Originally Posted by
Blackfriar
Weston-super-mare was once, before the war, home to the busiest air route in the world with DH Rapides shuttling back and forwards to Cardiff. The pubs were shut on Sundays in Wales! It became a shadow factory for Bristol with Beaufighter production, (87 a month at the peak!) then post war helicopter production, first Bristol then Westland. A volunteer gliding school also operated for many years. Now a housing estate. The runway is now the main through route called “The Runway” and the roads have aviation names, like Slingsby Rd, Glider Ave, as well as some more obscure ( to non aviation folk) Leonides Avenue, Mamba Grove, Astazou Drive, Miles Row and Nimbus Way.
I was there a couple of years ago and witnessed a powered hang-glider parachute thingy flying from the field next to the Helicopter Museum. So hopefully not yet a vanished airfield!