Vanished airfields

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!]

I've lived here in Texas for quite a while now so was aware of a few of these, but was surprised at how many airports there used to be, I found a 1967 map at a garage sale and saw quite a few listed on it like White Rock Airport that's now a car dealership, Mustang Field that's now a collection of 15 or so very nice apartment complexes, and Garland Airport (I think it was called that) which became a big box store with a huge parking lot. I read that they even used to make Spartans there

Some small airfields still hang on as well like Dallas Airpark, but you can see how 'civilization' is crowding in on them

Most surprising of all, and I forget now how I ran into this one, was Great Southwestern. It was built between Dallas and Fort Worth and had a beautiful art deco lounge area. The pictures I've seen made it look very impressive, however it only lasted a few years because they decided to build DFW in pretty much the same location, so they closed down Great Southwestern and its 18-36 runway became Amon Carter Blvd, which I believe became the access road into American Airlines headquarters. The article said you could still see a portion of the North end of the runway, just north of 183, so I checked it on Google maps and you certainly can. You just can't quite see it from the road which is why I'd driven past it so many times without really realising it was there

How many old airfields are near you? (Not just disused WWII ones)

[treadigraph]

I've got Croydon half a mile away and Kenley about three which is still active with gliders. There were a couple of strips at Warlingham/Hamsey Green before the war and one still hosts parascenders and paramotors - and a few years ago a Jodel I think, not sure what else it was doing as low as it was. ;)


....

[Pypard]

Yatesbury is close by: two airfields in WW1, briefly (very) gliding and civil flying between the wars and Bristol/EFTS flying from 1936 before it became a fully-fledged RAF training base with flying elements at the outbreak of war. It doesn't have continuous history as a flying site, but microlights now fly from part of what was the eastern airfield from 1916. I doubt many sites can boast even an interrupted 105-year flying history like that.

[chevvron]

Yatesbury is close by: two airfields in WW1, briefly (very) gliding and civil flying between the wars and Bristol/EFTS flying from 1936 before it became a fully-fledged RAF training base with flying elements at the outbreak of war. It doesn't have continuous history as a flying site, but microlights now fly from part of what was the eastern airfield from 1916. I doubt many sites can boast even an interrupted 105-year flying history like that.
FARNBOROUGH!!
(First used for powered flight 1908 and for balloons and airships before that.)

[capngrog]

Here's a link to a website dedicated to documentation of some 2,526 abandoned airfields in all 50 of the United States:

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields (http://www.airfields-freeman.com/)

There is probably a similar site for British and European airfields. As a matter of interest, I have a book titled: "Airfields of the EIGHTH Then and Now" documenting airfields used by the U.S.A.A.F. during WWII in the U.K.

Cheers,
Grog

[NutLoose]

A lot in the U.K. were used in the motorway construction as it was government owned land, see

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20343

[NutLoose]

You can see the motorway down Burtonwoods runway here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/garyskent/albums/72157713765672172

[NutLoose]

https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airfield-burtonwood-1025.html

[DaveReidUK]

A lot in the U.K. were used in the motorway construction as it was government owned land

Hence East Anglia's extensive motorway network.

[Self loading bear]

A Fellow country man is already 11 years busy to have all unknown European airfields listed together:
Forgotten airfields Europe (https://www.forgottenairfields.com/ind)

[bobward]

When planning my retirement, I had a plan to visit my local airfields for spotting every week.
Along comes the peace dividend, closing Coltishall, Honington, Bentwaters, Woodbridge and Wattisham.
Coltishall, and now West Raynham, are now solar farms..... they call it progress!

[NutLoose]

Bentwaters still has some activity.

http://warbirdsnews.com/aviation-museum-news/ex-raf-jaguar-fast-taxi-run-at-bentwaters-cold-war-museum.html

films on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/akf5VIkVVkM

[treadigraph]

Croydon does still have some flying activity in the form of RC models who have a small mown strip area for their activities. The last time it was used as an airfield was around 1987/88 when the Tiger Club staged an excellent airshow on the site, something which could not be repeated now with the transformation into a proper common, the addition of a stock area where cattle are occasionally allowed to graze and the addition of housing at the western end - not sure what was there in '88.

[rog747]

Rhodes Maritsa was used as a holiday charter airport until 1977 when Paradiso Diagoras Airport opened nearer the sea away from the mountains.

