Former Basingstoke Airfield?

[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.

[DaveReidUK]

There are some references to it in this recent thread:

The AA at Coventry in the 80s (https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/636806-aa-coventry-80s.html)

[AirUK]

Thanks Dave,

This thread did come up in my research, however as the information specifically regarding Basingstoke was rather thin on the ground and not the main subject, I thought creating a dedicated thread might yield more results - hopefully anyway!

Chevvron mentioned that he thought he saw the air strip marked on a chart somewhere between the M3 and A30, I don’t believe the M3 existed at that time, but perhaps he was referring to its modern day location. One snippet of a chart I saw had a circle (possibly denoting an airstrip, I’m not sure) in the southwest of Basingstoke within the immediate vicinity and to the SE of the railway junction south of Newfound (Pack Lane). This is still a farm however and wouldn’t explain the sudden end of use as an airstrip, unless it was an agreement that expired? The other area would be somewhere in the now housing estates between Hatch Warren and Kempshott. If I can upload a copy of the map snippet (low quality unfortunately) then I will. But does anyone know for certain or know anyone who would?

Many thanks again,

UK.

[highwideandugly]

Basingstoke flying sites - UK Airfield Guide (http://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Basingstoke-flying-sites)

Great site!

[Lordflasheart]

...
I know PPRuNe isn't the font of knowledge it once was, ... Any ideas?!

Stick around son, there's plenty of fuel in the PPRune tank yet.

We're not talking about Popham are we ?

Where did the late lamented Charles Church keep his Spitfire etc - was it Popham ?

LFH

...

[treadigraph]

Charles Church kept his fleet here:

Roundwood Farm (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1971226,-1.2661575,872m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)

[Self loading bear]

...., about 30-40 years ago, used by the AA ....

UK.

Are you sure of the timeframe?
That would put you from 1980-1990?

In approx. 1982 they changed from Piper Apache to larger Cessna Conquest and C441.
And from 1987 to Learjet.

[AirUK]

Basingstoke flying sites - UK Airfield Guide (http://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Basingstoke-flying-sites)

Great site!

Thanks HighWide, it is indeed a great site and has been most helpful in all my research of other ADs so far. The one comment from Terry:
“Up until the early '80s, the AA, whose HQ is in Basingstoke, used a grass field south west of the town to land their Cessna 421. This field is now housing, the Cessna moving to Odiham and then when the aircraft was changed for a Learjet, they moved to Farnborough.”
...would suggest that Chevvron’s description is more likely to be correct, but it’s still not a pinpoint and more of a general area.

[AirUK]

Are you sure of the timeframe?
That would put you from 1980-1990?

In approx. 1982 they changed from Piper Apache to larger Cessna Conquest and C441.
And from 1987 to Learjet.

Hi Self loading Bear,

Yes I'm sorry, I meant 40-50 years ago - I believe it was the 70s, perhaps into the early 80s.

[AirUK]

...

Stick around son, there's plenty of fuel in the PPRune tank yet.

We're not talking about Popham are we ?

Where did the late lamented Charles Church keep his Spitfire etc - was it Popham ?

LFH

...

Ha! That's what I was hoping...

No, definitely not Popham.

[AirUK]

On zooming out of the chart snippet I referred to above, I realised I'd made a mistake, so ignore that possible location - the 'circle' I saw near Basingstoke was an 'O' in the word 'N O R T H' written across that region... what a plonker! So I'm back to believing it was somewhere in one of those housing estates as previously suggested. But where exactly?

UK.

[andrasz]

With a quick search I have found digitised historic Ordnance Survey maps at the NLS, here is the link to the latest available (1967) edition: https://maps.nls.uk/view/196189782
I have not found any reference on the map to a formal airfield, so in all likelihood it was just a farm field.
By navigating the site on the link you can load adjacent sheets, if you have the rough idea of where it should be and is not on the sheet I linked.

Edit: This sheet from 1947 might be better, the field adjacent to Viables Cottages looks to be the right shape & dimensions: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101440131

[chevvron]

Thanks Dave,

This thread did come up in my research, however as the information specifically regarding Basingstoke was rather thin on the ground and not the main subject, I thought creating a dedicated thread might yield more results - hopefully anyway!

