Interesting to find out if there is a UK equivalent. We have a lot of historic airfields, partly as a legacy of the many that were constructed in WW2. Where these have been redeveloped for housing, a clue to the old purpose is often that many of new streets are named for old aircraft.
I used to work at a Plessey [0] site that was built on an old airfield near Christchurch UK, along with a housing state. Street names include Brabazon, Halifax, De Havilland, The Runway, Sunderland, Catalina and Comet. Amusingly, when Siemens acquired Plessey [1], a team of senior Germans visited the site. They presented the management with a book of WW2 Luftwaffe photo-reconnaissance imagery (!) on which the old airfield was featured, saying IIRC "We didn't get you then, but we've got you now!".
> nothing compared to the number in the south east of England!
An honourable mention to RAF Bradwell.
One of the nearest to the coast, it had more than it's fair share of shot up aircraft returning from raids and crash-landing..... and consequently, has the most bizarre war memorial.
"THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN/ ERECTED IN MEMORY OF/ THE 121 MEMBERS OF THE/ ALLIED AIR FORCES WHO IN/ ANSWER TO THE CALL OF DUTY/ LEFT THIS AIRFIELD TO FLY/ INTO THE BLUE FOREVER"
Thanks for the link. I couldn't see Woodley in there: where Douglas Bader crashed, the home of Miles Aircraft, and also very close to where I lived as a child. Which led me to this one that might also be of interest:
I stumbled across Wisley Airfield [0] one day - very strange, doing a long bike ride across London, I plotted a route that avoided main roads and suddenly found myself in the middle of a mile-long runway. Right next to the A3 and RHS Gardens at Wisley, not a lot of people know about it. There's a public bridleway across it, no problem for anyone who wants to explore; last time I went past, there was armco across the runway which I think might be to stop illicit drag races.
Here in Sweden we have a lot of (military) airstrips that are incorporated into the public road network.
It's always strange when you bike on a rural road and it broadens to a four lane motorway straight ahead for a kilometer, and then it narrows again and meanders on.
When they were building the M25 motorway around London (about 120 miles for the loop) there were large sections that were built and not yet open to the public - much fun was had on fast motorbikes late at night! Though once the whole thing was open, it all got out of hand [0]. Having said that, back then you weren't risking serious jail term for high 3 figure speeds (on top of the risk of losing your licence, and potentially your life).
In the grass north of the runway, you can see a pattern of scars, all the same length, mostly orthogonal, and a few diagonal. These are almost surely archaeological trial trenches:
Often these are dug to evaluate land before it is built on, in case there is important ancient stuff that will be disrupted or buried. That hints that the airfield may be about to be redeveloped.
You are very likely right; every few years I look it up to see what's happened to such a large chunk of undeveloped land right next to one of the main A roads into London. Here's the current first hit on Google (for me):-
There's a list and history in [1] - apparently in 1945 there were 720 airfields in the UK. Most of them subsequently closed, or converted for civil operation.
The legacy of WW2 means, to this day, the UK has more active airfields than they have modern fighter jets.
The UK and most every other western country. Canada has 500+ airfields and nowhere near that number of jets. The US has over 5000 airfields and, again, nowhere near that number of jets.
We have two major air forces (RAF, USAF) operating in the UK plus a naval air service and army air corps, so an abundance of airfields is unsurprising…
Reminds me of a Spike Milligan anecdote. He attended a reunion from the Italy campaign with the opposing Germans. One of them left a note saying “sorry I missed you last time”
Proving that Germans do actually have a sense of humour.
> Interesting to find out if there is a UK equivalent.
Yes same! I live next to an old airfield that we used to bike around as kids. They've built on some of it over the last couple of decades, but most of the old runway is still there.
They're planning to turn it into a housing estate which is a bit sad... Everyone around here knows the field is there, but most of people don't realise it used to be an airport – at least when I talk to people about it they always seem surprised when I tell them the history. It was a fairly major airport at the time though and strategically important during WWII.
I'm working on a startup at the moment to help people learn about their local history and also share any information and old photos they might have. Old WWII sites like airfields, pillboxes, bunkers, gun batteries, etc I think will be some of the more interesting use cases. Wish I had something to share, but it's still quite early in development. What I will say is that this is a more general problem beyond old airfields – the UK has lots of cool places to explore like abandoned railways, hill forts and long barrows, but none of them are particularly easy to find or get information about.
It is a bit sad from a historic perspective to lose airfields to development. But the opportunity they provide for development has been invaluable. They have played host to science parks, wind/solar farms, particle accelerators, nuclear reactors, film studios and even modern airports.
Now this jogs a memory for me. There was an abandoned airfield in tyrone called Cluntoe Airfield, much of it bumpy and grown over. It didn't deter some of us from trying our our newly-acquired driving skills, even attempting a race which didn't last long due to potholes.
> They presented the management with a book of WW2 Luftwaffe photo-reconnaissance imagery (!) on which the old airfield was featured, saying IIRC "We didn't get you then, but we've got you now!".
And people say the Germans don't have a sense of humour!
One of my German colleagues always responds to the 'no sense of humor' trope with 'we have a sense of humor...you just don't get the joke' in his most over-the-top accent. Always cracks me up.
> They presented the management with a book of WW2 Luftwaffe photo-reconnaissance imagery (!) on which the old airfield was featured, saying IIRC "We didn't get you then, but we've got you now!".
Reminds me of one of those tales of old school air traffic control exchange, where a British Airways pilot and a Frankfurt controller are getting testy with each other, because the BA pilot is asking for more detailed information.
"You are not familiar with Frankfurt? You have not flown here before?"
"Oh, I flew over it plenty in the RAF. Never landed, though."
Thanks, that is exactly it. A photo at the end of the article shows the old airspeed factory. When I moved to the area in 1988 this was owned by Revvo Casters and I had no idea of its actual history. It's currently being redeveloped into something else.
One of the commercial buildings on the old site had a sea vixen (IIRC) as a gate guard but that is long gone.
I used to work at a Plessey [0] site that was built on an old airfield near Christchurch UK, along with a housing state. Street names include Brabazon, Halifax, De Havilland, The Runway, Sunderland, Catalina and Comet. Amusingly, when Siemens acquired Plessey [1], a team of senior Germans visited the site. They presented the management with a book of WW2 Luftwaffe photo-reconnaissance imagery (!) on which the old airfield was featured, saying IIRC "We didn't get you then, but we've got you now!".
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessey
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessey#GEC_Siemens_takeover