Long Marston Airfield - March 2020
I'd been scratching my head for a while looking for abandoned planes and decided a holiday to Cornwall or Croatia was needed to see some then remembered Long Marston is only an hour drive from me! With that daft realisation we headed over to Stratford to see what was left, I had been there about 5 years ago when there were 3 planes including the much photographed plane with the angry face,
The airfield has now completely closed since my first visit and with no more events planned for the site I can only assume the redevelopment plans for housing are going ahead.
We had a fun hour or so photographing the Avro Shackleton
History
RAF Long Marston Airfield opened in 1941 with 3 runways arranged in an 'A' shape, an air traffic control tower and 3 hangers, It was built to operate as a satellite station to a new bomber operational training unit.
In 1954 it was decommissioned and renamed 'Long Marston Airfield'. Up till recently the site has been used for shows, motor-sports events, model aircraft flying, and even used a pad for motorbike training.
The Avro Shakleton we explored was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft. It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a development of the famous wartime Avro Lancaster bomber.
More history can be found here https://web.archive.org/web/20121115200518/http://www.longmarstonmodelairshow.co.uk/History.aspx
The Avro Shackleton, explorers will remember a few years back this was surrounded by shrubbery,
Interior shot from https://www.thegrowler.org.uk/avroshackleton/ for comparison
Cockpit
Bombers seat up front
sleeping area
lots of lovely stencilled signs such as these flares
tail end
Obligatory selfie with my co-pilot
Shortly after my friend nipped there with his lad .......
**This is my first report for about 5 years, not a noob but definitely a posting reports noob. Any errors please drop me a message
**
I'd been scratching my head for a while looking for abandoned planes and decided a holiday to Cornwall or Croatia was needed to see some then remembered Long Marston is only an hour drive from me! With that daft realisation we headed over to Stratford to see what was left, I had been there about 5 years ago when there were 3 planes including the much photographed plane with the angry face,
The airfield has now completely closed since my first visit and with no more events planned for the site I can only assume the redevelopment plans for housing are going ahead.
We had a fun hour or so photographing the Avro Shackleton
History
RAF Long Marston Airfield opened in 1941 with 3 runways arranged in an 'A' shape, an air traffic control tower and 3 hangers, It was built to operate as a satellite station to a new bomber operational training unit.
In 1954 it was decommissioned and renamed 'Long Marston Airfield'. Up till recently the site has been used for shows, motor-sports events, model aircraft flying, and even used a pad for motorbike training.
The Avro Shakleton we explored was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft. It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a development of the famous wartime Avro Lancaster bomber.
More history can be found here https://web.archive.org/web/20121115200518/http://www.longmarstonmodelairshow.co.uk/History.aspx
The Avro Shackleton, explorers will remember a few years back this was surrounded by shrubbery,
Cockpit
Bombers seat up front
sleeping area
lots of lovely stencilled signs such as these flares
tail end
Obligatory selfie with my co-pilot
Shortly after my friend nipped there with his lad .......
**This is my first report for about 5 years, not a noob but definitely a posting reports noob. Any errors please drop me a message
**
