sorry to dig up an old thread but I have been away from the forum for a while….
I can shed a little light on the Percival days of Luton Airport in relation as to what’s still there or not, my family worked at the site.
Percival were located in two main blocks, the admin was based to the east of the old airport approach road and the hangers on the west. During redevelopment in the 80’s the admin blocks were removed and new factory units/offices built. The original hangers though have survived and are incorporated into the Monarch repair sheds that back onto Percival Way (last two buildings on the east side).
The first luton Corporation hanger I think was rebuilt some time ago and is now part of the Thompson hanger further west.
There is an excellent photographic archive of the airport from this time on the old Luton News archive, sadly its no longer available online though.
lol i guess your local!….
I remember when Barratts took over as kid, I also remember the helicopter 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have to say i’m a big heli fan (not fussy anything from an apache to eurocopter :)), and i think some of that came from seeing the heli land here. For those that are interested she was an Augusta 109 (G-hely) piloted for the ads by Martin Burgen, after her fame with Barratts in 1977 she went on to work for Castle Air and was used for filming* on Treasure Hunt in 1979… in ’92 she jumped the pond to be rebuilt and live on as N109WH in USA.
*the two main helis used were Castle Airs JetRangers, G-bhxu & G-spey.. the TV helis pilot was Castle Air boss Keith Thompson and Geoff Newman in the comms heli. (sad arent I!)
I’ve only rather belatedly picked up on this fascinating thread. Many years ago (around 1972) I used to be involved at a very junior level with the audit of what was then the HC Janes building group. If I remember correctly the company whose audit that I used to go to on the Faldo IE was a subsidiary of this group (can’t remember the name of the subsidiary though). I used to notice a control tower type building and remember someone telling me that there used to be an aerodrome there….many years later and I’m reading this thread!
One minor problem that I may be able to help with:
Landlords often charge rent on the area of a building as measured externally, as opposed to internally (they charge more rent that way..)
On my reckoning 1250 sq ft internally equates to c1400 sq ft externally (assuming c 1 foot thick walls) Does this help?Spex
I have managed to dig up some of the paperwork from Janes, also some is held on the Bedford and Luton Archive, I now also have copies of all the planning applications dating back to the 50’s for the site when i get it organised your welcome to have a look and see if anything rings any bells….. the control tower/watch tower would have been over the car park to the main building… I will dig out the pics of it.
Your info on the way the plot is calculated is helpful thanks.
just few more images of the inside of hangers with the early Minor.
the LA3 prototype Minor.. it never left Barton (in one piece!) so this must be taken at Barton….
although I couldnt see the end of the building described above (purple hanger) as it has offices in that part, these pics do not match up with roof in the aqua hanger. the Windows seen at the back of the pics though do too a large extent match those in the purple hanger.
and G-AEPD as the LA4… could this be Denham???
Still working on this project and new information is turning up day by day. I will post an update soon; I am just waiting for a few key emails to confirm one or two things….
In the mean time.
The current owners of the airfield (industrial estate) have been over the last 10 years modernizing the site, many buildings have been refurbished and one or two removed like that of the Bedford School of Flying for new buildings.
The site has recently had planning permission granted for a section at the northern end to be demolished and rebuilt with new buildings/parking, this is not of much concern as the only impact on previous historical use is the car park will cover over the location of one of the 5 type 22 pill boxes’… however this one was robbed out in the 70’s so it’s not an issue.
The other main planning consent granted is for the demolition of what’s listed as ‘storage’ buildings due to structural damage/decay. Although this building in the past was not of great concern as it never had any connection to any historical use this may have just changed! Yesterday I managed to gain access to most the buildings on the site (both unused and occupied!) and it’s made the water a little muddy to say the least.
Some time ago I came across a picture of the MK1 Buzzard being built in 1935 in ‘the’ Luton Aircraft hanger, it’s a widely used picture (flight and several books) and all credit the date/location and aircraft the same.
The roof structure is quite distinct with its truss pattern and supports! well until now this has always been ‘assumed’ it was taken in one of the 3 ‘hangers’ behind the Bedford School of Flying buildings on what was the northern edge of the site, the 1938 ariel pic if the site as published in Flight clearly shows these buildings and bar the flying school sectional buildings to the south no other buildings are there (in 1938)… BUT the roof in these ‘hangers’ is defiantly NOT the one in the picture!
Whats more bizarre is the roof matches that of a building located behind what was the flying school and does not appear on any maps pre 1948!…. and more, the old hangers total 1250sq/ft which is less than the then quoted 1400sq/ft of the Luton Aircraft hangers but correct size for this ‘new’ location?…
From the plan above the building that ties up with Luton Aircraft hangers is bordered in purple, the older thought location is aqua (that yuck washed out blue!).
What’s concerned me is that the building being demolished (as I type this!) is identical to the building that has the correct roof for Luton Aircraft!… its the one with the red border in the above plan!
I managed to take these pictures with my phone yesterday as the contractors were ripping it down, does this style/type of structure look familiar to anyone?.. is it typical to the ATA or any other airfields???…
Although its already been removed the roof looked the same as this building (the one I suspect the Buzzard photo was taken in)… the red line is where there is evidence in the steel work of probably ‘hanger type’ doors.
Jenna
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