Burnaston Airfield

[GotTheTshirt]

Do any of you oldsters remember Burnaston Airport Derby.
Originally RAF EFT - now a Toyota Factory !!:*

[chevvron]

Rhetorical question: you're in Dunstable, what do you remember about the 'original' Luton Municipal Airport at Barton in the Clay?

[Tony Mabelis]

I remember Burnaston, I flew in there summer 1964 in a Rollason Condor on the way to Ireland.
Tony

[Newforest2]

I remember Burnaston, about 1963 and the cemetery for Derby Aviation's H.P. Marathons. Looking into that hangar with the dust covered planes still gives me a feeling of sadness.

[Helen49]

Yes, remember Derby Airways operating from Burnaston with DC3s and I believe the Argonauts also. Remember the Marathons although before my time in aviation. I knew a couple of pilots who had flown the Marathon.....one of them finished his career on BA 747s and one of the Derby Airways Duty Officers worked with me in ATC.

I would be interested to have confirmation about the Argonauts?

And of course Sunderland Usworth also became a car factory.

[GotTheTshirt]

Chevron, Came to Luton in 61 with Autair so it was all very modern especially after Burnaston !!
Re Burnaston it was a EFTS originally and there were loads of outbuildings full of bits and pieces that the RAF appeared to just have walked away from.
The original group were from Wolverhampton Flying Club who moved there. The "airline" was started with a Rapide !
Then we had Marathons and finally the big league with DC3 !!
We also had most Miles products including an Immaculate Hawk Speed Six that Ron Paine flew every year in the Kings Cup.
The Argonauts came after the DC just before the move to Castle Donnington

[chevvron]

Did one of the Argonauts go to Panshanger? I remember reading an article on 'finding' airfields saying 'if Keegan ever sells that DC4, we'll never find Panshanger again'.(RAF Flying Review c1963/4)

[DaveReidUK]

Did one of the Argonauts go to Panshanger? I remember reading an article on 'finding' airfields saying 'if Keegan ever sells that DC4, we'll never find Panshanger again'.(RAF Flying Review c1963/4)

No, the North Star that was broken up at Panshanger some time around 1964/5 was a former TCA aircraft.

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/full_size_0343/1514330-large.jpg#

[GotTheTshirt]

Chevron, I seem to have read that Barton was manufactoring base for Miles Aircraft I think!!

[CloudHound]

Manchester (Barton) not Barton in the Clay was used by Phillips and Powys to test fly Miles a/c assembled at their Stockport factory.

Edit - Not P&P but F Hills and Sons and not Miles but Percival:confused:

[Planemike]

Phillips and Powis factory in Stockport ?? New one on me...!!!

I visited Burnaston on 23 June 1964 and noted five Argonauts there:-
G-ALHG, G-ALHS and G-ALHY. These three went on to fly with British Midland.
G-ALHN and VR-AAT (ex G-ALHV). Information in Larry Milberry's excellent book
The Canadair NORTH STAR confirms these were broken up at Burnaston.

I would be interested to hear if any passenger flights using Argonauts were
carried out from Burnaston.

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1067695

[DHfan]

No, the North Star that was broken up at Panshanger some time around 1964/5 was a former TCA aircraft.


Memory tells me it was two or three years later than that it was broken up. It looked extremely out of place at Panshanger where a Cessna or Piper twin was a big aeroplane.

Sad to say that virtually all the land that can be seen past the North Star is now covered in housing.

[barry lloyd]

Yes, remember Derby Airways operating from Burnaston with DC3s and I believe the Argonauts also. Remember the Marathons although before my time in aviation. I knew a couple of pilots who had flown the Marathon.....one of them finished his career on BA 747s and one of the Derby Airways Duty Officers worked with me in ATC.

I would be interested to have confirmation about the Argonauts?

And of course Sunderland Usworth also became a car factory.

A couple of photos from those days:


http://i68.tinypic.com/10xsmth.jpg
http://i65.tinypic.com/dny3qe.jpg

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I used to occasionally fly our Chipmunk from Manchester Barton into Burnaston from the beginning of the 1980s up until it closed to become a car factory. It was long after the Argonauts had gone but I don't think the Argonauts operated services from there, but were based there for maintenance.

I understand that the Argonauts were permanently grounded after G-ALHG crashed at Stockport in 1967.

