Latest news with #RAFHenlow
BBC News
12-08-2025
- General
- BBC News
RAF Henlow jet fighter could be donated to a museum
A post-war jet fighter that has stood as the gate guard outside an RAF station could be donated to an aviation Hawker Hunter aircraft (WT612) has been positioned outside RAF Henlow, Bedfordshire, since the the camp scheduled to close next year, a spokesperson for RAF Henlow said they would look to gift it "to an appropriate aviation museum where it can be restored and used to tell the Hunter story". "RAF Heritage takes aviation history very seriously and will always endeavour to find the best home for retiring aircraft," they said. Current regulations prevent the Ministry of Defence from selling aircraft such as the Hawker their airframes are probably the most common aircraft exhibited with multiple examples on display throughout the country, including at RAF Hendon in London and Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire.A spokesperson for RAF Henlow said that, other than in exceptional circumstances, it was not their policy to gift to a museum that already had one. The Hawker Hunter aircraft (WT612) is one of the world's oldest surviving aircraft of its first flew in 1954 and was a development and testing aircraft until it was grounded three years Royal Air Force Museum said the Hunter was the first high-speed jet fighter with radar and fully-powered flying controls to go into widespread became the RAF's standard single-seat fighter, replacing Meteor, Sabre and Venom aircraft. In 1958, the RAF held a competition to find a suitable type to replace its Middle East-based Venom ground attack fighters. Hawker won with a proposal for a modified Hunter F6, and an order was placed for the conversion of a number of airframes. The last operational Hunter FGA9s were flown by No 8 Squadron until December 1971, although the type continued to be used in training units for a little 1960, Lightnings began to supersede the Labour MP for Hitchin, Alistair Strathern, said that a campaign had been launched asking for people's support in preserving the Hawker Hunter (WT612) as "part of our local and aviation heritage in Henlow".He added: "While the future of RAF Henlow remains uncertain, it's important we safeguard this historic landmark that symbolises our connection to decades of service." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The ambitious Bedfordshire projects that never came to be
Once upon a time, Bedfordshire could have been home to a space and sea centre, a giant aquarium and even an F1 racetrack next to the M1 the plans all separately fell through and residents were left wondering what could have been through the years. They have once again been given much to think about after the government gave the green light for a Universal theme park on the site of the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks, near Bedford. The attraction is expected to create thousands of jobs, with an opening date of Universal looks set to go ahead, here is a snapshot of some of the weird, whacky and wonderful projects that never saw the light of day. The world's deepest diving tank RAF Henlow, near Shefford, was due to close in 2017 and become the world's first commercial space and deep sea research and training £120m Blue Abyss facility was part of a plan to develop a science, innovation and technology park at the included the world's biggest 50m deep pool, a hotel and an astronaut training centre, due to be operational by the location was changed to a site in Cornwall when RAF Henlow's closure was pushed back. The world's largest aquarium In 2007, plans for the world's largest aquarium in Stewartby were approved on the site of a quarry, close to where Universal has been Nirah (National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitats) aquarium was due to cost £600m and be built in 2012.A large domed complex was planned that would focus on freshwater organisms rather than marine a lack of investment and delays led to nothing being built and planning permission expired. Stadium on stilts and an F1 racetrack In the summer of 2003, businessman John Gurney bought Luton Town as part of a wanted the club to rival Manchester United and as part of that came up with several ideas, including building a 70,000-seater stadium, on stilts, with an F1 racetrack on the site, close to junction 10 of the fans were unhappy with this, as well as a number of other moves made by the consortium, and it left Luton after the club was placed into administrative receivership. The Kohlerdome Luton Town are finally due to be leaving Kenilworth Road, moving to a 25,000-seater stadium at Power Court, but Hatters fans from the 1990s are unlikely to forget another ill-fated plan - the Kohler was a property developer who took joint ownership of the football club in years later, he revealed his ambition for the Kohlerdome - a futuristic stadium inspired by stadia from that year's World Cup in the United States. It featured a retractable roof and a movable pitch that could be transported by hovercraft. It was given outline planning permission, contingent on widening the adjacent M1, but was ultimately rejected by the Department of Environment over traffic congestion fears. The High Court then rejected an appeal and Kohler left the club. Sundon Springs A few years earlier, in 1988, plans emerged for a site between Toddington and Upper Sundon to become the home of a huge sports and leisure complex, including a stadium to rival Springs would have also featured new shops, an exhibition centre, hotel, theatre and a large car nearby Harlington residents were unhappy, with fears of traffic congestion and the complex affecting local County Council refused planning permission and the large complex never came to be. The M1 glass aqueduct In 2003, British Waterways announced the route for a new £150m branch of the Grand Union would connect the River Great Ouse at Bedford with the Grand Union Canal at Milton canal was to be the first waterway built in more than a century and as part of this, a glass aqueduct would have straddled the M1 along the route. While the project for the waterway is still very much planned, it no longer includes the aqueduct. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
