Disused airfields you can walk around.

Blackbushe would be perfect, two runways with about 4000ft left intact, mile or so of perimeter track, plenty of ripped up runway where it proved too tough for the bulldozers in the 60’s. There are also a few pan handle dispersal’s, and remains of the bomb dump. All very accessible, drop me a line if you are visiting and I can guide you round if I am around.

In Scotland we have the outdoor access code, so in theory you might have a bit more freedom to walk around disused airfields. This is outwith OP’s geographical remit though….

I think this thread has drifted somewhat. Isn’t the thread title Disused airfields you can walk around. I.E No flying there now, and not private property.

Dale Pembrokeshire…http://map.coflein.gov.uk/index.php?action=do_images&cache_name=&numlink=300021#tabs-4

Wisley’s runway is still there, and you can see where the main hangars were on the apron. Just off the A3/M25 junction

Just remembered, although not technically disused (yet), Paul Beaver does conduct the occasional tour of former RAF Middle Wallop, pointing out such places of interest as the WW2 squadron dispersals, revetments, bomb stores (never used) etc. Contact the Museum of Army Flying to see when the next one is.
The tour I was on had the son of a WW2 Squadron Leader based there on it, very interesting, but I forget which squadron..
Well worth the £5 or so it cost.

John

Thanks very much 3M – sounds very interesting, just a shame it is on a weekday afternoon!

All the best
Nick

Nick – in an earlier post on this thread I made reference to Don Summers book on the history of Grove airfield.

You might be interested to know he’s repeating his talk on this subject next month at the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage. The first presentation last November was oversubscribed.

Details here http://wantage-museum.com/event/a-brief-history-of-grove-airfield/

ThreeM – thanks.

NickB

As ever thread drift has moved us slightly away from the OP question and in such circumstances two other airfield sites also come to mind.

Former RAF Bottesford is remarkably intact and is now called Roseland Business Park – many former buildings have been refurbished and reused; with appropriate appointments with the various businesses you can experience a fairly complete World War II RAF station. This site was also in the SKDC Aviation booklet linked in my earlier post. Photos attached.

It would also be remiss not to mention RAF Winthorpe, which is home to Newark Air Museum. When visiting events on the Showground you are also on various sections of the former wartime RAF training base. This includes mainly features runways & taxiways, most notable being the Vulcan Way car parking area where Vulcan XM594 landed back in 1983. All explained in the NAM book on the history of RAF Winthorpe.

Even today NAM is experiencing a Duxford type migration, and is attracting a significant number of refugees from a quilting event over on the Showground – keep visiting folks!

If you are ever North of the border then there are still buildings extant at the site of RAF Drem and RAF MacMerry. There are fewer buildings left from RAF MacMerry, and they are stranded in between roads. East Fortune is remarkably well preserved and is suitably thought provoking, as long as they aren’t racing bikes on the old runways!

It is, although there were rumours of a solar farm being built on it but they seem to have subsided.

Nobody has yet mentioned Little Staughton airfield near St Neots. I last visited it about five years ago. At that time, it was still being used for light aircraft – so not falling into the category of disused airfields. Many old buildings survived in what was then a small industrial estate, including the Control Tower. Maybe somebody can confirm whether part of the runway is still being used?

There are some pictures on https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?96130-Little-Staughton-Airfield-2009-Thread-Revived&highlight=little+staughton

Weston Zoyland in Somerset still has all kinds of fascinating structures easily accessible from the main road that cuts through it, via public rights of way. Just watch out for the farmer who doesn’t give a flying about rights of way and who drove out in his landrover to punch me, assuming I was a traveller on the rob (I was pulling suspicious sheet metal out of a ditch at the time, mind).

Nick – there was a helicopter that used to make a regular commute to the airfield – I think it was an Alouette – not seen it of late. Maybe the reason for the marker.

The north east corner of the former airfield site is where the Williams F1 outfit is located and during their more successful years’ helicopters regularly flew in here. In fact it used to be Patrick Head’s preferred form of daily transport to the office!

Pumas and Chinooks from RAF Benson are now almost daily visitors to the area to the north. It’s designated a military low-fly zone and I was informed ‘ten foot separation’ is permissible.

