[2] From 1966 until 1983, Kemble housed the Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic display team, which operated Folland Gnats and BAe Hawks.

[3] After the Red Arrows moved to RAF Scampton, the station was used by the US Air Force as a maintenance facility, initially for Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, followed by Northrop F-5s, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers.

[2] Following the end of the Cold War, the US Air Force left the station and it was returned to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 31 March 1992 with airfield operations stopping.

[4] The MoD initially leased buildings on the former station before selling the site to Ronan Harvey, a local businessman, in March 2001.

[6][7] There was a threat of closure because of a mistake which Cotswold District Council made relating to planning permission when it was sold by the MoD.

The airport has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P863), which allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Kemble Air Services Limited).

[11] Air Salvage moved from Alton, Hampshire in late 2009 to Cotswold Airport, setting up base in Hangar J1.

[12] A proposal was put forward in 2015 for a "sustainable village" with shops and leisure facilities to be built on the 420-acre (170 ha) site[14] but this did not come to fruition.

As of 2018[update], the recently appointed airport manager, Christian Ackroyd (a former Army colonel and pilot) stated his intent to increase and diversify aviation business.

This included plans for new hangars, a new GNSS (GPS) approach to enable more corporate jet use, and a Part 145 maintenance organisation based at the airport.