An 'aerodrome' is of course a flying machine. As stated here by F.W. Lanchester in Flight, Volume 1 issue 1.
biplane | 1909 | 0011 | Flight Archive
WHAT IS AN AERODROME?
SIR,—I regret to see that the misuse of the word "aerodrome"
is receiving your support in your columns.
This word was invented by Langley and applied by him as
meaning a flying machine of the " aeroplane " type ; it is in this
signification quite regular in its definition, and at the present time
constitutes a part of the English language (see recent editions of
Webster's and other dictionaries).
I suppose because a hippodrome is a big open space (or horses,
you think that an aerodrome should be a big open space for flying
machines (or rather, I should say for air), but as this is not the
signification, the idea is not well founded......
.....Excuse my bluntness, but do not let us have a dozen meanings to
one word, one meaning is enough if that is the right one.
Yours faithfully,
F. W". LANCHESTER
Although I'm prepared to go along with the viewpoint that an 'airfield' is the open part of an aerodrome, but will probably only ever use the term 'airfield'. On the other hand, an 'airport', to me, must have regular scheduled flights to other locations to qualify as such.
