Hurn Airport (or Bournemouth if you insist)
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Location: Cornwall UK
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Does the 'Bournemouth Airports' book by Mike Phipps contain much on the use of Hurn from 1944-1946 when it was the London/southern UK civil airport for long-range services?
Inclusion of a paragraph on the activities of the FRU before Flight Refuelling took over would be good. There must be some interesting stories from those days when, I believe, Airworks had the contract. I started to fly there in the late 60's and can remember sharing the circuit with Scimitars, Canberras and Hunters. I seem to remember a Scimitar crashed on the IOW. I well remember a Canberra only just clearing the fence taking off on a hot evening from 26 , which was somewhat shorter in those days.
Funnily enough, light aircraft used to start their take off from D1 in the days when 26 was shorter. Wouldn't dream of doing it now, even with a longer runway.
Funnily enough, light aircraft used to start their take off from D1 in the days when 26 was shorter. Wouldn't dream of doing it now, even with a longer runway.
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Was a local spotter/photographer at Hurn as a teenager in 80's/90's. Have a good selection of photos if interested.
Airport has transformed almost out of recognition. The new terminal and its shoddy trashing of the preceding building are a horror compared to the lovely terminal we had back in the late 80's, which had nearly as many (more?) people in passing trade than passengers at times. Was great place to hang out for hours.
Dumping the aviation museum out in the fields in front of the mansion on the south side also makes the whole place look very tatty....and now I hear we have pax trawling their suitcases through the mud beside the slip-road to avoid the parking charges.
Now wearing my piloting hat, what was once a wonderful place to visit as a GA visitor (nice terminal or the fantastic flying club restaurant) is £60 odd quid to taxy off to a remote portacabin near the fire dump (for a few hours only, else it costs even more....), then a min £15-20 cab to get anywhere else on the known planet.
Airport has transformed almost out of recognition. The new terminal and its shoddy trashing of the preceding building are a horror compared to the lovely terminal we had back in the late 80's, which had nearly as many (more?) people in passing trade than passengers at times. Was great place to hang out for hours.
Dumping the aviation museum out in the fields in front of the mansion on the south side also makes the whole place look very tatty....and now I hear we have pax trawling their suitcases through the mud beside the slip-road to avoid the parking charges.
Now wearing my piloting hat, what was once a wonderful place to visit as a GA visitor (nice terminal or the fantastic flying club restaurant) is £60 odd quid to taxy off to a remote portacabin near the fire dump (for a few hours only, else it costs even more....), then a min £15-20 cab to get anywhere else on the known planet.
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"Airport has transformed almost out of recognition. The new terminal and its shoddy trashing of the preceding building are a horror compared to the lovely terminal we had back in the late 80's, which had nearly as many (more?) people in passing trade than passengers at times. Was great place to hang out for hours.
Dumping the aviation museum out in the fields in front of the mansion on the south side also makes the whole place look very tatty....and now I hear we have pax trawling their suitcases through the mud beside the slip-road to avoid the parking charges.
Now wearing my piloting hat, what was once a wonderful place to visit as a GA visitor (nice terminal or the fantastic flying club restaurant) is £60 odd quid to taxy off to a remote portacabin near the fire dump (for a few hours only, else it costs even more....), then a min £15-20 cab to get anywhere else on the known planet."
When I read this, I thought, "The airport must now be owned by M/C Airports Group" and a quick Google confirmed this. So no surprises seeing the above, tho for all their faults, MAG do treat the spotters at M/C very well (if you can afford the outrageous parking charges at the viewing area).
Anyway..........getting back to Hurn, I spent two or three very enjoyable days spotting there exactly forty years ago and I took a small no of photos. One is on Flickr and is of a BEA Viscount taxiing out for take off (sorry, not good quality, due to the crappy Kodak Instamatic with which I took it, but that was all I could afford back then, aged 15):
ScanImage 3e | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I recall that, to take it, I walked some considerable way from the terminal, to where there was no fence and took the photo close up-and Kodak Instamatics definitely did not have zoom lenses! I bet security has changed hugely since those-relatively-more relaxed days (there'd been a lot of terrorism by 1973 and airports were gradually beefing up their security in response to that).
