Westonzoyland Supporters Group

farmer,

Hi al, just to clarify, the farmer with the flying club airfield is NOT the owner of the land, its 2 other farmers who own the east of the airfiled site, which is the longest part , that has laid dormant for many years ,the concrete runway follows along side the road,
some flying club members want to move because its a little bit further awa from the village and there has been complaints of low flying light aircraft/microlights over the village, which now is a no go area
also the flight path for the current club, flys directly over a farmhouse and i know the occupant farmer/owner, and they are so low when they take off and land that he is worried one day there will be a accident, (into his house)
a few blips on the engine, and hes got a microlight in his fron room 😮

but the concrete runway to be used will be T/Off away from the village in oposite direction, and is near as dammit a mile away from the village it self
as for the tower, sadly its on the other farmers land, and also the MOD still have a beacon in there and they are reluctant to allow anyone to use it,
thirdly , the traveller comunity i believe has downsized or gone, as i ave never seen them in recent times, and the edges of the airfield site on the other side of the road to the runway
are being cleared up of rubbish, I actively saw this only a week or so ago, so there is progres in that respect, I will also say that the other farmer who has a club, is not very popular with the other farmers in the area, and it is because his rent is so high, that the flying club, want to move to better facilitys next door when they arrive, But thats up to people higher than me, i am just dealing with the museum,etc,
and because of local concerns because they t/off over the road, and are so close to the village

Ok from what i know, and im sure merkle will correct me and expand

There is a plan to develop the existing site, which is a small microlight airfield to accomodate more airfield. So itll be a small little, light local airfield with a concret runway (existing) and a grass stip.
Also there will be a few hangars put up to accomodiate aircraft and a small club house type place.

The airfield can house things like local aircraft owners, a flying club, a some warbirds. Now beacuse its an existing airfield as such it wil be easier to get it fully “active”

Now along with this there are plans for a small airfield museum in 1 of 2 of the hangars eventually as long as there is a good enough interest in the airfield and it will work.

Now i thught that to get this going a group should be set up as otherwise we will be going up a dead end, so in the thread i wanted to see what interest there was from aviation fans.

Now we dont want to rush the project as its owned by a farmer and we dont want to put him off so itll be a few years to get going.

I hope this helps a bit with a brief overview and maybe merkle can expand

thanks

668

If its the farmer who owns the existing airstrip which currently operates microlights you are talking about then I know him. I stored My replica there for a couple of years. It was stored outside with a tarp over it and the rent wasnt cheap . As I remember it there were lots of small bays in coverted farm buidings which he rented to the microlight Pilots. I asked about renting the old control Tower and a small bit of Perry track, he wanted some huge ammount of rent and i gave up the idea. If he is expanding in the way it sounds he might be, I am sure it will be a business venture owned by the farmer, either that or a big rent for someone. Are we talking about the same place? The rest of the airfield is just big open spaces with no hangers or sheds big enough for aircraft. It does have a well established travellor comunity at the far end who have been there since the airfield closed.

Weston Zoyland as it stands,

Hi Group,
thanks for your support and interest,

the proposals are, to initailly turn the “Dead” half of the airfield “Live” again,
this has the longest of runway and a grass stripp will be placed along side,
the land at the moment has NO buildings apart from a very large dilapitated cow shed,
Howevor, the airfield is not just a “Field” we have a Massive Concrete hard standing where the Hangers “Used ” to be, also the perimeter track, a peritrack to the main runway , we also have the Main Runway , which is in very good condition,
so Ok we have no buildings as such at the Mo, but to put that infrastructure that is all ready on site in place would have been probably the MOST expensive thing to build , we havent because it is allready there, because the concrete hardstanding is so vast, there is easily enough room for 2 hangers , and a museum, my pal who is organising this has got some good financail funding for the erection of 2 60ft x 100 ft hanger type buildings,this is what we are looking for at the moment , to purchase and erect for the “live aircraft”
the Local flying club wants to come over to “Our” side as soon as they can,for various reasons that i wont go into,
there you have a rent base , that can be put towards the upkeep,
I believe a small clubhouse would be on the cards for them also,
now we are getting somewhere, a local flying club, on site and ,More importantly, that runway is back alive again,
then we hope to invite a very small business to open perhaps a summer tea room/Cafe, for visiting pilots , etc, now we are getting like Compton abbas airfield,
by this time i hope the museum is all set to go, with everybody implace and exhibits due in ,(which i may have secured some good exhibits allready)
I could go on and on, but it is a slow process, the main thing is clearing up 40 years of muck and filth , old tyres, earth etc from the airfield,
I believe the Museum is very important to the area, but it will only work with a proper airfield infrastructure around it, that is the only thing i can see Making it a definate sucess, the museum it self WILL be part of the airfield an NOT a seperate entity, so the fly ins etc, aeromarts, carboots, drag /swift racing, Military vehicle shows etc etc, the list is endless, Believe it or not Zoyland looks like its in the middle of nowhere, but it is only really 5 minutes from the motorway, and is central to the south west,
so because of its location, the infrastructure allready in place there, and its easy access, I believe its going to be a winner,
and take it from me gents, If I had anything to do with this project or not, it would still happen, as i am only a very small fish in a very big cog,not the best PR man i know , but i will try my best,
its basicly going to happen, and when i was asked to join in and get things going I gladly accepted, to be involved and not be on the sidelines for a change was a wonderful oportunity i could not miss, I just hope i havent bitten off More than i can Chew,