Chevvron mentioned that he thought he saw the air strip marked on a chart somewhere between the M3 and A30, I don’t believe the M3 existed at that time, but perhaps he was referring to its modern day location.
UK.
The first stretch of the M3 from Bagshot (J3) to south west of Basingstoke opened in about '72 or '73, (I commuted along it every weekend between my home in Chesham, Bucks and the College of ATC at Bournemouth) with the bit northeast of J3 to Thorpe opening in about '74 or '75.
In the late '70s, due to a general shortage of RAF controllers, it was decided that ATC Farnborough would take over the task of Radar Approach Control, Radar Director and Approach Control for RAF Odiham thus allowing some controllers to be posted eslewhere leaving just tower (local) and talkdown (PAR) to be done from Odiham by RAF controllers. As Odiham had no radar, their mobile AR1 having been 'posted' to Malta in late '74, all they could provide from Odiham was procedural service using NDB and QGH approaches with communications in the adjacent low flying area on the same frequency.
To familiarise us with this task, we all visited Odiham ATC one by one and it was on my visit that I was shown the map of the RAF Low Flying Area in which Odiham helicopters operated, this being an OS 1:50,000 which was hand annotated to show each farmers field which was available for low level helicopter ops plus any other airfields in use and it was on this map where I saw the strip used by the AA depicted.
Popham and Roundwood Farm did not exist at this time, nor did Scotland Farm at Hook or Valentines Farm just off the Odiham bypass and the only other airfield (apart from Lasham) was Peter Cadbury's strip about 10nm south of Basingstoke at Preston Candover plus the helipad operated by Tommy Sopwith, (son of T.O.M. Sopwith) at Axford; there were other strips near Basingstoke but these were to the north of the town.
As far as I recall, the AA strip was situated in the area of Basingstoke known nowadays as the bit between Cliddesden and Beggarwood which has been completely built over since the '80s.

[Quemerford]

Thank goodness for that: we have an answer that will hopefully put an end to "You don't mean Eastleigh?" suggestions. An interesting thread when you sift the wheat from chaff.

[Wycombe]

I remember the AA Cessna 421 (G-OBCA) and subsequently their 2 Beech 200's (I think G-KBCA was one of them) and Agusta 109 (G-HBCA?) being based at Blackbushe during the late 80's/90's.
The Cessna 441 was I think G-AUTO but I don't remember seeing that at Blackbushe much.

Prior to that (I think in the 70's) there was a PA23 that they operated, in an all-over Union Jack scheme and a Jet Ranger. These both also lived at Blackbushe from what I remember.

[DaveReidUK]

I remember the AA Cessna 421 (G-OBCA) and subsequently their 2 Beech 200's (I think G-KBCA was one of them) and Agusta 109 (G-HBCA?) being based at Blackbushe during the late 80's/90's.
The Cessna 441 was I think G-AUTO but I don't remember seeing that at Blackbushe much.

Prior to that (I think in the 70's) there was a PA23 that they operated, in an all-over Union Jack scheme and a Jet Ranger. These both also lived at Blackbushe from what I remember.

I don't recall G-OBCA being operated by the AA. The reason it was based at Blackbushe was that, as the registration suggests, it was owned and operated by British Car Auctions.

The AA's Golden Eagle (the aircraft noted operating from the mystery Basingstoke strip) was G-BBUJ (https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/abpic-media-eu-production/pictures/full_size_023/1034827-large.jpg).

[nvubu]

The website www.old-maps.co.uk has more recent maps than the ones at NLS - although you have to subscribe to zoom in past a certain level.

If you look at the area suggested by chevvron, between between Cliddesden and Beggarwood, the 1972 1:10560 map shows Hatch End Farm (which looks like it still exists) was the only cluster of buildings in the area, and on the 1977 1:2500 map, there looks like what could be a landing strip marked as a track, but no such giveaway as "landing strip".

[pulse1]

There used to be a strip at Hook which was adjacent to the M3. I used to frequently drive past it and tried to imagine landing on it. I only saw an aircraft on it once but, some years later I met someone who had flown in from there and I learned that there were quite a lot of light aircraft based there. I believe that it is no longer in use though.

[treadigraph]

The Hook strip had a hangar - well, a sort of open shed I suppose - at the western end as I recall and there were two or three aircraft usually visible in it. Last few times I've been past on the M3 it has looked pretty overgrown.

[chevvron]

There used to be a strip at Hook which was adjacent to the M3. I used to frequently drive past it and tried to imagine landing on it. I only saw an aircraft on it once but, some years later I met someone who had flown in from there and I learned that there were quite a lot of light aircraft based there. I believe that it is no longer in use though.
Scotland Farm which I already mentioned only dates back to about mid '80s.