Many years ago, as part of the celebrations marking the opening of Grove Technology Park, Robs Lamplough arranged a flying display. Two of his warbirds and the Dakota of the BBMF were involved. On the first pass I thought P-51D Miss Helen was going to chew through the rudder of Spitfire LF Mk VIIIc (G-BKMI)! But then at Flying Legends last year Miss Helen was on the receiving end.

Plenty still to see at RAF Metheringham.

Cranfield used to have a public footpath from the village to the domestic site…. straight across the active main runway, that used to cause a few missed heartbeats to see someone plodding across it on finals.

Hi 3M
I’d not heard that – doesn’t sound like good news then 🙁
Not seen that book, so will have to keep an eye out for it…

At the start of runway 04 you can just make out a very old large H painted on it – I suppose an old helicopter landing pad, but I’ve always wondered who it was for – any ideas?

Hi Nick. Robs Lamplough sold Grove Technology Park two or three years ago and I do miss his low flybys and displays overhead in P-51D Miss Helen. The new owners have ambitious expansion plans, these are awaiting planning approval so more of the airfield may disappear.

Have you got a copy of Don Summers ‘A Short History of Grove Airfield 1941-1996’? Been out of print for some years, lots of pictures in there taken over this period.

Re Post 20 – Lavenham

As Moggy says, many buildings remain, some in use, some derelict.

When I went there a few years ago, you first had to visit Lavenham village Tourist office, and they will happily ‘register’ your vehicle details and phone them through to site owners, so that the site owners know you are coming. But, it costs nothing, and the tourist office then provide details of how to find the airfield and enter the site.

I didn’t venture across the ‘active’ runway, but was free to drive/walk around the area around the control tower (which is restored and in use as offices). Other parts fo the old airfield may also be accessible or visible from public rights of way, but I had limited time.

Much evidence of Rackheath Norfolk still remains, and some can be found within the Industrial estate. Runways are long gone, but the tower is another that has been restored as offices and can be found tucked down one of the side roads in the Ind Estate. Public footpaths run from tower across the main airfield and former runways etc. Many old airfield buildings can still be seen if you look round the industrial estate – which was open to visitors rather than ‘barrier controlled’ entry etc.

Hemswell Lincs seemed pretty intact inc Hangars a few years ago, and is another Industrial estate – the ‘atmosphere’ of an old RAF station panorama can be sensed without entering the Ind Estate – but I am sure you could ask at the barrier, and might gain permission to enter the Ind estate (Or perhaps contact estate owners and ‘pre-arrange’ a visit?).

Others have mentioned Goodwood (Westhampnet), Tangmere, and Ford Sussex – these are accessible to varying degrees, and from various points (do some research using google maps and OS maps to find rights of way etc) but being so close you could easily visit all three in a day. All have some remaining buildings and/or parts of runways and perimeter tracks and hardstandings etc.

As said above, the New Forest airfields are easily accessible, but I have found few buildings remaining – and runways have mainly gone – however hardstandings, peri tracks, water-towers etc often still exist, often serving as minor roads or bases for camp/caravan sites etc. Although most of the runway surfaces and some peri-tracks have been dug up, their lines can often still be seen as distinct ‘ridges’ in the soil, and the old runway light housings tend to be hosting small gorse bushes, which also helps identify the runways. I have walked the full length of Beaulieu’s main runway, and then half way round the peri-track. Again, use Goole maps research and OS maps to help find the best points of access etc.

Dunsfold Surrey is pretty intact including runways, albeit with many post-war mods, and very occasionally hosts events open to public – they used to host an annual super car-based Fathers Day event for one of the local charities, and you could even purchase a trip round the ‘Top Gear’ track in an exotic car, with entry fee and ride money going to the charity. This gave some access to the areas around the hangars, and fairly free access to much of the airfield. Of course, given proposed redevelopment into new housing, then that may not be an option for much longer :-(.

Enjoy your wanderings – even where little ‘hard evidence’ remains, a little research, and some imagination, can often work wonders on many of these old airfields… many of them still seem to ‘hold’ a real sense of what went on there…