End of an historic Aerodrome

[John Aero]

Yesterday I attended the final Fly-in at RFC/RAF/Rolls-Royce, Hucknall Aerodrome with my friend the aviation author W.A.(Bill) Harrison. This historically important airfield just slipped into silence awaiting it's next resurrection as an extension of the Greater Nottingham conurbation, no doubt to be populated by people who won't ever give a thought to why their roads are named Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin, Griffon, Welland, Derwent or Avon.

Started during the Great War (1917) as a Training Squadron then Training Depot Station and Home Defence station, it went into Care and maintenance in 1919. Apart from a little use by the Nottingham Aero Club, Hucknall was dormant until 504 County of Nottingham Auxiliary Squadron formed with Hawker Horsleys there in 1928. 504 were later re-equipped with Westland Wallace's then Hinds and the Gloster Gauntlet, prior to them moving away with Hurricanes.

The Rolls Royce company formed an engine test flying unit there in 1934 and it is this operation which made Hucknall one of the most important aeronautical establishments with a vital role to play in the preservation of the United Kingdom. Hucknall saw the later testing of the Kestrel and Peregrine engines in both Hawker biplanes and a Heinkel 70.

The PV12 engine, later to become the superb Merlin took to the air for the first time from Hucknall in a Hart. From then on the Rolls-Royce Merlin family was modified and refined at Hucknall for a variety of roles and types of famous British aircraft as well as the the superb North American Mustang.

Other equally famous Rolls-Royce engines, from the later piston engines such as the Griffon and the early Gas Turbine engines of the Jet age followed the rigorous testing and development process at Hucknall including the Derwent and Avon families which took us through the Cold War period.

Hucknall also played other important roles. A huge number of wrecked Hurricanes were returned to service by the Rolls Royce repair unit. There was the incident of the Luftwaffe pilot Fritz Von Werra, the only Luftwaffe pilot to (eventually) escape from British captivity, when he boldly tried to borrow one such Hurricane at Hucknall.

Hundreds of Polish pilots were also trained to fly on Tiger Moths at Hucknall.

A good few brave airmen were also lost, either in training or in testing at, or from Hucknall and should be remembered, whether they were training on a Tiger or flying in a Lancastrian, a Flying Bedstead or Vulcan.

As a boy "Spotter", I climbed the adjacent coal pit tips to get a better view of the airfield and it's resident experimental aircraft. Sitting in our garden at home under the extended circuit I spent many hours watching the Tyne Lincoln, Avro Ashton, Lightning, Swift and Hunter and Ambassador, or the Dart Dakota, Spitfire 14 and Whitney Straight. I visited Airshows there. I'm glad to have flown off the Hucknall turf in a number of aeroplanes, from a DC.3 and a Miles Marathon as well as later in a number of light aircraft, usually with my friend Bill.

The last aeroplanes to arrive and depart were light, private visitors almost exclusively powered by American engines with their owners rightly wanting to add a vanishing Hucknall aerodrome to their Log books.

There was nothing official, no patriotic speech, no growl of a Griffon, perhaps just in some peoples minds the Sigh for a Merlin.

John

.

[Paul Bradley]

Such a shame. That's "progress" for you.....

Some thoughtful comments and memories, John - thanks for sharing.

[sloegin57]

Beautifully, beautifully written John. A perfect requiem for the passing of yet more of our Great Past.

I am afraid that upon reading your words, I am yet again reminded of the lyrics by the singer/song writer, Roger Waters, from his ironically named album "Amused to Death" :-

"Can't you see

It all makes perfect sense

Expressed in Dollars and Cents

Pounds shillings and pence

Can't you see

It all makes perfect sense"

R.I.P. Britain

Dennis

[Dave Wilson]

Panshangar went last year, another famous airfield. Wellesbourne, Old Sarum, North Coates, Enstone, Leicester, North Weald, all under threat from the developers and they are just the ones off the top of my head.

[modelling minion]

The airfield at Ansty is going the same way.

Part of the Rolls Royce site being shut down so that work can be sent to Germany and elsewhere, it was where Standard Motors built Mosquitos and Oxfords as well as having a flying school.

Soon there will be nothing left.

