The Shuttleworth Collection Official Web Site

The Shuttleworth Collection is based at Old warden park in Bedfordshire, and operates some of the oldest aeroplanes in existence. Many aviation treasures exist at Old Warden such as genuine WWI types such as a beautiful Sopwith Triplane. The name Shuttleworth is perhaps as famous as Richthofen, and despite the Shuttleworth name having a long and illustrious history, the current collection owes its existence to Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth. 

As a boy Richard was happiest tinkering with anything mechanical, including cars. Upon the death of his father, Richard inherited the family fortune at the age of 23, and managed the family estate. More and more of his time was devoted to mechanical projects, and he was able to build a large collection of motor cars, and later added aeroplanes to his collection keeping them in working order. 

As well as tinkering with aeroplanes and cars, he had a successful racing career, culminating in winning the first British Grand Prix at Donnington Park in 1935. It was in the South African Grand Prix however, where his car went out of control and he was badly hurt. This led to his retirement from motor racing. He concentrated more on flying activities which led to him joining the RAF in 1939. He was posted to RAF Benson to gain vital night flying experience, but on the night of the 1st / 2nd August 1940 he was flying a cross-country training exercise in a Fairey Battle, and was tragically killed when his aircraft crashed into a nearby hill. 

Richards mother Dorothy Shuttleworth converted the family mansion into a Red Cross Convalescent Home for injured airmen, and she placed the estate into a charitable trust in 1944. Dorothy wished the estate to be used as an agricultural collage, and to promote aviation. Shuttleworth College first opened its doors to students in 1946 based inside the main house, and the Shuttleworth Collection as we know it today, opened in 1963.

The collection has many rare and unique flying machines, such as a 1910 Bleriot, and is home to a number of machines from the First World War. The collections owns a number of genuine WWI era aircraft such as the SE.5a, Sopwith Pup, and Bristol F2B, however there are a number of faithfully produced replica aircraft such as the Bristol M1C and Sopwith Triplane, (which has an original 110hp Le Rhone engine) and these will be joined by a Sopwith Camel in the very near future. The replica aircraft are funded by public donation, and membership subscriptions from the Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society, and are built by Northern Aeroplane Workshops, who are currently building the Camel.

For many years the only warbird of the WWII period was the Supermarine Spitfire Vb AR501 which is operated in the markings of 310 (Czech) Sqn, For much of it's life at Old Warden the Spitfire Vb was operated with clipped wings until 2000 in which the aircraft was stripped down for a major overhaul during which a replacement engine was fitted, and the full eliptical wings returned.

The collections Spitfire now has other WWII stablemates with the addition of a Westland Lysander III, and the unique Hawker Sea Hurricane Ib, originally operated by the Fleet Air Arm. Although the most modern combat aircraft at the collection are aircraft of the Second World War, the collection does operate a DHC Chipmunk, and a Percival Provost T1, both post war training types from the late 1940's and early 1950's respectively.

The Shuttleworth Collection plays host to a number of events throughout the year, including a number of evening displays.

This page is dedicated to the memory of Steve Young 1969-2005.

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