixties, but became passionate about it. It is reported that she suffered badly from tinnitus and the noise of the aircraft engines gave her relief from the condition.
In 1929 she purchased the Fokker F.VII G-EBTS, (which she named The Spider), and with C D Barnard as pilot, and mechanic Robert (Bob) Little, undertook a record breaking flight leaving LYMPNE (KENT) on the 2nd August 1929 to Karachi in India (now in Pakistan of course), arriving back at CROYDON (SURREY) eight days later.
On the 8th April 1930 she made her first solo flight in the DH60G Moth G-AAAO. Then, just two days later, again with C D Barnard as pilot, they flew 'The Spider' on another record breaking flight from LYMPNE to Cape Town and back covering the 9,000 miles in 100 hours of flying in ten days.
She often used to fly her DH60G Gipsy Moth G-ACUR from WOBURN and indeed, on the 22nd of March 1937, aged 71 and apparently now deaf, she took-off here ostensibly to complete a short triangular flight of eighty miles to complete her two hundred hours solo. She was not heard of or seen again although reports were posted of seeing her heading out into the North Sea. Several RAF aircraft were despatched on search sorties but in vain. About ten days later four struts assumed to have come from her Moth were washed up on the east coast.
Today it is commonly assumed she intended to commit suicide and it is hard to argue against this idea.
De HAVILLAND MOTH CLUB MEETINGS
Some years ago I made this entry: "The de Havilland Moth Club Meetings have been held here from 1959 to 2007? In 2013 it was announced that the de Havilland Moth Club would once again return to WOBURN for the International Tiger Moth Rally to be held on the 17th and 18th August. Details of the event in Light Aviation magazine mentioned that aircraft would operate from; “…a specially-prepared grass strip in the Deer Park at Woburn Abbey, which was once part of a runway onto which Stirling and Lancaster bombers were flown for dispersal amongst the ancient oak trees.”
In January 2021 I was re-reading Peter G Campbells Tail Ends Of The Fifties published in 1999. He tells us that the first DH Moth Club Weekend events took place here in 1959. He also gives us a list of aircraft that visited, plus shortly after the "First International Helicopter Rally". An event probably not much remembered in the 21st century.
Note: See also my article on Air Shows in which WOBURN features.
Edward Bridges
This comment was written on: 2018-11-14 22:01:05Spent about two months at Lion Lodge Duke of Bedford’s estate in 1944. My father was a Foreman of Equipment on Woburn Aerodrome for some time. Also I was stationed at RAF Bletchley from March 1958 until November 1959.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
