# Cardington Airfield (Bellway Homes development)

Cardington, England · other · tier: draft · Retrofit Atlas record `n-44c0c2fc39` · release 2026-10-21

Canonical: https://retrofitatlas.org/other/england/cardington-cardington-airfield-bellway-homes-development/  
JSON: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/records/n-44c0c2fc39.json · Provenance: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/records/n-44c0c2fc39.provenance.json · API: https://retrofitatlas.org/api/v1/sites/n-44c0c2fc39

## Facts

| Field | Value | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Status | under construction | reported · model extraction, unreviewed |
| Strategy | redevelop | none |
| New use | housing | none |
| What is there now | 1000 new homes on the site | reported · model extraction, unreviewed |
| Closed | 2000 | reported · model extraction, unreviewed |
| Original developer | Short Brothers | reported · model extraction, unreviewed |
| Redeveloper | Bellway Homes | reported · model extraction, unreviewed |

## Parties

- Bellway Homes — developer

## Timeline

- 2000: Closed

## Background (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened)

Cardington Airfield, previously RAF Cardington, is a former Royal Air Force station in Bedfordshire, England, with a long and varied history, particularly in relation to airships and balloons. The station was formerly part of the civil parish of Eastcotts, before that was abolished on 1 April 2019.


== History ==


=== Construction under the Short brothers ===
The site started life as a private venture when aircraft manufacturing company Short Brothers bought land there to build airships for the Admiralty. It constructed a 700-foot-long (210 m) Airship hangar (the No. 1 Shed) in 1915 to enable it to build two rigid airships, the R-31 and the R-32.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardington_Airfield

## Sources

- Cardington Airfield — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardington_Airfield

## Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "Cardington Airfield (Bellway Homes development), Cardington, England." Record n-44c0c2fc39, release 2026-10-21, tier draft. https://retrofitatlas.org/other/england/cardington-cardington-airfield-bellway-homes-development/ (accessed 2026-10-21).

```bibtex
@misc{retrofitatlas_cardingtoncardingtonairfieldbellwayhomes,
  title = {Cardington Airfield (Bellway Homes development), Cardington, England},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/other/england/cardington-cardington-airfield-bellway-homes-development/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record n-44c0c2fc39, release 2026-10-21, tier: draft. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-21}
}
```

Licence: research use only; terms undecided with the authors (https://retrofitatlas.org/licence/). Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0. Tiers: curated = from the authors' public map, not reviewed by them; draft = imported or model-extracted, unreviewed.