[old,not bold]

For what it's worth as a negative, my 1966 Pooleys does not mention Basingstoke in any category; nor Hook, as it happens.

I've trawled the Pooleys for a recognisable name in that area, but found nothing, which may be simply my geographic ignorance. Could "Basingstoke" have had a different name?

[chevvron]

I remember the AA Cessna 421 (G-OBCA) and subsequently their 2 Beech 200's (I think G-KBCA was one of them) and Agusta 109 (G-HBCA?) being based at Blackbushe during the late 80's/90's.
The Cessna 441 was I think G-AUTO but I don't remember seeing that at Blackbushe much.

Prior to that (I think in the 70's) there was a PA23 that they operated, in an all-over Union Jack scheme and a Jet Ranger. These both also lived at Blackbushe from what I remember.
All of those except G-AUTO were operated by British Car Auctions/Phil Cardew ; no connection with the AA; 'AUTO of course was AA

[Wycombe]

I remember the AA Cessna 421 (G-OBCA) and subsequently their 2 Beech 200's (I think G-KBCA was one of them) and Agusta 109 (G-HBCA?) being based at Blackbushe during the late 80's/90's.
The Cessna 441 was I think G-AUTO but I don't remember seeing that at Blackbushe much.

Prior to that (I think in the 70's) there was a PA23 that they operated, in an all-over Union Jack scheme and a Jet Ranger. These both also lived at Blackbushe from what I remember.
All of those except G-AUTO were operated by British Car Auctions/Phil Cardew ; no connection with the AA; 'AUTO of course was AA

Doh, apologies all, I was forgetting this was about the AA and not BCA!

[NutLoose]

https://www.airhistory.net/photo/86153/G-BMOA

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1028500

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/operator/Automobile%20Association (https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1028500)

We used to look after them at Rogers Aviation. G-AUTO was on the fleet, the one above replaced it. There were several, we also looked after the Learjet.

[pax britanica]

Was there a grass /farm strip at the western end of Odiham village behind a pub- which is called the Water Witch on Colt Hill. . I was there some years ago ona sunny day when a distinctive sound of a light aircraft running engine (s) up and then taking off, didnt geta good look but it was blue and something like a twin Commanche or Seneca or older Piper twin. . Looking at a Google sat view there might be room and there is a large shed at the pub end . I was extremely surprised at the time and never saw any sign of aircraft again. Any other ideas about it or have I got the location wrong

[chevvron]

Was there a grass /farm strip at the western end of Odiham village behind a pub- which is called the Water Witch on Colt Hill. . I was there some years ago ona sunny day when a distinctive sound of a light aircraft running engine (s) up and then taking off, didnt geta good look but it was blue and something like a twin Commanche or Seneca or older Piper twin. . Looking at a Google sat view there might be room and there is a large shed at the pub end . I was extremely surprised at the time and never saw any sign of aircraft again. Any other ideas about it or have I got the location wrong
Never heard of that one.
Valentines farm is a small strip between the village and the bypass; I think it was a SIPA 903 operated there; it certainly wasn't long enough for a twin (apart from maybe an Islander).
We did have someone do an emergency landing in the parkland surrounding the hotel just north east of the vllage once; maybe you saw it being flown out.

[lsh]

I was an AATC at Odiham in '76 / '77 and used to get a landing fee signature from the AA aircraft, when Duty Driver.

We occasionally used the Preston Candover strip for Puma circuits.
One of our QHI's had a family connection.

lsh
:E

[sealo0]

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

[India Four Two]

Minor thread drift but I've always wondered what was the AA's commercial justification for owning any aircraft, never mind a Learjet!

Flying spare parts around to ensure prompt roadside repairs? ;)

[AirUK]

Andrasz, I'm in agreement with you - The area adjacent to the Viables Cottages looks a likely candidate, but Sealo0's suggestion of the Common is an interesting one - thank you for your info Sealo0. Would a town common have been an acceptable place for the AA to use as a (regular?) airstrip however?

Chevron, I see - I'm only just old enough to remember that the M3 didn't reach all the way to Southampton until the early 90s, so I wrongly assumed that all of it was open at once! Your information is very interesting - thank you, I suppose that 1:50k chart is long gone now! So if you are correct, we're proposing a location somewhere in the Brighton Hill/Hatch Warren estates?

nvubu, your transmission was clipped - did you find anything?

old, not bold, thanks for having a look - it's possible that if it was a private or farm strip that it wasn't included I suppose? Or perhaps in a slightly later/1970s edition? There is of course the possibility that only the AA used it, occasionally at that, and therefore there was never a need to widely publish it? That might explain the lack of readily-available information about the location...