The airport was built in 1938 during the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese Islands as a base for the Regia Aeronautica and was called Aeroporto di Martisa.
It housed a squadron of Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 and a squadron of Fiat CR.32 biplane fighters. In 1940, during World War II, it was bombed by the British Royal Air Force but stayed under Italian control until the Dodecanese Campaign, when it fell under German control until the liberation of the Islands.
After the war, it became the main airport for the island until 1977, when the new Rhodes International Airport was opened.

You can still see it today when flying in on approach to RHO so not quite vanished.

[SLXOwft]

Lots of WW2 airfields in the UK had temporary existence for obvious reasons - in the New Forest there are 3 I can think of: RAFs Beaulieu, Ibsley and Holmsley South.

Last weekend on Sunday I drove through what was RAF West Malling, past the former RAF Detling and the former RNAS/RAF Eastchurch (the site of the first flight by a British pilot in Britain, effective birthplace of the Royal Naval Air Service and thus spirtual home of the Fleet Air Arm); on Monday past or close to the fomer RNAS/RAF Ford, RAF Tangmere, RAF Thorney Island and Portsmouth Airport. Except for Detling and Eastchurch all were still active airfields within my lifetime. The former RNAS/RAF Worthy Down isn't far from where I am typing; RAF/RNAS Gosport disappeared long ago but I keep my fingers crossed that Lee-on-Solent has a future. Thankfully the Lasham Gliding Society bought the Lasham freehold from the MoD in 2001 so that is secure for the foreseable future.

The airfield I first flew from, Woodford the home of the Lancaster, Vulcan and Nimrod, is rapidly disappearing under a housing development. All in all a somewhat depressing subject.

https://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/ this site may not look much at first glance but it is a mine of information of things aviation in my adopted county. Seems to cover every patch of ground ever used for aviation related activity.

rog747, I believe LGRD is still an active airfield; the HAF has a presence but I 'm not sure if it still has any aircraft there. (There were a Super Puma and Chinook not too long ago).

[chevvron]

Lots of WW2 airfields in the UK had temporary existence for obvious reasons - in the New Forest there are 3 I can think of: RAFs Beaulieu, Ibsley and Holmsley South.

Stoney Cross (probably the most extensive one) , small landing ground at Ashley Walk bombing range, ALG at Lymington.

[Pat UK]

Croydon does still have some flying activity in the form of RC models who have a small mown strip area for their activities. The last time it was used as an airfield was around 1987/88 when the Tiger Club staged an excellent airshow on the site, something which could not be repeated now with the transformation into a proper common, the addition of a stock area where cattle are occasionally allowed to graze and the addition of housing at the western end - not sure what was there in '88.

LOL ... Memories ... I had eye surgery in Waddon Hospital aged 13 ... Does the 194 bus still run to Croydon Airport?

[Buster11]

As well as the radio flying at the former Croydon Airport there is also a paved control-line circle which is used by the British F2A CL World Championships speed team for practice; around 300km/hr from a 2.5 c.c. engine running at 36,000 rpm. In the 1950s the airport was the scene of Buster's conversion onto Tiger Moths after a flying scholarship at Redhill with Magisters. I still have the helmet, complete with Gosport tubes. Happy days.

[Union Jack]

Filton, anyone?

Jack

[POBJOY]

CHG is situated west of Stockbridge (on the A30) and became a Spitfire assembly and flight field (hangar bases still in woods)after the Southampton factories were blitzed. When I used to drive past in the 60's enroute to the west the road leading to the field was called Love Lane, but many years later was altered to Spitfire lane. High Post was a private club field north of Salisbury (not that far from Boscombe Down). Spitfire testing was transferred there from Worthy Down and utilised the original small club hangar (still there). Supermarines early jet prototypes also flew from there (grass airfield). The unlikely setting of Newlyn Harbour was next to a WW1 seaplane base (as was Tresco on the IOS).
The airship hangar bases at Mullion are still visible as are several blister hangars sitting in a 'sea' of crops in many places.

[ve3id]

We have several right inside the city of Toronto. A few years back, they were excavating for a new development beside the East York Staples/Business Depot and they discovered a huge underground fuel storage tank that was part of an airport apparently abandoned in the 1930s. "Wow, imagine if all that jet fuel had blown up" was a comment heard by a young reporter on the CBC!

[Planemike]

We have several right inside the city of Toronto. A few years back, they were excavating for a new development beside the East York Staples/Business Depot and they discovered a huge underground fuel storage tank that was part of an airport apparently abandoned in the 1930s. "Wow, imagine if all that jet fuel had blown up" was a comment heard by a young reporter on the CBC!

Yep.....an even even bigger "bang", if it had been filled with 100 Octane....!!!!