The others, if you're interested airsmiles, comprise distant views of an Intra Dak and a BAF Carvair, plus close up shot of a Cessna, G-AZLD, with G-AXIS (can't ID type) in the background. Again however, taken on the Instamatic, so not brilliant quality (especially the shots of the Carvair and the Dak). However, the photo of G-AZLD could be made pretty decent (with say an hour's work in Photoshop removing the dozens of scratches put on it by Boots's very careless photoprocessing back then.......)
Send me a PM if necessary.
Dumping the aviation museum out in the fields in front of the mansion on the south side also makes the whole place look very tatty....and now I hear we have pax trawling their suitcases through the mud beside the slip-road to avoid the parking charges.
Now wearing my piloting hat, what was once a wonderful place to visit as a GA visitor (nice terminal or the fantastic flying club restaurant) is £60 odd quid to taxy off to a remote portacabin near the fire dump (for a few hours only, else it costs even more....), then a min £15-20 cab to get anywhere else on the known planet."
When I read this, I thought, "The airport must now be owned by M/C Airports Group" and a quick Google confirmed this. So no surprises seeing the above, tho for all their faults, MAG do treat the spotters at M/C very well (if you can afford the outrageous parking charges at the viewing area).
Anyway..........getting back to Hurn, I spent two or three very enjoyable days spotting there exactly forty years ago and I took a small no of photos. One is on Flickr and is of a BEA Viscount taxiing out for take off (sorry, not good quality, due to the crappy Kodak Instamatic with which I took it, but that was all I could afford back then, aged 15):
ScanImage 3e | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I recall that, to take it, I walked some considerable way from the terminal, to where there was no fence and took the photo close up-and Kodak Instamatics definitely did not have zoom lenses! I bet security has changed hugely since those-relatively-more relaxed days (there'd been a lot of terrorism by 1973 and airports were gradually beefing up their security in response to that).
The others, if you're interested airsmiles, comprise distant views of an Intra Dak and a BAF Carvair, plus close up shot of a Cessna, G-AZLD, with G-AXIS (can't ID type) in the background. Again however, taken on the Instamatic, so not brilliant quality (especially the shots of the Carvair and the Dak). However, the photo of G-AZLD could be made pretty decent (with say an hour's work in Photoshop removing the dozens of scratches put on it by Boots's very careless photoprocessing back then.......)
Send me a PM if necessary.
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Canberra, ACT, Australia
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The book by Mike Phipps is a good read and is very useful in that it includes other adjacent airfields like Christchurch.
"Wings Over Dorset" by Leslie Dawson (Dorset Publishing Company,1985, ISBN 0948699 10 8) is an interesting read even if contains a few errors pertaining to the Christchurch airfield chapter.
Another interesting soft cover book on WW II airfields in this area (SW Hampshire) is "Twelve Airfields" by Alan Brown printed in about 1995 by Eon Graphics, Highcliffe. It covers the following airfields - East Boldre, Holmsley South, Stoney Cross, Bisterne, Lymington, Needs Oar Point, Beaulieu, Calshot, Christchurch, Ibsley, Hurn, and Winkton.
If anyone wants some old B&W photos of Hurn and Christchurch aircraft, potter on over to http://www.abpic.co.uk/results.php?q...ge=50&limit=50
"Wings Over Dorset" by Leslie Dawson (Dorset Publishing Company,1985, ISBN 0948699 10 8) is an interesting read even if contains a few errors pertaining to the Christchurch airfield chapter.
