page_title: Cotswold Airport
section_title: RAF Kemble
hierarchical_section_title: Cotswold Airport / History / RAF Kemble
caption_attribution_description: English: The main entrance to RAF Kemble in 1967 with a pre-war hangar in left background and Spitfire gate guard.
context_page_description: Cotswold Airport is a private general aviation airport, near the village of Kemble in Gloucestershire, England. Located 4.5 NM southwest of Cirencester, it was built as a Royal Air Force station and was known as RAF Kemble. The Red Arrows aerobatics team was based there until 1983, and it is used for the storage and recycling of retired airliners, as well as flying schools, clubs and industry.
  Cotswold Airport is located clear of controlled airspace, allowing free movement for training aircraft. It is also centrally positioned between Cheltenham and Gloucester and Swindon. The nearest railway station is at Kemble.
context_section_description: Construction work for RAF Kemble began in 1936, and the first operational unit to arrive at the station was No. 5 Maintenance Unit on 22 June 1938. In 1940, No. 4 Service Ferry Pool moved to the station from Cardiff, and Kemble became one of the main bases for the aircraft ferrying operations of the Air Transport Auxiliary in this region of the British Isles. Around the same time, Kemble was also the home of No. 1 Overseas Aircraft Preparation Unit (OAPU).
  From 1966 until 1983, Kemble housed the Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic display team, which operated Folland Gnats and BAe Hawks. After the Red Arrows moved to RAF Scampton, the station was used by the US Air Force as a maintenance facility, initially for A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft, followed by Northrop F-5s, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers.
  Following the end of the Cold War, the US Air Force left the station and it was returned to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The British Army made use of the site to store surplus vehicles and equipment, and military flights ended at the station in March 1993.
caption: The RAF Kemble main entrance area in 1967 with a pre-war hangar in the left background and a Spitfire as gate guardian
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