Tiger Moths leave Cambridge as they move to Old Warden

The Cambridge Flying Group's Tiger Moths have left their base of 70 years to move to an airfield that specialises in vintage planes.

The group was forced to relocate as Cambridge City Airport is due to close.

Its pair of 1930s biplanes left on Monday and flew to their new home at Old Warden Aerodrome in Bedfordshire.

Group chairman Peter Wedd said he was "sad to be leaving Cambridge after 70 years, but this is a start of a new beginning".

He said Old Warden, near Biggleswade, was an "amazing airfield".

The Cambridge Flying Group has been training pilots on the Tiger Moth since 1953.

Company secretary Andrew Wood said the biplanes were built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company as RAF training aircraft in the build-up to World War Two.

"The vast majority of RAF pilots trained on Tiger Moths. Part of its virtue as a trainer is it's easy to fly, but difficult to fly well," he said.

"A sturdy undercarriage was needed for new pilots, as landing is the trickiest part."

One of the group's planes went to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1939, and a pilot used it to escape back to Britain during the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940.

The Tiger Moths new base at Old Warden Aerodrome is home to the Shuttleworth Collection of historic aircraft.

Mr Wedd said it was "so special to see them arrive" there.

"They are fabulous looking aeroplanes, and well suited to this amazing airfield," he said.

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