[Dave Swindell]

Thanks for the obituary John. My Mum and Dad met at Annie Holgate School as teachers, lots of stories of disrupted lessons by young would be plane spotters such as yourself (and me!) At least my mum knows what a flying bedstead looks like!

[upnorth]

Very sad, but history means little to the bean counters and bureaucrats.

My home town, Edmonton, in Canada had its municipal airport shut down in November of 2013.

It was one of the first licesned airports in Canada and a critical part of Canada's bush flying history with ties to many great names of the era.

In WWII, it served as a training centre for Commonwealth pilots and observers as well as being an important stopping point for lend-lease aircraft heading to the Soviet Union from America.

Activities at the airport gave the city its long held nickname "Gateway to the North". For many years, people wishing to travel by air into Canada's northern regions would have to transit through Edmonton to do so.

Sadly, none of that meant anything to the land developers or city councils who decided that a new housing development wasa better use of the land.

Happily, there is a very good aviation museum at the former airport site which is dedicated to the city's and province's aviation history.

Nothing lasts forever, but it still stings to see something with that much history tied to it thrown away.

[Jonny]

Thank you, John, for a very thought-provoking post.

It IS a shame that so many famous airfileds have been closed and 'developed' and still are. I was born and lived in Felixstowe until I was 13 and I vaguely recall Sunderlands, Sea Otters, Walruses etc. flying and parked on the apron at MAEE Felixstowe. Now it's vanished, part of Felixstowe Docks. Later we lived near Martlesham which was RAF Martlesham Heathe and saw varsities, Ansons and ince the 'jet' Lancaster. All gone - the hangars and station buildings are still visible but the rerst is a housing estate, BT Research centre - oh, and a pub called the Douglas Bader. I'm lucky to live not too far from Duxford but mourn the passing of the Fighter Meet at North weald .,.. .

All in the name of progress.

[Truro Model Builder]

Let's not forget Coltishall, Filton, Plymouth (Roborough) and Lyneham. Wroughton is endangered, while Kemble looks like it's gone as well.

At this rate we'll just have Brize Norton for the military and Heathrow for everything else.

Edited March 3, 2015 by T7 Models

[John Aero]

Whilst I agree with all the views on all the other airfield closures, we have closed far too many of our airfields many of which survived to be used by general light aviation. It's this latter loss which will make it's self felt in time. No GA airfields will mean fewer and more costly Flying Schools and Clubs, attracting fewer would be flyers and less interest in aviation so no GA type manufacturing companies, unlike France, the US. Germany and indeed the emerging industrial countries.

Unlike France and the US which have always had a healthy interest in promoting aviation the UK has only made it more difficult by an increasing negative attitude. Soon it will become difficult for a short range GA type to transit the UK with no easily reached diversion/ emergency fields.

Even though the RAF will never again have the numbers of aircraft and crews it once had, we should still retain a strategic number of good quality airfields for military use for dispersal purposes. But of course we got rid of the only good dispersal-able Point Defence aircraft we had (the Jaguar and Harriers). I can just see us putting F.35's on a container vessel. Not.

Going back to the original purpose of the thread. Hucknall doing what it did, was on a par with Farnborough or Boscombe Down. It wasn't just another airfield. In the old original WW.1 Belfast Truss hangars and the newer build Test Sheds there was an organisation dedicated to continuous development of crucial Rolls-Royce military engines without which we would probably have failed in our part in the fight for a free'r World.

The Rolls-Royce factory part (but not for testing) is still in use and the original Belfast truss hangars have been separately used as industrial stores and Lorry depots for many years. It is the absolutely perfect, largely grass aerodrome which will disappear after nearly a hundred years of flying use. There is one extremely long concrete runway which for many years had the RB 211 test rig stuck in the middle about one third from the western end which the Spitfire 14 could still use.

John

[Paul Alan Bardell]

Good words John, well said.

RIP Hucknall and all the other airfields already closed or under threat.

[foxfriend]

I once worked at West Malling Airfield, and I had at last found my dream job, working on aircraft at an airfield that I have a lot of memories of. But, alas, it wasn't to last, Kent County Council, in it's infinite wisdom, sold it to a developer.

Now known as Kings Hill, it is a sprawling mixture of housing, business premises, coffee shops, golf course....oh,yes...more houses!! Mind you, the control tower, which was the only thing left standing has been preserved and refurbished, as a Costa Coffee bar! How quaint, and a wonderful idea.....NOT!!