[GotTheTshirt]

Barry I dont recognise the place where that CF Marathon was taken or even the CF reg. The second picture was at the side of the main working Hanger. That looks like the Proctor fuselage in the background which may have been the one owned by RR, and the DC4.
That side of the hanger was a scrapping area and the last of the Spartan Mosquitos was there for a long time before being broken up. The Marathon had a spar life put on by HP and the Marathon in the picture was scrapped because of this.

[DaveReidUK]

Barry I dont recognise the place where that CF Marathon was taken or even the CF reg.

Not a lot to go on, as far as the background is concerned.

Notwithstanding the Canadian reg, the Marathon in the photo never got to Canada, ending its days at Wymeswold (maybe where the photo was taken?).

[barry lloyd]

Not a lot to go on, as far as the background is concerned.

Notwithstanding the Canadian reg, the Marathon in the photo never got to Canada, ending its days at Wymeswold (maybe where the photo was taken?).

Yes, quite possibly Dave. When I looked at it after I posted it, I did wonder, because I don't think there was any spare concrete at Burnaston! I certainly visited Fields(?) at Wymeswold in those days.

[Wander00]

I did my Flying Scholarship at Sywell in summer 61 and I recall Derby Airways flying in and out

[GotTheTshirt]

As I mentioned when the RAF left Burnaston there were Many wooden sheds left behind, over a dozen. These had been workshops storage and dorms. Upon leaving the RAF filled these with bits left over.There were Tigers, Magisters and engines all in varoius standards of disrepair and dismantalling. Many of them were just crash wreckage. Lunch time for us apprentices was to explore this wonderland !! After a while and we we got to know what was in each shed we took some of the engineers around and showed them what we thought was the more interesting bits. We duly dragged all the likely bits in to a shed that we cleared and rebuilt a Magister from these bits in our spare time !! The end result was G-ANWO !!
I have photo (.jpg) if someone hints how to attach !!

https://imgur.com/a/vZWqa

[ZeBedie]

Nice photo, nice aeroplane. The Marathon in the background - what's the asymmetry in the canopy, as if the F/O windscreen is lower than the captains?

[GotTheTshirt]

IIRC the windshields were symetrical. On the right side is the front of either a Miles Gemini or Aries. The was the Main hanger and the far side of that was the storage/scrapping area that is shown on the earlier Marathon picture

[GotTheTshirt]

There was a Aerovan that operated out of Burnaston taking photos. It was flown by a lady IIRC was Jean Byrd ?? Chris was the camera operator.It shed a prop on a mission that came through the cockpit and resulted in a fatal crash.

[DaveReidUK]

Jean Lennox Bird - first RAF (as opposed to ATA) woman pilot.

Jean Lennox Bird – a vital link in women’s aviation history (http://bwpa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/JeanLennoxBirdArticle.pdf)

Edit: Earlier PPRuNe thread here (https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/465644-aerovan-crash-manchester-1957-a.html) on the accident that killed Jean Lennox Bird, which happened shortly after takeoff from Ringway: engine failed and the aircraft stalled/spun into the ground.

[Mooncrest]

I have never stopped at Burnaston but have been past it several times on the way from Yorkshire to Shropshire. The original East Midlands 'Airport' before Castle Donington.

[GotTheTshirt]

Thanks Dave. We did some work the aircraft when it operated from Burnaston for a short while.
Mooncrest - Burnaston only had grass runways which produced a few epics like the DC3 full of pax that went through the fence at the Derby end. I think the aircraft was the Mann brothers ?? Bus down the Airport road - pax to the terminal and given cups of tea - One of our DA daks then took the passengers to destination!! Can you image that senario today !!

[Planemike]

Thanks Dave. We did some work the aircraft when it operated from Burnaston for a short while.
Mooncrest - Burnaston only had grass runways which produced a few epics like the DC3 full of pax that went through the fence at the Derby end. I think the aircraft was the Mann brothers ?? Bus down the Airport road - pax to the terminal and given cups of tea - One of our DA daks then took the passengers to destination!! Can you image that senario today !!

Life was simpler then...... The problem was solved and the passengers experienced minimum inconvenience.... Way it should be.

[Monkeytennis12345]

When I used to 'MISS' the schoolbus, back in the late '70's, my walk to school took me right past the airfield. My mate and I play in the old pillboxes dotted around the perimeter.
Of course, in those days, it was for private flying only. I remember my mum telling me that her flight first ever flight was from there on a DC3 to JER back in the 50's.

