Collection Item

Bedford TK Mobile Control Tower

Built in 1983 as one of only a few specially built Mobile Control Tower vehicles produced for the Royal Air Force in the early 1980s, this unusual variant of the popular Luton-built Bedford TK commercial vehicle spent most of its service life at RAF Chivenor in Devon.

By 1994 it was withdrawn from use and stored by the Ministry of Defence at Aston Down, Gloucestershire, where it was later sold to a military vehicle dealer at Birdlip near Gloucester. The remaining vehicles in RAF service were all due for retirement by the late 1990s and several of these have found new civilian owners.

Purchased and collected from Birdlip by the National Rescue Group (NRG) in early 1997, the Bedford has been refurbished and its control room is now fitted with Air Traffic Control equipment supplied by Motortrade Software and others.

Loaned to Brooklands Museum by NRG for use at fly-ins and other Museum events, the vehicle was first used on the historic Brooklands Aerodrome on 19/4/97 and is maintained in running order with its original RAF colours.