[Krystal n chips]

" The airfield I first flew from, Woodford the home of the Lancaster, Vulcan and Nimrod, is rapidly disappearing under a housing development. All in all a somewhat depressing subject."

Ironically, bits of RNAS Stretton still remain relatively intact. Also RAF Cranage, albeit there's virtually nothing left to identify it as an airfield. Not an airfield, but once a prominent Station, RAF Hednesford on Cannock Chase "remains " with the various paths and some structures visible

[DHfan]

There are reputedly, or were until fairly recently at least, still concrete airship mooring blocks visible at Howden in Yorkshire and Mullion on the Lizard in Cornwall.

[Pat UK]

" The airfield I first flew from, Woodford the home of the Lancaster, Vulcan and Nimrod, is rapidly disappearing under a housing development. All in all a somewhat depressing subject."

Ironically, bits of RNAS Stretton still remain relatively intact. Also RAF Cranage, albeit there's virtually nothing left to identify it as an airfield. Not an airfield, but once a prominent Station, RAF Hednesford on Cannock Chase "remains " with the various paths and some structures visible

Alas all the Nimrods were/are Welsh, constructed at Hawarden with only the final assembly taking place at Woodford ... The BBMF Lancaster is also Welsh.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/634x484/nimrod_2_3e1712421a95de2304369c44c156f21e85e96542.jpg

[pulse1]

A closed airfield near the home where I grew up and enjoyed many flights as an ATC cadet was Llandow. Quite close to St Athan it was a training base during the war and then a civillian MU and home of 614 sqdn (Vampires) Probably most known for the worst air crash in the UK at the time when a Tudor airliner crashed on landing..

[Pat UK]

A closed airfield near the home where I grew up and enjoyed many flights as an ATC cadet was Llandow. Quite close to St Athan it was a training base during the war and then a civillian MU and home of 614 sqdn (Vampires) Probably most known for the worst air crash in the UK at the time when a Tudor airliner crashed on landing..

Llandow and St Athan airfields were connected with remnants of the taxiways and dispersals between the two still visible on Google Earth

[crunchynutter]

Some 40 years ago i was growing up in Radlett Hertfordshire. During the summer hols we would often walk across the fields to what we called Handley page, but was infact Radlett aerodrome. Today most of it is an industrial site and some given over to housing. The old entrance to the aerodrome is still there, now its the entrance to the industrial estate. Not been there for some years now but i recall some of the taxi ways were still visible

[Equivocal]

In my youth I did a bit of controlling at Leavesden, at the time home to a Rolls-Royce helicopter engine factory, and often had to sort out Leavesden traffic with flights in and out of Hatfield. Both long gone but they leave happy memories.

[crunchynutter]

Leavesden now home to Harry Potter world (good grief !!). Brother in law worked at British aerospace Hatfield now home to Ocado (other food suppliers are available)

[Pypard]

Leavesden now home to Harry Potter world (good grief !!). Brother in law worked at British aerospace Hatfield now home to Ocado (other food suppliers are available)

How time passes: I did a course at Rolls-Royce's Small Engine Division, Leavesden and remember at least one Moth Club rally at Hatfield.

[treadigraph]

Quite a lot of Hatfield was developed into the de Havilland Campus for the University of Hertfordshire by my erstwhile employers. I subsequently spent quite a lot of time correcting "De Havilland" in bids and other business development documents!

[DHfan]

I was born in Watford and moved to Hertford at an age when I was still measured horizontally rather than vertically and then 6 years later we moved to Welwyn Garden City.
I'm sure it wasn't actually so frequent but it seemed like every weekend we went to Watford to visit one or the other sets of grandparents. This meant passing Hatfield, Radlett and, every other visit, Leavesden.
I clearly remember the de Havilland office building and the airfield being open and many years later I went to one of the last open days and air displays there. It didn't matter what the company name was on the building, it was and always will be de Havilland to me. From the house in Welwyn Garden City we could see aircraft coming up from Hatfield but which particular aircraft now up to 60 years later I've no idea. Most likely Tridents I imagine.
A few miles later we crossed the end of a runway at Radlett, on what was then the A405. I only actually remember seeing one aircraft coming in there, or not really seeing it as it passed directly over the roof of the car, extremely low. Dad looked at the roof of the car when we arrived and when I asked what he was doing he said checking for tyre marks.
Leavesden I don't remember seeing any aircraft movements, although my dad remembered seeing new Mosquitos being pushed out of the hangars during the war. I guess any aircraft movements in the later 50s and 60s would be helicopters so probably nearer the factory buildings - and not necessarily at weekends anyway.
Again I remember seeing the name change from de Havilland Engines, to Bristol-Siddeley Engines and then to Rolls-Royce Small Engine Division.

