Woodford demolition.

The JCB family recently sold their yacht, which is now sitting in a dock in Leith looking a bit sad for itself. They must not be selling enough diggers!

Some really interesting posts to read here on the wider subject, thanks everyone.

I know part of the annoyance here was initially there were plans for the airfield to be turned into a film studios, which seemed like a great use of the space and would create a good few jobs.

Mr JCB who owns the site did use the runway a bit to begin with too.

From my own point of view it would have been nice if the new houses could have been a bit more affordable for first time buyers too.

I wonder if one day a group of aviation enthusiasts will band together to buy an airfield for the nation? I can’t see it myself…

Stow Maries…

Interesting, positive and relevant post. Thank you.

I drive through Martlesham Heath on a daily basis on my way to work at what was once RAF Bentwaters. On my route up the A-12 I pass the old parade square and surrounding office buildings, all now used for offices. On the left where the main runway ran is houses, lots and lots of them. It’s been said above, this is progress. The amount of space an old airfield takes up is vast and can accommodate many thousands of houses.

Here at Bentwaters I work on the industrial park in what was once the old technical area. We need two small workshop buildings and an office for 45 staff and manufacture products for the oil and gas industry. Our manufacturing process involves sourcing sub assemblies and castings (from UK foundries) and building into a finished product at Bentwaters. We ship all over the world at healthy profit. UK manufacturing isn’t big factories any more it’s small niche product at the top end of the technical scale. British products are sought after by our foreign cousins the world over.

Alright it’s not an aircraft factory and it’s not very exciting but that is no longer our style. I’m willing to bet there are designers in offices similar to mine working on parts and designs all over the UK for aircraft being built the world over, even if the parts aren’t even made here the technical knowledge is still being applied.

I’m aware I’m a little off topic but it saddens me to read on forums such as this and in the general press a bemoaning of ‘the end of British industry’. Unless I win the lottery (and then I’ll buy my DHC Chipmunk and join all the doctors mentioned above) I’m going to be working in it for the next 30 years until retirement and I believe my job is safe because small niche companies such as the one I work for exist all over the country and offer flexible opportunities for a varied career.

Unfortunately we don’t need aircraft factories or the space they take up. It’s sad to see Woodford being demolished like that but I think it’s important the people who will live there in future will have a reminder of it’s former glory. The museum is a wonderful start and I’d love to live in Lancaster Street, or Vulcan Avenue (but then I’m a plane enthusiast). I hope they will name the streets appropriately, they have at Martlesham.

That’s true but I think the skies over most of the country used to be interesting….progress I’m afraid! It’s always sad to lose the things we once enjoyed but it is inevitable, as others have said eloquently in earlier posts.

Maybe it’s a regional thing too. The northwest has a rich history in aviation companies that have since gone. There’s not much left to look at now really. Within an hours drive of Woodford there’s obviously Ringway but aside from that? Maybe Warton at a push?

The skies around these parts used to be a lot more interesting.

Meddle, brilliant and also balanced posts, well done.

Sabrejet, why would we need regional airports all over the place? Have you looked at the size of the UK in comparison to the other European nations you mentioned? Get in a car, or a train, it’s cheaper, cleaner and in many cases as quick if not quicker (when factoring in faff times, baggage handling etc).

There is, sadly, a great deal of the “bl****ng obvious” being spouted here, whether we like it or not. At least Manston hasn’t quite gone – we’ll see what the Department of Transport Consultant has to advise….

http://www.oxfordairport.co.uk/

I have to agree with Beermat as well.

Some strange attitudes on here: this has nothing to do with rich people and Cessnas, or even decreasing GA use. We have lost much of the aircraft manufacturing base which not so long ago rendered hundreds of very successful civil and military aircraft.

My reference to rich people and Cessnas was a stab at droll humour. At one point in time it was the pinnacle of achievement to have a Bassett-Lowke railway running round your duck pond. Tastes change, and it would seem that fewer people fly for fun, else airfields wouldn’t be getting turned into wind farms and there wouldn’t be mossy Cessnas sitting in the weeds at any number of smaller airfields across the country.

The issue with Woodford seems to highlight two issues; the loss of a servicable airfield near Manchester and the loss of a historic site, both of which have their vocal supporters.

We have lost a manufacturing base, full stop. There is no point claiming this is exclusive to aviation. With that loss you lose the knowledge in repairing and servicing vintage equipment, firstly, and the wider culture that grew up around manufacturing and were exposed to British aircraft, cars, trains et al on a daily basis. Would a child in 21st century Britain be able to name five different aircraft currently used by the RAF? Would the average British child in the UK in the ’50s be able to do the same? My father has no great interest in aviation, but can name pretty much any cold-war era aircraft I put in front of him. Perhaps people of that era were more interested in machinery and technology as a whole? When you say the aviation industry ‘not so long ago rendered hundreds of very successful civil and military aircraft’, it feels long ago enough for me to consider it a lost art. You are looking at several decades of change from that golden era. I consider that enough time for the sale pitch ‘British-made aircraft’ to lose any sense of meaning on a global scale, and therefore it would be difficult to kick-start production again.

