Hatfield Airport
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Not so many places currently
Age: 60
Posts: 3,786
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hatfield Airport
Talking to a friend the other day we talked about how he worked at Hatfield Airport just when the VVIP traffic was building up very nicely and actually pulling business from Luton & Heathrow. I remember Luton ATC handled the arriving aircraft vectering.
Then BAe chopped the whole airport, can give me links to history references. Google goes not appear to be my friend.
Just think, we could have had a Farnborough in Herts!?!
Then BAe chopped the whole airport, can give me links to history references. Google goes not appear to be my friend.
Just think, we could have had a Farnborough in Herts!?!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Not so many places currently
Age: 60
Posts: 3,786
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks Heathrow Director but it does not bring up much. Lots of stuff about the Trident & Comet but was looking for infor about the early 90s before closure.
I have to say that the runway at Hatfield was pretty rough (concrete blocks that didn't fit together too well). I remember speaking to an American VIP 727 captain in the GA centre one night. After a decent landing he swore that every glass in the cocktail cabinet had shattered during the landing run and that he would not be coming back to Hatfield ever again!
Several references to the closure of Hatfield in the deH Moth Club's magazine "The Moth".
Planemike
PS pabely, please let me know if you would like copies. PM your postal address.
Planemike
PS pabely, please let me know if you would like copies. PM your postal address.
Last edited by Planemike; 23rd Jul 2011 at 12:45.
History and skills means squat, aggregate is king! Once that was exhausted
Hatfield was never dug up for aggregates. It was 'concreted over' with new housing and business parks. Radlett on the other hand, did go to aggregate production. In traffic terms it wasn't attracting enough away from the other airports to make money. The early 90's recession effectively killed it as did UK S.E. property prices and the requirement for housing space within the 'green belt'.
Also BAe weren't interested in paying Luton IIRC for ATC services in getting stuff in and out through controlled airspace. Luton did a lot of the co-ordination for their traffic in and out of controlled airspace. The relative proximity of Heathrow, Northolt, Luton, the Bovingdon arrival stack and Stansted all played their part in making it a concern for a viable future in terms of managing air traffic.
Hatfield was never dug up for aggregates. It was 'concreted over' with new housing and business parks. Radlett on the other hand, did go to aggregate production. In traffic terms it wasn't attracting enough away from the other airports to make money. The early 90's recession effectively killed it as did UK S.E. property prices and the requirement for housing space within the 'green belt'.
Also BAe weren't interested in paying Luton IIRC for ATC services in getting stuff in and out through controlled airspace. Luton did a lot of the co-ordination for their traffic in and out of controlled airspace. The relative proximity of Heathrow, Northolt, Luton, the Bovingdon arrival stack and Stansted all played their part in making it a concern for a viable future in terms of managing air traffic.
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: southern spain
Posts: 1,986
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Also parts of the site were turned into Hatfield Film Studios with the TV series Band of Brothers being made there. Remember passing by and seeing rather a lot of ''buildings'' resembling a French town and also fibreglass DC-3s and cows lying about near the perimeter fence!
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 236
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wasn't some of the film "Saving Private Ryan" filmed there as well?
The rough runway was used many times as an excuse for my less than perfect landings in the Dynamics PA28
M.E.
The rough runway was used many times as an excuse for my less than perfect landings in the Dynamics PA28
M.E.
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 3,325
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Looks like Woodford will go the same way. We currently have there a superb runway, with tower, hangars, ILS etc surpus to BAe requirements. What's the odds than in a few years it will all be gone?
As much as I abhor waste and would love for some type of practical use of Woodford, in reality what use could it be legally put to in aviation terms ? I'd imagine that the newer arrivals into the area would be expressing their nimby-ism if any aircraft started flying again low over their homes.
SHJ
SHJ
If the site is worth more for development etc you can forget any thought of previous heritage or usefulness as an airfield.
It's all down to hard cash I'm afraid.
It's all down to hard cash I'm afraid.
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 907
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
JW411,
Was the Robert Holmes a Court's 727, or the One belonging to Nelson Peltz? Both were frequent visitors in the early 1990's. Though I wasn't flying from Hatfield, I heard from several people that the runway was very bumpy.
Was the Robert Holmes a Court's 727, or the One belonging to Nelson Peltz? Both were frequent visitors in the early 1990's. Though I wasn't flying from Hatfield, I heard from several people that the runway was very bumpy.
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 846
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Did some circuits in a HS125 at Hatfield with Trevor Copleston for rating purposes. He of Katanga/Algeria fame.
Also flew there with Cats Eye Cunningham from time to time demonstrating HS125-600.
Also flew there with Cats Eye Cunningham from time to time demonstrating HS125-600.
pabely: are you sure about Luton handling Hatfield arrivals? I seem to recall Hatfield had a 50cm radar of their own, either an S232 or an S264 (both Marconi) so surely they would have done their own thing. Not sure of the exact date that Luton Approach moved to West Drayton but that too must have been early 90s.
Hatfield certainly had its own radar for many years, although I can't recall the types. I visited Hatfield's approach radar room in the mid-1980s not long after it had been refurbished, and by then I think they were using a radar feed from West Drayton. Perhaps Luton also did some initial vectoring of Hatfield inbounds that routed from that direction?