UK airport once home to death-defying Red Arrows stunts is now graveyard where 100s of abandoned planes are left to rot
A UK airport once home to death-defying Red Arrows stunts is now a graveyard for abandoned aircraft.
Hundreds of planes have been left to rot on the runway at Cotswold Airport in Kemble, Gloucestershire.
British Airways, KLM, Jet2 and Qatar Airways liners are amongst those lined up on the tarmac waiting to be stored or scrapped.
Aerial footage of jets lined up include a dust-covered MK Airlines B747-200F, a British Airways B747-400 a Jet2 B737-300 and an Air Italy B737-700.
The now-private plane station was originally built to be a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in 1936.
During its busiest days linked to the Air Force, the airport was famous for housing the Red Arrows Aerobatic team between 1966 and 1983.
After that, the magnificent jets were moved to RAF Scampton, Lincs, and the station became a maintenance facility for the US Air Force.
The RAF fully withdrew from using the airport as a base in 1992.
In August 2022, an aircraft came off the runway at Cotswold – sending two people to hospital.
Inspectors at the time said the accident was caused by a botched handover of control from student to instructor.
It crashed through the airport fence and went across the road before coming to a halt in a ditch.
Plane spotter group Aviation Up Close shared footage of the airport to their YouTube channel recently.
The description read: “Had the opportunity to visit Kemble this afternoon as it wasn’t too much of a detour coming back from Cornwall.
“It’s a fantastic place to spend an hour or so with a massive array of aircraft that are stored or awaiting the scrapper.
“The airport is home to an overwhelming amount of Boeing 747’s with a fair few new additions courtesy of BA with the latest, G-BYGF arriving a few days prior.”
Following decades of use as a functioning runway, the site is now predominately used as a storage facility for aircraft.
And in its retirement, the airport has been used as a film location for a number of television programmes and series.
These have included Top Gear, Casualty, Ultimate Force, Car of the Year Show, Wheeler Dealers, Classic Car Club, Drop the Celebrity and Fifth Gear.
