Former Basingstoke Airfield?
Avoid imitations
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I have a vague memory of the airstrip by the Water Witch pub in use and then of it being replaced by the one at Scotland Farm, by J5 of the M3.
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The Navajo was G-AXAZ acquired from Lotus and passed on to Shackleton Aviation...
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Sealo0,
According to Lordflasheart, the AA only moved to Basingstoke in ‘73, so it’s possible they moved in after you moved on. There was (apparently) an airstrip somewhere in SW Basingstoke itself, I’m pretty sure from other reports that it was not one of the other obvious local airfields, some of which weren’t in existence at that time. But it would be nice to know for sure and we could only really know from someone who’d been there I guess...
Thanks everyone else, some interesting background info regarding AA Aviation.
UK.
According to Lordflasheart, the AA only moved to Basingstoke in ‘73, so it’s possible they moved in after you moved on. There was (apparently) an airstrip somewhere in SW Basingstoke itself, I’m pretty sure from other reports that it was not one of the other obvious local airfields, some of which weren’t in existence at that time. But it would be nice to know for sure and we could only really know from someone who’d been there I guess...
Thanks everyone else, some interesting background info regarding AA Aviation.
UK.
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Chevron
Thank you for your reply. Icannot find valentines farm on G maps but the Pub of course is quite close to the bypass and as I said I didnt really have any idea of the type it was the noise that got my attention and by the time it took off it was mostly out o site because o the way the land lies . Perhaps even more likely is the emergency landing that at some stage had to fly away again because i never saw any sign of an aircraft there again. Thanks for the trouble.
I suppose if the RAF ever give up on the Chinooks Odiham could be come London Basingstoke Airport lol
PB
Thank you for your reply. Icannot find valentines farm on G maps but the Pub of course is quite close to the bypass and as I said I didnt really have any idea of the type it was the noise that got my attention and by the time it took off it was mostly out o site because o the way the land lies . Perhaps even more likely is the emergency landing that at some stage had to fly away again because i never saw any sign of an aircraft there again. Thanks for the trouble.
I suppose if the RAF ever give up on the Chinooks Odiham could be come London Basingstoke Airport lol
PB
There is an airstrip quite clearly visible on Google Earth between 1999 and 2017, in the field immediately to the west of The Waterwitch. The strip seems to have stopped being mown since 2017. Is this Valentine's Farm?
UK.
Both this and Scotland Farm were still in use when I retired in 2008; aircraft from both airfields would call us on 125.250 on summer evenings after Odiham had closed.
I've looked at some old OS maps of the area and can't see any airfield marked - however on a map that was made of bench marks(!!), when they were laying out the ring road, there appears to have been a linear airstrip type feature just west of the Black Dam Roundabout, just south of the London Road on the edge of the Common oriented SW-NE - this is pretty much the site of the Crowne Plaza Hotel now - accessed by Old Common Road
This feels like your strongest lead
Valentines Farm and Scotland Farm were both in use at the same time; I can remember having one from each airstrip on frequency at the same time c2006 - 2008.
