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Old 2nd Mar 2020, 14:35   -   Wikipost
PPRuNe Forums Thread Wiki: Which Aerodrome Mk III
Please read: This is a community-maintained wiki post containing the most important information from this thread. You may edit the Wiki once you have been a member for 90 days and have made 90 posts.
 
Last edit by: nvubu
Here is a read only link to the Aerodrome Database - WhichAerodrome.xlsx. Up to date as of 1/5/2019. Catching up slowly - up to May 2019 now (Mar 2020).

Here are some "rules" for Which Aerodrome. These are based upon the original suggestions from the very first thread, and have a few additions. Also please be patient as when you are active others may be asleep.
  • A historic picture of an aerodrome will be posted. Newer pictures are allowed but the theme here is to compare/contrast old with new as well as identifying aerodromes which no longer exist.
  • The person who correctly identifies it will be declared the 'winner' by the original poster.
  • That winner shall either post another challenge or declare the floor open. Anyone may then post the next challenge.
  • If the winner of the challenge does not respond to the notification of their success within 48 hours, an Open house can be declared when there is consensus between multiple other posters which are on line.
  • When the poster of a challenge does not respond within 48 hours of a posted answer, this poster can be declared winner if the answer is considered correct in a consensus of multiple other posters.
  • If Open House is declared, regular posters should not jump in immediately, but time should be given for those who are not great at naming the correct location as they may have some good images.
  • There will only be one challenge running at a time.
  • Try to use elderly photos and not Google Earth, Zoom Earth or any other search engine, pics
  • Try to post images that are not already present on internet, as Google Image Search will find them if they are.
  • Personal photos are acceptable as they show the aerodrome as it is now.
  • When confirming the correct location, the location and winner should be stated to negate any deletion of posts.
  • Please don't delete your posts, let everyone see your successes, failures and challenges.
Anyone can edit it so long as they have been here for 90 days with 90 posts. Let's get consensus before changing and not go crazy Thanks to Self Loading Bear for suggesting that we use a wiki. Which Aerodrome I Which Aerodrome II nvubu.

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Old 24th Mar 2021, 07:14
  #20181 (permalink)  
 
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Crazy stab - but Shackletons and Ju 86s - are we in South Africa?
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 07:25
  #20182 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Noyade
Crazy stab - but Shackletons and Ju 86s - are we in South Africa?

Not at all crazy but no to SA. The Shack is ex UK but you're getting much warmer. The Ju 86 is a crucial I.D. so have a quick dig before the northern hemisphere sleuths log on? I need the airfield's name in 1940.




Crew room photo 1940

Last edited by Max Tow; 24th Mar 2021 at 10:19.
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 08:40
  #20183 (permalink)  
 
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Mauritius? Doesn't look right..................
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 08:54
  #20184 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Max Tow
No to SA. The Shack is ex UK but you're getting warmer. The Ju 86 is a crucial I.D. so have a quick dig before the northern hemisphere sleuths log on? I need the airfield's name in 1940.
Not sure of the airfield's name in 1940, but as the RAF like to name bases after the area the guardroom is situated in, I'm guessing something like RAF Kipevu (suburb of Mombasa) (or was it a RNAS as the FAA used it as a land base of the British Eastern Fleet?).
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 09:06
  #20185 (permalink)  
 
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Well done SB! I think you meant HMS Kipanga, which was the co-located naval air station, but Mombasa is spot on so take a bow.

I was actually after RAF Port Reitz (named after the 19th century commissioner Lieutenant J.J. Reitz), now Moi International (after the former President of Kenya).

The airfield was established early during WW2 by the South African forces in preparation for the successful but little known conflict with Italy in the Horn of Africa. The airfield was home to Furies, Gladiators & Hurricanes, together with detachments from 12 Sqn and 34 Coastal Reconnaissance Flight, operating Junkers 86Z aircraft.

As an aside,19 Ju86 passenger aircraft were ordered by the allegedly pro-Nazi Defence Minister Oswald Pirow for South African Airways before the war, together with one Ju86K bomber, and the former were hurriedly converted for military use as war loomed. After SA decided to enter the war alongside Britain, the aircraft began coastal patrols in support of the RN base in Cape Town before some were moved to Kenya, where there was a further Ju86 base at Nanyuki.

