2 emergency runways near each other, ?East Anglia coast
Thread Starter
2 emergency runways near each other, ?East Anglia coast
about 20-25 yrs ago, before I became interested in aviation, I was a passenger in a plane returning from I think Berlin, possibly flying into Stansted, when the plane flew over two short runways right on the East Anglia coast. Bitumen if I recall correctly. One looked slightly north of directly east, the other slightly south. It looked as tho' they had been built to give the best chance to WW2 aircraft returning from the continent that otherwise wouldn't make it, and my recollection was that this was on the eastern-most point of England. But I can't find anything like this on google maps. Do these 2 strips ring any bells for anyone?
Problem with east Anglia is there's plenty of old tarmac, as many a student doing cross country nav has discovered. The most obvious ones that would perhaps vaguely fit your discription and used to be very obvious from cruise altitudes would be Bentwaters and Woodbridge. ( Both active USAF bases in the 80's) ..but they certainly weren't short strips...
In WWII whenever you broke from cloud over East Anglia, there was always a runway in sight. 
Joking aside, although Woodbridge was indeed an emergency runway in wartime, even in those days it was one of the longest strips in the country, at 9000 feet.
Bentwaters was a regular 11 Group forward airfield, with the runway later extended by the USAF to almost as long.
They are indeed very distinctive from the air and I'm pretty sure I've seen them when inbound to Stansted in the past, too.
Joking aside, although Woodbridge was indeed an emergency runway in wartime, even in those days it was one of the longest strips in the country, at 9000 feet.
Bentwaters was a regular 11 Group forward airfield, with the runway later extended by the USAF to almost as long.
They are indeed very distinctive from the air and I'm pretty sure I've seen them when inbound to Stansted in the past, too.
I seem to recall reading that, by the end of WW2, there were 120 aerodromes in East Anglia with tarmac runways.....
Whereas today...
Whereas today...
Thread Starter
hmmm thank you for that. these two were (i) right next to each other, and (ii) were literally just a few meters back from the coast. I just googled Bentwaters and Woodbridge, not them I think. It sounds as tho' East Anglia is the place to be if you have an engine failure in your single engine plane. Where I do my nav exercises, runways are few and far between, but there are lots of wheatfields, which I've yet to experience as a landing strip.
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
Hi Cooperplace. My only experience of Khazakstan is the runway at Uralsk. From that experience I would say the average wheatfield would be preferable. 
My initial thoughts were Bentwaters/Woodbridge. Woodbridge was specifically adapted for damaged aircraft landings with extra wide runways being provided.
There are other possibilities, Framlingham/Saxmundham, Leiston and Halesworth. All US 8thAF, and south to North Framlingham was B17's 390thBG, Leiston was Thunderbolts 358thFG and then Mustangs 357thFG, Halesworth, Thunderbolts 56thFG then B24's 489thBG. All had concrete runways and were a few miles from the coast Leiston being closest at three miles. All show current evidence of airfield remains today, and would have been standard aerodrome designs with runways of around 1,500-2000m length for primary runways.
Further south there's RAF Bradwell Bay, but no associated next door station unless the northern end of Foulness gunnery range was mistaken for airfield infrastructure.
hth js. (Edit change Tarmac to concrete)
There are other possibilities, Framlingham/Saxmundham, Leiston and Halesworth. All US 8thAF, and south to North Framlingham was B17's 390thBG, Leiston was Thunderbolts 358thFG and then Mustangs 357thFG, Halesworth, Thunderbolts 56thFG then B24's 489thBG. All had concrete runways and were a few miles from the coast Leiston being closest at three miles. All show current evidence of airfield remains today, and would have been standard aerodrome designs with runways of around 1,500-2000m length for primary runways.
Further south there's RAF Bradwell Bay, but no associated next door station unless the northern end of Foulness gunnery range was mistaken for airfield infrastructure.
hth js. (Edit change Tarmac to concrete)
Last edited by jumpseater; 13th Dec 2016 at 15:05.
There wasn't much left of Leiston 28 years ago which was the last time I was there. My parents had a static caravan on the airfield from '77 to '88 and every year more of it disappeared. I believe the runways were only ever concrete and by then there were just a few odd narrow bits left for tractors etc.
I started this intending to suggest Martlesham Heath and Woodbridge but I only ever saw them from the ground. BT owned some or all of Martlesham by then and I don't know how much was left of the original airfield.
I started this intending to suggest Martlesham Heath and Woodbridge but I only ever saw them from the ground. BT owned some or all of Martlesham by then and I don't know how much was left of the original airfield.
Thread Starter
after some more time on google maps, I'm think they might be gone. I think that they might have been on the site of the Haven Seashore Holiday park, just N of Great Yarmouth. This is almost (after Lowestoft) the most easterley point of the UK; please someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
after some more time on google maps, I'm think they might be gone. I think that they might have been on the site of the Haven Seashore Holiday park, just N of Great Yarmouth. This is almost (after Lowestoft) the most easterley point of the UK; please someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
It also sounds a but too far north for a flight inbound to Stansted from Berlin to be crossing the coast (though I know you said you weren't 100% sure where you were flying from/to).
Almost certainly you're talking about Woodbridge and Bentwaters. The Easterly arrival route takes us just overhead Harwich and Ipswich, with the two runways off on the right hand side of the aircraft. I'm sure the arrival route was similar even 25 years ago.
I'll take a photo next time its a clear day.....
DH
I'll take a photo next time its a clear day.....
DH
Thread Starter
That sounds a tad unlikely - the only airfield anywhere close to Great Yarmouth was the (now closed) North Denes, but that was a heliport which only had short grass runways.
It also sounds a but too far north for a flight inbound to Stansted from Berlin to be crossing the coast (though I know you said you weren't 100% sure where you were flying from/to).
It also sounds a but too far north for a flight inbound to Stansted from Berlin to be crossing the coast (though I know you said you weren't 100% sure where you were flying from/to).