[Asturias56]

I've looked at some old OS maps of the area and can't see any airfield marked - however on a map that was made of bench marks(!!), when they were laying out the ring road, there appears to have been a linear airstrip type feature just west of the Black Dam Roundabout, just south of the London Road on the edge of the Common oriented SW-NE - this is pretty much the site of the Crowne Plaza Hotel now - accessed by Old Common Road

[Asturias56]

"Minor thread drift but I've always wondered what was the AA's commercial justification for owning any aircraft"

I seem to remember it was used for spotting traffic jams in the pre GPS days

[SWBKCB]

"Minor thread drift but I've always wondered what was the AA's commercial justification for owning any aircraft"

I seem to remember it was used for spotting traffic jams in the pre GPS days

and in later days, air ambulance

[AirUK]

Morning everyone,

On closer inspection of the 1968 OS map on old-maps.co.uk, there are a few long, straight tracks on a few of the fields in the area in question to the SW of the town, all orientated NE-SW. Brighton Hill Farm has two tracks (present day Corinthian Cl and Danebury Rd areas), another track adjoining the Hatch Warren Cottages (running through present day The Crofts area) and again in the field to the west of Viables Cottages (present day Sullivan Rd). Could any of these farm tracks have been used as an airstrip?

[nvubu]

AirUK - go and look at the various maps on the web site I linked to - I can't post screenshots due to copyright - edit to add: posts crossed.

In the area next to the Viables cottages there doesn't seem to be anywhere to store an aircraft, whereas there are a number of possibilities around Hatch Warren Farm. I also think that area around the cottages may well have been built over by 1979, whereas the building work seemingly hadn't got to Hatch Warren farm by 1983.

Edit to add:
If you slightly click away from the area you are interested in, you can sometimes get a different choice of maps to look at.

[sealo0]

Morning everyone,

On closer inspection of the 1968 OS map on old-maps.co.uk, there are a few long, straight tracks on a few of the fields in the area in question to the SW of the town, all orientated NE-SW. Brighton Hill Farm has two tracks (present day Corinthian Cl and Danebury Rd areas), another track adjoining the Hatch Warren Cottages (running through present day The Crofts area) and again in the field to the west of Viables Cottages (present day Sullivan Rd). Could any of these farm tracks have been used as an airstrip?

Hi AirUK

That was my playground in the 50' & 60' and being an Air Scout I would have know about any landing strip I'm sure. I walked through that area often and not too sure that the owners of Hatch Warren Farm would be too happy they throw me off once!!
As most people have at present I can only think of Popham, Hook and the wider area of Lasham, Blackbush and Odiham.

I'll have look at the maps and see.

Sealo0

[pax britanica]

Chevron

Thank you for your reply. Icannot find valentines farm on G maps but the Pub of course is quite close to the bypass and as I said I didnt really have any idea of the type it was the noise that got my attention and by the time it took off it was mostly out o site because o the way the land lies . Perhaps even more likely is the emergency landing that at some stage had to fly away again because i never saw any sign of an aircraft there again. Thanks for the trouble.

I suppose if the RAF ever give up on the Chinooks Odiham could be come London Basingstoke Airport lol

PB

[AirUK]

AirUK - go and look at the various maps on the web site I linked to - I can't post screenshots due to copyright - edit to add: posts crossed.

In the area next to the Viables cottages there doesn't seem to be anywhere to store an aircraft, whereas there are a number of possibilities around Hatch Warren Farm. I also think that area around the cottages may well have been built over by 1979, whereas the building work seemingly hadn't got to Hatch Warren farm by 1983.

Edit to add:
If you slightly click away from the area you are interested in, you can sometimes get a different choice of maps to look at.

Hi nvubu,

I agree with you, that track at Hatch Warren farm seems to end with some farm buildings in the NE corner, one of which could have been used as a hangar of sorts. That’s presuming it was hangared of course! The fact that it was built over by 1979 would tie in with the move to Odiham/Blackbushe by the early 80s...