[GotTheTshirt]

I see there is a Chipmunk thread running but at Burnaston we did the annuals on the University Air Squadrons. I think there were 2 or 3 UAS , Nottingham being one.
They had Chipmunk and Havards. They would arrive en masse in the Autumn and then an RAF Anson would arrive on a couple of trips to take the pilots back !
They would be overhauled during the winter and they would return to the UAS in the spring. They would be all neatly lined up on the tarmac on the appointed day and then the Anson would arrive!!
There would be over a dozen aircraft ( and not all would depart that day !!) The Harvards were started with Trolly/ack and as mentioned the Chipmunks all had Kaufman Cartridge Starters. The starter took a magazine which held 5/6 ?? cartridges and the noise and smoke was like a battlefield. Engineers ( they were a fixed group that did the RAF aircraft ) were rushing around changing the magazines. These cartridges provided endless apprentice projects in the summer evenings!!

[CloudHound]

By an amazing coincidence I met this wonderful 80 year old lady yesterday!

I'd been asked to look at some memorabilia in her late husband's study; He was Robert Frederick "Bob" Jones (26/4/33 to 19/11/17) Bob flew 1-11s out of Birmingham and was also connected with Don Everall Aviation.

Pat is full of life with a fantastic memory. She showed me the letters about her appointment as an Air Hostess and then produced her log book. Time didn't permit a full investigation but I noticed flights in the Marathons as well as DC3s.

Palma via tech stop at Toulouse took nearly 7 hours:eek:

I'll be going back to see her soon and will try to glean some more stories from her. The bar box and her head hitting a Dak's ceiling was one!

BTW Bob's office included a number of display cases in which were dozens of high quality "Airfix" kits. OK some were probably other manufacturers but all had been finish what to my eye was a professional standard.

[GotTheTshirt]

Yes Derby Aviation did the maintenance on the Don Everall DC 3s.
Don Everall was a coach company based in Wolverhampton - which is where all the people that started Derby Aviation came from.
Yes Toulouse was a tech stop on the ""Long Haul"" flights.
For the Marathons, Jersey was the main destination from several regional airports.
Derby Aviation did work on several other DC operators including the Mann Brothers who I think came from down south. And also Autair !!

[Midland 331]

B.G. Cramp's book on British Midland mentions the 748 demonstrator paying a visit. Also, that the common "STAR" from the west was to leave the LIC NDB, hope for a cloud break, and follow the A38.

I read that it was quite wet, and positioning Argonauts left large ruts.

My dad started there in late'-64, and impressed the management by reviving most of their dead motor vehicles, thereby assuring him a job at the MT at CDD in '65.

[GotTheTshirt]

Another visitor to Burnaston was the DC3 with Dart engines. One of the problems was that the Dart propellor arc was in line with the pilots !!
Yes it was very wet and the runway was only marked by the mowed line. For night flying two lines of gooseneck parafin flares were laid freehand !! They were laid from a WW2 bombtrolley pulled by a Wiley jeep !!!!

[DaveReidUK]

Another visitor to Burnaston was the DC3 with Dart engines. One of the problems was that the Dart propellor arc was in line with the pilots !!

Yes, better to have in in line with an expendable passenger ...

[Bamboobomber]

Landed at Burnaston on 26th April 1964, in Auster Autocrat G-AJRK on the first leg of my PPL qualifying solo cross country, Sleap/Burnaston/Sywell/Sleap.
Non radio, green lights from the tower in those days, well remember having to negotiate large ruts en route to & from parking. Happy days!

[Midland 331]

More on Burnaston here:-

Burnaston - UK Airfield Guide (http://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Burnaston)

[robstitt]

I wrote a detailed two-part history of Burnaston for AIR Enthusiast a number of years ago. Happy to email to anyone interested.
My email: robstittATbrookhouseDOTbcDOTca
Robert

[India Four Two]

I looked up CF-NUH on TC’s historical database. Lots of aircraft have had those marks, but nothing in the database before 1985.

The only Miles aircraft that show up are two Hawk Majors.

[DaveReidUK]

I looked up CF-NUH on TC’s historical database. Lots of aircraft have had those marks, but nothing in the database before 1985.

A good excuse for another photo of it at Wymeswold in 1963, shortly before being broken up:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/900x245/cfnuh_d24b865032ffcb644ad33b8075fe99d6f6a99278.jpg

Miles/HPR Marathon - Airline Use (http://f-86.tripod.com/airlines.htm)