It makes me laugh that this place is classed as 'High end housing'. Well, I wonder at some peoples ideas of high end, because living virtually in one anothers pockets is not how I see high end living. Now it looks as though the same is going to happen to Manston, a marvellous airfield with one of the longest runways in the country.

Boy, this country is going down the pan fast, and it break's my bloody heart.

[tonyot]

Nice words John and I totally agree with your sentiments,

Boy, this country is going down the pan fast, and it break's my bloody heart.

Going,..........I think it already went down the pan long ago,..............RIP GREAT Britain!

Cheers

Tony

[Truro Model Builder]

Anyone else got UK Airports and Airfields: A Spotter's Guide by Tim Laming?

It was published in 2000, and lists 204 airfields in regular use; it is not comprehensive, as it does not include private airstrips, but of those listed at least fifteen are now closed, many of them significant airfields. You can also add Penzance and Tresco Heliports to the list, as they went when British International ceased helicopter services to the Scillies. This may not sound much, but most of those have gone in the last five years. With those airfields listed in the above replies as being under threat and likely to close, we could be talking about the UK losing ten percent of its licensed airfields, either military or civilian, in the space of twenty years.

That is a most unpleasant statistic.

[Duncan B]

I would have thought the "sheds" would be listed buildings and would be saved. That is certainly the case at the former Montrose Aerodrome where the original WW1 hangers are still intact and used by local businesses.

Duncan B

[Dave Wilson]

At least some folk are bucking the trend. Stowe Maries is flyable now and Church Fenton has been bought for commercial aviation use.

[hacker]

Don't get me going about land developers and city councils. Both see $$ in their eyes ( one the money and the other property taxes) and not seeing the impact on future generations. Just not air fields but farm land as well. Whole farms are being swallowed up without a care about where the food will come from. Once it's gone it's gone. What do they care once they are dead and gone it's not there problem but thier future generations to suffer. Ok my rant for the day

[foxfriend]

I would have thought the "sheds" would be listed buildings and would be saved. That is certainly the case at the former Montrose Aerodrome where the original WW1 hangers are still intact and used by local businesses.

Duncan B

Two of the hangars at West Malling were supposedly listed. It made no difference, they still disappeared!!

[bzn20]

Very sad, but history means little to the bean counters and bureaucrats.

My home town, Edmonton, in Canada had its municipal airport shut down in November of 2013.

It was one of the first licesned airports in Canada and a critical part of Canada's bush flying history with ties to many great names of the era.

In WWII, it served as a training centre for Commonwealth pilots and observers as well as being an important stopping point for lend-lease aircraft heading to the Soviet Union from America.

Activities at the airport gave the city its long held nickname "Gateway to the North". For many years, people wishing to travel by air into Canada's northern regions would have to transit through Edmonton to do so.

Sadly, none of that meant anything to the land developers or city councils who decided that a new housing development wasa better use of the land.

Happily, there is a very good aviation museum at the former airport site which is dedicated to the city's and province's aviation history.

Nothing lasts forever, but it still stings to see something with that much history tied to it thrown away.

Is That Namao? Went there a couple of times with the RAF,place was "full" of C-5 Galaxys and paratroops. Shereton Caravan hotel not the best but a good "base of operations"

John Aero........................................................Well written but a sad story.

Edited March 5, 2015 by bzn20

[ForestFan]

I live just a couple of miles away and must admit I am really quite sad in its passing. Hucknall aerodrome is probably responsible for my interest in aviation and modelling to a large extent. I can remember the noise when testing the latest jet engine on the test rig, and seein a low flying 757 (I think) when testing. Very sad that I won't see and hear the light aircraft buzzing around. Progress eh!

Thanks for the info John.

Bryn

[Tony Edmundson]

Is That Namao? Went there a couple of times with the RAF,place was "full" of C-5 Galaxys and paratroops. Shereton Caravan hotel not the best but a good "base of operations"

No, Namao was a previous blunder ('94) of shutting down that base and giving the lot to the army. One of the longest,strongest runways in Canada, an alternate space shuttle landing site, was decommissioned and army buildings put in the way.

Edmonton Muni was situated right downtown, and is sadly no more.

Tony

Edited March 6, 2015 by Tony Edmundson