sad to see the demise of castle mill air strip.this was the the field and small hanger on the bedford bypass A421 (great barford end).the hanger has started to be dismantled and the field is being excavated for aggregate.shame realy, as some years ago a vintage fly-in was staged there annualy.
By: wessex boy - 15th February 2006 at 13:42
I used to commute from Huntingdon to MK in ’99-2000 and remember a Cessna being parked outside the hanger sometimes. I also remember the field getting pretty badly flooded on occasion which I assumed what led to it’s dis-use?
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 15th February 2006 at 09:15
Wow she was lovely – according to G-INFO shes now in wales with a lycoming stuck on the front….
TT
By: The Blue Max - 14th February 2006 at 21:15
And to prove it!!! by the way you will pay for the Cheesy photo coment!!!
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 14th February 2006 at 13:23
Thats our Trusts messenger….on a rare outing!
Didnt know that you used to have an Auster Blue Max always thought you were a ‘Cub man’ (c/w cheesy photos to prove it!)
TT
By: David Burke - 13th February 2006 at 21:15
I was a passenger in a Chipmunk that landed there circa 1997. The new bypass and the resulting thieves helping themselves to whatever was in the hangar pretty much put an end to the placce.
By: Malcolm Payne - 13th February 2006 at 21:08
Castle Mill
I remember using the strip in 1961 when I took part in a rally that required as many landings as possible in a day before the final one at Antwerp. We flew a non-radio Auster Autocrat and managed 21 airfields in the day. Not easy to do these days! I remember the beautifully smooth surface at Castle Mill.
By: chicken chaser - 13th February 2006 at 21:02
the strip was/is owned by the rogers family(rogers aviation of cranfield) and was neville rogers private strip.if i remember rightly he donated his own aircraft to the falkland islands after the conflict there.as a kid i used to get to the strip by giong down ‘the cut’ at what is now priory country park (for those of a local disposion) to see the austers at there annual fly in in the eighties.also priory country park is where richard shuttleworth proposed to site bedford aerodrome in the 30’s
By: cestrian - 11th February 2006 at 00:26
A couple of pics just to prove it was still in use until at least 1990!The first is taken in August 1989.Notice Cardington in the background,and the second is taken in August 1990 with the mill and farmhouse behind.
By: The Blue Max - 9th February 2006 at 22:22
Certainly used in the 80’s and 90’s, i used to fly in there at least once a year in my Auster. The Auster club had a flyin there Annualy, loverly little strip by the river. Not been in there for a few years now but sad to hear of another strip closing and being lost!! 🙁
By: Nighthawk - 9th February 2006 at 22:03
That must of been ages ago, i was brought up in Kempston in the 80’s, was it used then as it doesn’t ring any bells?
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February 9, 2006 at 9:38 pm