Some perspective is necessary. A brownfield site might be a former colliery, car plant, shipyard, railway marshalling yard. There are industrial archaeologists, old car enthusiasts, ship nerds and railway enthusiasts who would get as upset as we are about airfields. In the grand scheme of things there is nothing special that separates airfields out as the ‘last’ resort where other options have been considered.
The decline in aircraft manufacturing – it is only an aspect of the decline in manufacturing generally in the failed service-economy experiment. No-one is picking on aviation in particular.

Some strange attitudes on here: this has nothing to do with rich people and Cessnas, or even decreasing GA use. We have lost much of the aircraft manufacturing base which not so long ago rendered hundreds of very successful civil and military aircraft. Look not-so-far away and you’ll find Spain, France and Germany (to name just three), with thriving production lines and at least a semblance of an aircraft industry.

And please don’t bother to tell me about Airbus’ SA/LR/LA/XW & A400M wing build in UK. OK it’s better than nothing, but we don’t complete an aircraft bigger than what – a Typhoon? – these days.

Further to that, it’s about the fact that more and more of our cities are not even served by a local airfield, much less an airport. Cities that is, not towns. Let’s start with Oxford and Swindon (yes, Swindon is a city now).

My travels in Europe continue to demonstrate that it doesn’t have to be this way, and there are plenty of thriving local airports, feeding into the hubs and doing very well for it.

But all the while we tolerate the destruction of useful assets (Filton’s runway is a good example of that – and in a better place in terms of motorway links and weather than Lulsgate), nothing will change. There are plenty of useful brownfield sites that can be used for affordable housing before we get to digging up the first airfield.

With many younger people being priced out of the housing market….

Hey, that’s me! I’m sad to see Woodford turned to rubble, but I also want to own property some time before I’m 35. :eagerness:

An interesting Panorama programme last night highlighted the acute housing shortage in this country and how both main parties have made commitments to increase new builds. With many younger people being priced out of the housing market, the pressure to build on old airfields and greenbelt land is predicted to intensify; especially with NIMBYs resisting the pressure to build around established areas. Sad, but that’s the changing landscape of this country. I’d rather more houses be built on redundant ‘old favourites’ if it helped properties be more affordable for the next generation – we can’t rely on market crashes alone.

Is it madness or a hugely contracting aircraft manufacturing industry coupled with a decreasing use of GA aircraft?

You could argue that it is madness to preserve areas of land near large urban areas in aspic purely because some interesting aircraft were manufactured there 50+ years ago, because a (decreasing) handful of lawyers and doctors keep their Cessnas there, or because aircraft thundered down the now cracked and overgrown runways during WW2. If the only historic cues around Woodford happen to be a number of crumbling hangars, a peeling Vulcan robbed of parts and a couple of sheds full of models then you can understand why selling the land to developers seems like the better option. Short sighted it might be, but you cannot roll back the clock or suddenly expect younger generations to show a massive interest in a dying UK industry. As this forum routinely demonstrates, the UK aircraft ‘scene’ is underpinned by an ageing member base that spends more time chastising fellow members for mis-remembering minor details about aircraft (50+ years ago) than actively promoting or encouraging new interest amonst the lesser clued-up. Watching videos of engine runs on Youtube and I see white-haired old men scurrying around, it doesn’t fill me with much hope about the long term future of anything relating to historic aviation in the UK. Once that knowledge is lost, who is going to re-learn the startup proceedures for cold war jets, to give but one example? Who will be ground running Vulcans in ten years time? I was speaking to an acquaintance a couple of weeks ago who is working on re-developing the disused airfields in the North-East of Scotland to meet our energy needs in some capacity. Nobody appears to care about their history and rather they are viewed as an untapped resource. There is a lot of history that is going to be dug up in the next decade.

Woodford, Filton, Panshanger, Manston – and now Kemble?

There are many more. When will someone step in and end the madness?

You could argue that the airfield just remaining dormant is madness. Time marches on, there is a better use for the land, and sad though it is, the developers have the money to buy the land. I wonder if one day a group of aviation enthusiasts will band together to buy an airfield for the nation? I can’t see it myself…

Is it madness or a hugely contracting aircraft manufacturing industry coupled with a decreasing use of GA aircraft?

Woodford, Filton, Panshanger, Manston – and now Kemble?

There are many more. When will someone step in and end the madness?

Hi All,

Just been chatting to a mate of mine and he says – The old Avro Hangar has been sold to a guy in Yorkshire, who also owns his own light aircraft. The far end of the main runway will not be ripped up just yet, because it comes under a different council than the rest of the airfield. 603 is about to have £60,000 spent on her – nice new paint job amongst other things. The Avro Museum (the old fire station), of which 603 will be the centre piece, will be ready in the not too distant future.

Cheers,
Neil