Originally Posted by
AirUK
Hi everyone,
Lockdown boredom and extended furlough has meant I've developed an interest in the history of airfields in Hampshire (!) - and I understand that there used to be an airstrip somewhere SW of Basingstoke about 30-40 years ago, used by the AA (their head office used to be in Basingstoke). I've heard reports that it's long been built over with houses and I suspect this is the case, but I wondered if anyone knew/knows of the exact location of this former site by any chance? I can find no record of it, only vague reports of it's rough whereabouts and despite hours spent examining historical Google Earth imagery and hunting for charts, it has not proved fruitful!
I know PPRuNe isn't the font of knowledge it once was, but someone here must know something or know someone who was familiar with this airstrip... Any ideas?!
Many thanks in advance and have a good weekend!
UK.
I was born in Basingstoke in the late ‘40s and I have never heard of this. However, looking at the map and remembering the old town. An area to the southeast might work. It would be what we knew of as the Basingstoke Common, on today’s maps it’s a lot smaller. The area would be to the east of the War Memorial Park, bounded on the north by London Road and the Grove Road in the south and out the east an area known as Black Dam. In fact from the top floor of the(now) AA Fanum House it would all be due south. This as far as I can remember had a bit a slope from the north east to south west but you could make a good sized SW strip. I left Basingstoke in the mid '70s.
Sealo0