In August 1983 it was purchased by C Walton Ltd and it continued in use as a vehicle proving ground and also provided facilities for historic aircraft storage and maintenance, air shows, corporate hospitality, exhibition space, location filming, motorcycle design and development, and vehicle storage and auctions.

In 2020 it was sold to Cox Automotive for vehicle storage and auctions, with a part retained by the Walton family for aircraft activities.

One Cold War-era hangar formerly housed the Manheim Bruntingthorpe Car Auction Centre.

The test used an ex-Air France Boeing 747-100, and four similar sized bombs were detonated at the same time, two in each underfloor luggage compartment, in opposite corners.

Photographs of the test were later involved in a hoax, which supposedly showed an Air Canada Boeing 747 with its back half exploding on landing.

[3] On 3 May 2009, during a "fast taxi" run, Handley Page Victor XM715 made an unplanned brief flight, reaching a height of between 20 and 30 ft before being landed.