Another interesting soft cover book on WW II airfields in this area (SW Hampshire) is "Twelve Airfields" by Alan Brown printed in about 1995 by Eon Graphics, Highcliffe. It covers the following airfields - East Boldre, Holmsley South, Stoney Cross, Bisterne, Lymington, Needs Oar Point, Beaulieu, Calshot, Christchurch, Ibsley, Hurn, and Winkton.
If anyone wants some old B&W photos of Hurn and Christchurch aircraft, potter on over to http://www.abpic.co.uk/results.php?q...ge=50&limit=50
2330 Homefield School Squadron
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Interesting Times
Gents, plenty of interesting things in Hurn's (Bournemouth's) recent history, and I'm sure someone somewhere would have some good photos.
The Reds and BBMF Lancaster etc are regular visitors and it's the local base for the annual Bournemouth airshow.
Cobham's Falcon 20 EW and target towing operations still call Hurn home.
The RAF's last PR Canberras were maintained there until retirement.
When Steve Fossett did his nonstop round the world flight on the GlobalFlyer in 2005 he had problems on descent in to England and landed at Hurn, where Flight Refuelling helped him out and received a very nice thank you letter in response.
The RAF's new Voyager A330 MRTT tankers were fitted with their hose and drogue refuelling systems there.
The museum there still houses the first prototype of the Miles Leopard, possibly the world's first personal Very Light Jet.
The paint and mechanical shops there still get some interesting visitors. I remember standing in the car park only a few years ago watching a Hawker Hunter doing circuits and thinking, only in England...
Lived in the area for a while and I'm sure the very friendly people at the air museum would know people who would know people.
The Reds and BBMF Lancaster etc are regular visitors and it's the local base for the annual Bournemouth airshow.
Cobham's Falcon 20 EW and target towing operations still call Hurn home.
The RAF's last PR Canberras were maintained there until retirement.
When Steve Fossett did his nonstop round the world flight on the GlobalFlyer in 2005 he had problems on descent in to England and landed at Hurn, where Flight Refuelling helped him out and received a very nice thank you letter in response.
The RAF's new Voyager A330 MRTT tankers were fitted with their hose and drogue refuelling systems there.
The museum there still houses the first prototype of the Miles Leopard, possibly the world's first personal Very Light Jet.
The paint and mechanical shops there still get some interesting visitors. I remember standing in the car park only a few years ago watching a Hawker Hunter doing circuits and thinking, only in England...
Lived in the area for a while and I'm sure the very friendly people at the air museum would know people who would know people.
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Hurn Airport searches
Good evening, I have only just been able to access this site as I have been seriously ill for a long time. However, I was intrigued as my late grandfather, my late uncle & my elderly uncle all worked at Hurn airport. My late uncle died of an accident many years ago, when there was no H & S in force & he had just returned from his first foreign holiday & was called in to acess an emergency with the engine of a plane & fell off the wing to his death some 60ft. He was so well thought of that at his memorium service in Christchurch there was over 60 wreaths in dedication to his memory. he had also previously been in action in the Navy. My grandfather (uncle's father) also worked at Hurn & my present Uncle who is still alive, but much younger than his other siblings was an engineer. I am about to have some treatment,but when I return I hope to be able to give more information & some old photos, which some may find interesting -at the moment the pics are in the loft stored,so its a matter of getting someone to root around for them-I know that I have some great old photos of Hurn going back to the early 1900's, if anyone is interested. Kind regards, Nostalgia19
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<<I have a photo taken between 1964 and 1966 of all the cadets in 2330 Homefield School Squadron if anyone would like it. >> Do you have any connection to 2330 Sqn?
Yes please. I was a founding member of 2330 Sqn even though I wasn't a member of the school. I have a couple of photos from those days - a visit to Calshot being one.
Please send to gjksau @ yahoo dot com dot au
Regards,
GJKS
Yes please. I was a founding member of 2330 Sqn even though I wasn't a member of the school. I have a couple of photos from those days - a visit to Calshot being one.
Please send to gjksau @ yahoo dot com dot au
Regards,
GJKS