[tr7v8]

I worked at the AA from 78-79 as a Radio Tech at HQ Fanum House & also lived in Basingstoke from 71-85. As a department we did radios in all vehicles including the DGs Daimler & all the management cars, which were Rover SD1s & a few Princesses.
I wasn't aware of any aircraft they flew and certainly nothing near Basingstoke.
I believe there was a DH Rapide in the early days which would have been pre- Fanum House in Basingstoke when the AA had an HQ in London. Just checked the Rapide was 57 the year of my birth.
This forum won't let me post URLs which is a bit dim. If you google AA & go to their website & then timeline you'll find the info.

[Lordflasheart]

...
According to their website the AA moved to Basingstoke in 1973 -

https://www.breakdowncover.org.uk/the-aa/aa-history/

which suggests this ephemeral airstrip was a solely AA user from 1973, as a convenient ancillary to their maintenance base - Fairoaks or wherever, and perhaps terminated by the rolling housing estate or the introduction of the Lear 35A in 1984.

A photo of Apache G-APZE included on the website but "Apache was G-APZE, and using G-INFO, was with the AA from 1963 until 1972"

From an authoritative source, the Apache was replaced -

"in 1972 by a Navajo PA31. From May 1975 the aircraft was used an an air ambulance - part of the AA 5-Star service to repatriate motorists stranded on the Continent through illness or accident."

As an aside, according to - Hampshire Airfields (http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/index.html) - the Basingstoke Master Plan in the late 1920s included provision for a Municipal Airport, location unknown, but it does not look as if the idea took off.

LFH
...

[ShyTorque]

I have a vague memory of the airstrip by the Water Witch pub in use and then of it being replaced by the one at Scotland Farm, by J5 of the M3.

[treadigraph]

...
From an authoritative source, the Apache was replaced - "in 1972 by a Navajo PA31. From May 1975 the aircraft was used an an air ambulance - part of the AA 5-Star service to repatriate motorists stranded on the Continent through illness or accident."
...

The Navajo was G-AXAZ acquired from Lotus and passed on to Shackleton Aviation...

[AirUK]

Sealo0,

According to Lordflasheart, the AA only moved to Basingstoke in ‘73, so it’s possible they moved in after you moved on. There was (apparently) an airstrip somewhere in SW Basingstoke itself, I’m pretty sure from other reports that it was not one of the other obvious local airfields, some of which weren’t in existence at that time. But it would be nice to know for sure and we could only really know from someone who’d been there I guess...

Thanks everyone else, some interesting background info regarding AA Aviation.

UK.

[AirUK]

Chevron

Thank you for your reply. Icannot find valentines farm on G maps but the Pub of course is quite close to the bypass and as I said I didnt really have any idea of the type it was the noise that got my attention and by the time it took off it was mostly out o site because o the way the land lies . Perhaps even more likely is the emergency landing that at some stage had to fly away again because i never saw any sign of an aircraft there again. Thanks for the trouble.

I suppose if the RAF ever give up on the Chinooks Odiham could be come London Basingstoke Airport lol

PB

Pax britanica,

There is an airstrip quite clearly visible on Google Earth between 1999 and 2017, in the field immediately to the west of The Waterwitch. The strip seems to have stopped being mown since 2017. Is this Valentine's Farm?

UK.

[chevvron]

Pax britanica,

There is an airstrip quite clearly visible on Google Earth between 1999 and 2017, in the field immediately to the west of The Waterwitch. The strip seems to have stopped being mown since 2017. Is this Valentine's Farm?

UK.
That's the one; it shows up better on the ZoomEarth image for Sept 2018; you can see a gap in the hedgerow to the west of a 'hangar' like building.
Both this and Scotland Farm were still in use when I retired in 2008; aircraft from both airfields would call us on 125.250 on summer evenings after Odiham had closed.

[medod]

I've looked at some old OS maps of the area and can't see any airfield marked - however on a map that was made of bench marks(!!), when they were laying out the ring road, there appears to have been a linear airstrip type feature just west of the Black Dam Roundabout, just south of the London Road on the edge of the Common oriented SW-NE - this is pretty much the site of the Crowne Plaza Hotel now - accessed by Old Common Road
​​​​​​
This feels like your strongest lead

[DaveReidUK]

​​​​​​
This feels like your strongest lead

We seems to have come quite a way (literally) from the original parameters quoted for the AA's putative strip:

SW of the town
between the A30 and M3
now covered by housing

[chevvron]

I have a vague memory of the airstrip by the Water Witch pub in use and then of it being replaced by the one at Scotland Farm, by J5 of the M3.
Valentines Farm and Scotland Farm were both in use at the same time; I can remember having one from each airstrip on frequency at the same time c2006 - 2008.