Many thanks for your continued support, and remember s soon as i know something ,you will all too,
Chris C:D

Ok from what i know, and im sure merkle will correct me and expand

There is a plan to develop the existing site, which is a small microlight airfield to accomodate more airfield. So itll be a small little, light local airfield with a concret runway (existing) and a grass stip.
Also there will be a few hangars put up to accomodiate aircraft and a small club house type place.

The airfield can house things like local aircraft owners, a flying club, a some warbirds. Now beacuse its an existing airfield as such it wil be easier to get it fully “active”

Now along with this there are plans for a small airfield museum in 1 of 2 of the hangars eventually as long as there is a good enough interest in the airfield and it will work.

Now i thught that to get this going a group should be set up as otherwise we will be going up a dead end, so in the thread i wanted to see what interest there was from aviation fans.

Now we dont want to rush the project as its owned by a farmer and we dont want to put him off so itll be a few years to get going.

I hope this helps a bit with a brief overview and maybe merkle can expand

thanks

668
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Yamaha Ym3526 History
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Granny black

Ive PMd Mekle on the subject and not had a response, also same in response to his asking for Meteor panel details.
Some of the posts are strange to say the least and seem to strike out in all directions, I think we really need to know if there is focus for these plans at ‘Zoyland, and if the way for all is there to action them.

If anyone can offer anything to the project, please get on contact

With a museum you need all sorts of equipment so anything would be greatly appreaciated to get this off the ground.

Thanks for your continued support

668
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Big **** vid

Last time i drove by the airfield it was looking a bit past referbishment, think it would cost millons to get this upto any standard where you could charge the public to hold car boots or what ever. think the only thing that could be held on the site in its present condition is banger racing, other wise i could see some hefty claims off the old no win no fee agents by people falling in all the pot holes. Most proberlly cheaper to flatten it and start a fresh site as i can never see this project taking off:D

Does the aircraft still have its licence to have fly ins or has it been since handed back over to farm land?

Big project boys but all the best

I have spent allot of time wandering around this airfiled as i only live 10 miles away. The runways are in fact in quite good condition being made out of concrete which does not form potholes easily and at one time surfaced dressed which offered further protection. Although the dressing has mostly gone there are some very good strips which are in excellent condition.
As there is already an active airstrip using microlights with all permits in place for flying light aircraft they have already set a precident.

The group have done well to secure a piece of this, I spent hours talking to local landowners trying to find somewhere i could house and taxi our MK VIII replica and drew a blank. Although She actually spent a couple of years in storage at the flying club.

The road which now cuts the field in half was built post war, I spoke to a digger driver that worked on this road and they uncovered some explosives buried there! Through him I made another contact who said they made many trips dumping aircraft parts from the huge depots set up in Taunton to supply the D Day landings. The lorry driver i spoke to told me they worked day and night with a fleet of lorriers for several days before everything was disposed of. Having followed up every possible lead and the lorry driver refusing to show me exactly where the dump was i concluded it was just another of those airfield Ghost dump stories.

I wish you luck with this project we have recently purchased a permanent base for our collection and aircraft but would be very happy to attend with our MK VIII Replica for taxi runs if you get it up and going. Even if you only have a bit of runway will be happy to attend.

