RAF Kemble

RAF Kemble was a Royal Air Force airfield that was linked from 1966 with the Red Arrows, the RAF Aerobatic display team; which operated Gnat and laterly Hawk trainers from there. In 1983 the Red Arrows moved operations to RAF Scampton and the base was used by the US Air Force as a maintenance facility for A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft.

Although the base is now officially closed as an RAF station, and is instead used as a civilian flying ground, the base is still owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The airfield has a tarmacadam runway which can accommodate large aircraft such as the Boeing 747. Curiously, there is a cafe/bar on site called AV8 (a pun on "aviate") which can only be reached from the entrance gate by crossing the main runway. Traffic lights warn when an aircraft is about to take off or land.

The current airport at the site was renamed Cotswold Airport in 2009, having previously operated as "Kemble Airport" or "Kemble Airfield".

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