[Equivocal]

I guess any aircraft movements in the later 50s and 60s would be helicopters so probably nearer the factory buildingsIn the early 80s there was a bit of business traffic and flying training along with a small number of privately owned light aircraft. Names that come to mind are Eagle Aircraft Services, operators of a variety of King Airs at the time, and for GA, David Fairclough Aviation, Leavesden Flight Centre and Leavesden Flying School, the last growing out of the ashes of the first if my memory serves. I vaguely recall also one or two HS125s (600/700s, I think) and Learjets, but I think these may have been performance limited and always had to position out before doing anything commercial. But I may be wrong, it's a looong time ago.....

[DHfan]

I think I had known there was business traffic there later but by the early 80s my grandparents were all long gone so I passed by extremely rarely if ever.
Rethinking my last post, we moved to Welwyn Garden City in October 1959 so that would predate Tridents. I've never had a great interest in civil aircraft anyway and at the age of seven my recognition skills were limited, to say the least.
Panshanger, which I'd known for a while, as well as any 3 to 4 year old could anyway, and then again in my middle teens was only a mile or two from where we lived. That has been shrinking steadily over the years, in fact my sister now lives on what was airfield land, or very close to it at least. From what I understand, what's left of it is unlikely to reopen and is earmarked for housing.

[jensdad]

Hi everyone. Don't know if anyone can help me here but I remember as a child in the 1980's, possibly even late 70's, heading for a family holiday. We were driving along a main road near London - at least a dual carriageway but might have been a motorway - and seeing tails of light aircraft (possibly some twins, Navajo etc.?) peeping above the top of the roadside embankment. The embankment seemed very high but I was only little so it might not have been as big as I remember it. I've looked on google maps and can't see an airfield that close to a major road so I'm guessing it's been built on.
I vaguely recall my dad saying it was 'Watford Airport'. Although my dad did once tell me that the Wombles lived in Blaydon, so this must be taken with a pinch of salt.

[DHfan]

Denham? I haven't been there since the early 60s so no idea of any current roads in the area.

[treadigraph]

That's got to be Leavesden - the hangars were at the top of a steep bank above the A41. Eagle Aviation usually had several King Airs on the ramp... when I was 15 I walked from Borehamwood station to Elstree, then Leavesden and ended up at Watford station!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mXSiE5Nr55gCfHks7

[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.

[BRIEFING OFFICER]

RE LLANDOW. I was working in editorial at the western Mail when the Tudor crashed (It was a Sunday I recollect) . Took the phone call from a member of the public and went with the photog down there. We were the first 'newsies' to arrive after a mad dash.
He was coopted by the police to photo bodies for ID. I always remember that day being 16 yrs old. Not a nice sight.
After that I joined the Feet Air Arm... and after Llandow dead bodies never affected me!:)

Any way. Brawdy Naval Air Staion is still in good nick (Served there)..the runways like new ..althothe place is closed. St Davids is still thhere. Dale and Templeton.
When you think of the number of Naval airfields at the end of WW2 we had AND a decent Fleet Air Arm...and now look at what we have...
Makes you weep.

[Pypard]

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!

[jensdad]

That's got to be Leavesden - the hangars were at the top of a steep bank above the A41. Eagle Aviation usually had several King Airs on the ramp... when I was 15 I walked from Borehamwood station to Elstree, then Leavesden and ended up at Watford station!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mXSiE5Nr55gCfHks7
Thanks treadigraph, that definitely looks like it. We were heading from Newcastle to somewhere near Windsor (pre-M25) so it looks like exactly the right area. Thanks also to DHfan for the suggestion. I looked at Denham and it's in the right area but the embankment didn't fit.

[Saab Dastard]

I've walked around what used to be the "three Hs" - Heston, Hounslow Heath and Hanworth Air Park - They are all within a few miles of where I live. The last of those is still substantially as it was when it closed in the '40s.
Brooklands isn't that far away from me either - although technically it's not actually closed, but aircraft movements are very few and far between. The old Wisley aerodrome at Ockham common is another great place for a walk, which I do frequently - a bit of a drive to get there though. It's not exactly vanished, but it's been closed since 1972.

SD

[Airbanda]

Sheffield City anyone?

The aviation blogger Noel Phillips has recently uploaded a You Tube video on the place:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZYNa6h9XJ4

A piece of modern day industrial archaeology.