Nowadays airfields all have an ICAO code but I wonder how that went in 1950. A friend of mine says he has a photo shot from a plane at 1000ft altitude showing an airfield with “GS” marked on the ground. The photo probably was made in western Europe so it could have been the UK, Belgium, Holland or Germany. It dates June 1950. He also mentioned that the photo shows stands and spectators so it must have been an airshow. I hope to get a copy of the picture soon.
Anyone an idea what “GS” was?
By: pagen01 - 25th February 2011 at 10:19
good thinking Andre’!:)
By: André1967 - 25th February 2011 at 10:16
I posted it at their forums. 😉
By: pagen01 - 25th February 2011 at 10:10
I’m not sure how your friend feels about the picture being circulated, but I’m sure that the Guterlsoh history website, http://sg-etuo.de/index.php?n=Squadrons.No4SquadronGR3%3fp=2 would love to be able to display it.
By: André1967 - 25th February 2011 at 07:38
Thank you for your confirmation as well!
That is Gutersloh 100%, the current tower was built on top of the curved end of the block between the hangars. Normally the airfield id letters are presented within a square but I guess they made an acception for this German airfield, you can see the signals square next to it.
Interestingly the circle is still there and visible on Google Earth.
Fantastic picture thanks for posting it.
By: pagen01 - 24th February 2011 at 21:20
That is Gutersloh 100%, the current tower was built on top of the curved end of the block between the hangars. Normally the airfield id letters are presented within a square but I guess they made an acception for this German airfield, you can see the signals square next to it.
Interestingly the circle is still there and visible on Google Earth.
Fantastic picture thanks for posting it.
By: André1967 - 24th February 2011 at 21:07
Here’s involved photo.
RAF Gütersloh seems like a good guess.
The big white tent shows “NAAFI” on top of it.
By: André1967 - 21st February 2011 at 17:49
Am curious to see ‘a copy of the picture’ 😉
Me too. Please be patient as the guy who has the picture is close to 80 years of age so digitalizing stuff may require some time.
By: pagen01 - 21st February 2011 at 10:23
That all fits, sometime between the late 1940s and mid 1950s the code allocation changed because of the sheer scale of WWII airfield closures, and more appropriate letters could be used on the smaller amount of airfields left. ie St Mawgan was ZM during the war and became SM.
So GS was Great Sampford as Adrian says, when that station closed GS would then be allocated to Gutersloh as Peter’s Pundit suggests (the pundit always flashed the same two letter code as the visible letters on the ground).
Correction to earlier post of mine, the letters were 10x20ft approx
By: adrian_gray - 21st February 2011 at 09:42
In the UK ‘GS’ may have been Great Sampford,unlikely venue for airshow I would have thought !
GS was indeed Great Sampford – but I think if there was an airshow there in 1950 it’s got to be Gutersloh – Gt Sampford was busy reverting to farmland by 1950.
Adrian
(the Great Sampford geek!)
By: mike currill - 21st February 2011 at 08:09
Thanks guys!
My first idea was Germany Sennelager of similiar but I guess the code did not mention the country like ICAO does later on.
Unlikely that the Sennelager strip would have had a code as it was only a grass strip used by the JSPTC (Joint Services Parachute Training Centre) who ran the free fall courses.
By: wieesso - 21st February 2011 at 06:58
Am curious to see ‘a copy of the picture’ 😉
By: André1967 - 21st February 2011 at 03:49
Just a suggestion GUTERSLOH GERMANY large base for a long time before the army took over
Thanks guys!
My first idea was Germany Sennelager of similiar but I guess the code did not mention the country like ICAO does later on.
By: pobjoy pete - 20th February 2011 at 22:19
Back Again
A quick trawl in some German info re the 2nd TAF way back, has it down for a rotating beacon (pundit) GS.
By: pobjoy pete - 20th February 2011 at 21:57
Airfield Ident
Just a suggestion GUTERSLOH GERMANY large base for a long time before the army took over
By: bazv - 20th February 2011 at 21:34
In the UK ‘GS’ may have been Great Sampford,unlikely venue for airshow I would have thought !
By: pagen01 - 20th February 2011 at 21:29
All RAF airfields had a signals square in front of the watch office/control tower, this contained signals for which runway was in use and status of the airfield, next to this was another square which displayed a two letter airfield code using letter from the station, ie St Mawgan is SM, Hullavington HV etc, as letter combinations were used up other letters had to be choosen, St Athan is SK for example. This square was black (ashes or tarmac) with letters of about 10 foot tall which were painted white. As technology improved and flying was conducted in all weather a light beacon was introduced that would morse flash the same two letters into the air.
I can’t think immediately where GS would be.
This two letter code is completely unrelated to the ICAO code.
The same system seems to appear at some civil airfields, but I don’t know enough about them to know if it was a proper system used by them.
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February 20, 2011 at 8:13 pm