RAF Cheddington - Postwar Use

Postwar Use

After the war the British Army used of the airfield and the site eventually closed in 1952.

There is some evidence, that strongly suggests this facility was used as a CIA weapons dump. This weapons dump held Soviet Bloc small arms (AK 47s, RPGs, etc.) for a special combined CIA/MI6 Cold War operation, code named Operation GLADIO. The specific duties of Op. GLADIO operatives, was "behind the lines" resistance activities. The concept being that IF Western Europe was invaded by the Warsaw Pact, that such units could disrupt the invaders "lines of communications & supplies". Duncan Campbell in his title War Plan UK & The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier, refer to this base facility by its CIA radio call-sign of << X-Ray Zero Niner >>. Today, a number of the strengthened (although NOT armoured) ammo block houses, still stand on the industrial estate. The scrap yard near the far end of the estate, retains the two earth concrete revetment walls, that allowed truck access to the block house doors. It also gives some scale of the removed earth bund revetment beams carefully constructed around ALL the block houses (prior to their demolition for industrial units). Ironically enough, it was the activity of Ronnie Biggs, et alia that exposed the presence of this supposedly secret base to the media (being within spitting distance of their event venue!). The BBC used a current affairs programme a few weeks after the Great Train Robbery, to expose this base to the world.

Today the runways and assorted taxiways, hardstands and aprons have all been removed for hardcore. There is a significant number of wartime buildings in various levels of abandonment on what was the technical site. along the south eastern part of the original peremiter road, and also can be seen from marsworth lane and google earth, a private grass runway used by private light aircraft.