The "French connection" noted in response to Jensdad's guess alluded to Ju86 ZS-ALN 650. In 1941 this aircraft became lost in a storm over Ethiopia and was forced to land in Djibouti, where the aircraft was impounded by the Vichy French and used as a transport with Junkers support, until returned to the SAAF in 1944 and broken up for spares. Apparently the use of German aircraft could cause confusion - on 31 Oct 1940, a Ju86 carrying the S.A. Prime Minister and C in C Gen.Jan Smuts and the British Commanding Officer East Africa, Gen.Alan Cunningham, was attacked and almost shot down by SAAF Furies based at Archers Post in northern Kenya after failing to give the required recognition signal.

The above mentioned SAAF unit emblems are visible in the crew room photo, including 3 Sqn's "Fighting Wasps."

'The Hurricane (I.D. letter is actually Q not O) pictured was from 3 Sqn SAAF.Following the move north by the South African units, the RAF base was shared during the war and after by the Royal Navy in support of carrier borne aircraft from the Indian Ocean fleet using Kilindini harbour.

The airport was extensively redeveloped in the 1970s, with a new runway. In addition to the activities as Kenya's second international airport, the base hosts air force units, including those pictured from the USAF - the C5s and C141s pictured in the early 1990s for relief operations "Provide Relief" and "Support Hope" in Somalia.

My sadly failed clues were: the repeated mention of "two rights" (=Reitz) and the words "magnificent" and "wonders" in connection with degrees East of Suez were intended to suggest the number "7" , which is the number of degrees that Port Reitz/Mombasa lies east of Suez. The"dependable engines" remark referred to the P&W Hornets on the SAA Ju 86s.

All yours, SB...


Moi International


RAF?RNAS Port Reitz

Last edited by Max Tow; 26th Mar 2021 at 05:31. Reason: Now & then photos
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 13:02
  #20186 (permalink)  
 
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Thanks Max Tow, again without nipping up into the loft I have nothing too old but here's one from the turn of the 21st Century

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Old 24th Mar 2021, 14:03
  #20187 (permalink)  
 
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Is it North America - One of those 'Graveyard' Airfields ?
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 15:46
  #20188 (permalink)  
 
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Definitely not on in the Americas
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 17:11
  #20189 (permalink)  
 
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that was good challenge Max

Is this one Africa perhaps?
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 17:42
  #20190 (permalink)  
 
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Central Asia (including Afghanistan) ?
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Old 24th Mar 2021, 19:43
  #20191 (permalink)  
 
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It's somewhere in between (although Afghanistan was just a corridor away).
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 02:54
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Pre or post 9/11?
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 07:27
  #20193 (permalink)  
 
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Talking about a corridor away points to N/W Pakistan but I'm not sure when the Americans managed to obtain facilities there post 9/11. I'm going to go for Kulob Airport in Southern Tadjikistan . Looks suitably run down. ( 3000 metre runway) and is that an American C17 wing?
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 07:47
  #20194 (permalink)  
 
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The picture was taken in Dec 01 so very much in the time of the outfall from 9/11. Still a little far north OUAQUKGF Ops, the Boulevard (the corridor mentioned) ran from the Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman to the south of Afghanistan. Here's a picture looking the other way down the runway but still standing north of the runway. ps yes was a C17 wing but he was just a visitor.
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 08:13
  #20195 (permalink)  
 
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Is it Seeb (Muscat) Oman?
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 08:33
  #20196 (permalink)  
 
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Nimrod on the left.
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 09:24
  #20197 (permalink)  
 
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Whats that in the background ? Greyhound ?
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 10:57
  #20198 (permalink)  
 
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If it's a Skyvan that increases the probability of Seeb, but I'm unconvinced. Those hills look very familiar, though.
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 11:48
  #20199 (permalink)  
 
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No, with those 4 fins it's a Greyhound. They and Nimrod MR2/R1 were based in Muscat during Enduring Freedom/Operation Veritas in Dec 2001 so I'd tend to go along with OUAQUKGF's Seeb guess.
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Old 25th Mar 2021, 12:48
  #20200 (permalink)  
 
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RAF Herc. as well....
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