The big issue with all these projects is cash, you need lots of it, putting up hangars i know from personal experiance costs a small fortune in planning applications alone.
You might try lottery funding, I know of a group in Wales that have secured huge sums from the lottery for purchase of aircraft, buildings and aircraft.
Of coarse the Welsh and Scottish are at an advantage to us Englishmen they have their own Assembly and Parliament who suport funding applications a luxury we don’t enjoy.
As the imfamous Mr Brown leaves our own active troops short of equipment I cant see any surport from that direction.

You will almost certainly have to finance this yourselves and car boots are a good start in the way of raising funds, its an ideal spot being close to Bridgwater and Taunton with good access and parking on a hard surface. Maybe you could get an airojumble going, we dont have anything local since Yeovilton cancelled theirs many years ago. There is also an active model flying club using the airfield and it might be worth approaching them for surport.

GOOD LUCK!

Westonzoyland

Hi all
I also wish you all the best for the WZ project. As I mentioned in a previous reply I was with 542 sqdn, the last one at WZ. Until a couple of years ago some of us old sqdn mates met annually at the George in Middlezoy which,in fact, was the nearest watering hole to the camp. If you drop in there you will see a plaque on the wall commemorating the sqdn. there is also one in Westonzoyland church.
I am too far away to provide any real help and I don’t have an old canberra B2 in the garden although I believe there are a few cockpit sections around.
I will monitor the project with great interest and also gather any pictures, stories etc I can find.

Best wishes

Paddy R

thanks

Thanks Guys,

firstly we dont have any buildings as such, but funding is to be supplied for a 100 ft x 60ft building or something of that size, (anyone know af anything that big for sale give us a PM)
I believe this is to host the flying club, and live aircraft, paying rent towards the airfield ,and towards its up keep,
at the moment we have a dilapitated building big enough for roughly 3 aircraft of Piston provost size, (its a start)

the museum, is the last but very important link to the whole project, and is going to take a few years to come into action,
Howevor, there is NO aircraft recovery groups left in the south west, only smal bands of people, I would like to propose now there is to be somewhere to show the south west aviation heritage, that hopefully a band of these people can come together for the greater cause, and have a laugh at the same time,gathering info ,active recovery from the area, and mainly a interest in seeing this thing through so that everyone involved can get something out of it,whatever there personal reasons.
I know its a tall order, But my mate who has started this for his own reasons
will see this through, I have watched him, build 2 aircraft from scratch to FLY,with little money, and then to sell his house to restore a Hulk of a 75ft MTB,which is now Beautifullyrestored, and really i got to say it ALL BY HIMSELF, with a little help from his friends, even living in a caravan for 2 years, he suffered to see his dream through, so because this man i find so remarkable, the fact is, when he says he is going to do something , He 99.9%
does every time , hence after knowing him for ten years i believe every word he says, he has never let me down, or more importantly himself down,
all i can say about him is ,i wish him the BEST, cos i know he will try his BEST,
😀

Bob the builer

Last time i drove by the airfield it was looking a bit past referbishment, think it would cost millons to get this upto any standard where you could charge the public to hold car boots or what ever. think the only thing that could be held on the site in its present condition is banger racing, other wise i could see some hefty claims off the old no win no fee agents by people falling in all the pot holes. Most proberlly cheaper to flatten it and start a fresh site as i can never see this project taking off:D

Does the aircraft still have its licence to have fly ins or has it been since handed back over to farm land?

Big project boys but all the best

I’ve been corresponding with Merkle, and while I’m too far away to help fix a fence, I may be able to help in other ways later on. Best of luck with the set up!

Thanks, my personal aim is to get a group going as im abit far away to pop down every weekend but i can show my face once in a while

Thanks
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Granny Cams

I’ve been corresponding with Merkle, and while I’m too far away to help fix a fence, I may be able to help in other ways later on. Best of luck with the set up!

Thanks!

Yes i was abit sure about a name but that can change, i need to get people interested first, can i say this is the start of a massive project.

The title of the thread is just a brief overview of the post not the name of the society

668
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Toyota Vd Engine
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How to roll a blunt

I wish you all the luck in the world with this project, I drive past the site and usually stop for a look every time I go to Somerset on holiday.

But……

I really do think it might be helpful to put a bit of care into your attempts at publicising the project now. Just simple things like getting the name right might pay dividends later and adds to the professionalism of what you aim to achieve. For example….

Weston Zoyland Supporters Group and RAF Weston Zoyland Aviation Society.

Good luck with it anyway.

Regards,

kev35