St Davids?

It looks like Llanbedr - without the longer N-S runway on the west side of the airfield.

Sorry, the aerodrome is not in the U.K. Not St. Davids. BAMRA wake up is on the right track. In fact, if I wasn't a semi-retired MI agent, I would hire BAMRA today if it would help us find a certain Islamic fundamentalist bad guy. All I am saying is that BAMRA quickly assessed the local terrain and the period the photo was shot. He/she also decided to access "google-earth" as a source of further intelligence. I like that.

Thanks evansb! I'm basking in a warm glow now!

It's the Pacific coast of North Island, New Zealand and it's Paraparaumu Airport north of Wellington. Quite a developed coast now in contrast to the photo.

My observation on the earlier grass strip was correct,
'The then grass Rongotai Airport had been closed for safety reasons in 1947'

Paraparaumu Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

evansb's pic appears on this website:

Home Paraparaumu Airport Coalition Inc

Open house!

OK then, what do you make of this:


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...er/Puzz-25.jpg

Apart from being a lovely caption competition.
It rather looks like a plain clothes Vimy being erected.

A long shot.

Alcock and Brown's in Newfoundland ?

Damn, thought that one might puzzle you all a bit longer. Yes, Alcock and Brown's Vimy being assembled after shipment from the UK at Lester's Field, Newfoundland prior to their epic flight.

Nice one RETDPI, over to you.

When one has spent hours in the Science Museum just gazing...............
Anyway,
Here's my little airfield

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ck/Tabitha.jpg

France,or Germany ?

MMM ! red and white pylons, makes me think France, and a multitude of smaller airfields ?? Keith.

I did wonder about that too Keith, however there's an absence of the usual Med/Iberian red roman roof tiles and whitewash. Plenty greenery so presumably not on an arid coast. If the sun's behind the camera could we be looking north-ish?
The near buildings look to be modern, mostly gables towards us, with low roof pitches which suggest shade protection. A sizeable 'centre of town' hidden in the greenery on the ridge, going on the blocky large buildings?
Is there a clue in those non standard runway markings? Can't make out the numbers.

One wonders if the perspex and prop blur impart a false appearance of dust/ heat haze to the pic. Those big buildings and the radio towers hint at 'command economy'- eastern Europe?

The figures look like 06 so the runway could be 06/24. Is it in Africa?

Dave

As an Englishman I am a bit embarrassed to admit that my snap reaction was to wonder why there was a cricket square so close to the runway!

No idea where, other than to speculate that somehow the pitch of the rooves on the buildings would suggest somewhere that is no stranger to cold weather.

Judging by the no. of c/l markings and lack of others,I`m guessing it is no more than 3600ft in length,not an instrument and night runway,not part of an old airfield,and not used by heavier stuff,ie lots of rubber left,and seems to be05/6/8/9 in direction,so probably NHemisphere; not much indication of a hangar,but it could be off left,although there might be signs on the grass for taxiing,and a rather small `terminal` area.So,possibly privately owned/operated,maybe by a parachute club,landing on the `cricket` pitch;or ,of course that could all be total %^&&*%$s..

Captain Airclues is leading the pack so far..........

So, it's in Africa, edge of a coastal (sea/lake?) town, not an arid area, so likely to be an prevailing onshore wind.

The buildings stop abruptly, is the airstrip in a low area prone to flooding, behind a coastal ridge? Google Earthing Morocco and SA for starters.

I'll give you a bit of a lead BAMRA as Africa is not small.
It's in neither of those countries .

Is it Spriggs Payne airfield in Monrovia, Liberia?

Hi Aeroplane John,
Thanks for pitching in.
Blimey , never been there!

A further clue.
It is the sea in the distance.

Looks vaguely like that place in SA where they landed a '747 on its retirement from SAA; haven't got a clue what its called but there was a video of it on these page a couple of years ago.

Chevvron,
That was at Rand Airport IIRC,( about half way between Joberg and Pretoria) onto a very narrow runway. Miles from the coast incidentally .
The challenge image was taken from a Cessna Caravan.

Different tack then ; Dhekalia Barracks Cyprus.

As previously indicated, its Africa.

Definitely not Dhekalia; been there, seen it and got the T-shirt.

Nigeria or Mozambique?

Neither Nigeria nor Mozambique.

Thanks RETDPI, that's narrowed down to a few thousand miles of coast now! Enough for some casual google earthing of the bigger coastal settlements. One wonders if the photo is 'historic' and the runway is now long gone, but the Cessna Caravan hasn't been around that long and the google images are often quite old, so worth a look.

Right BAMRA - I'll take the east; you take the west... :ok:

Suggest you guys both take the Eastern Seaboard of Africa. :ok:
I took the photo last year.

Nacluv

I've done the west - as much as the imagery allows. There's the north too - Algeria to Suez. Checked out the Gulf of Guinea islands as well.
If the runway markings guesses are right it's more likely to be 'east'.
We can probably discount the arid/desert coasts.

Nothing shows up on the airliners.net 'airport overviews/Africa' photo search either.

Good call, BAMRA.

I'll try Tanzania or Kenya?

Go for Kenya nacluv, I'll try Tanzania - again.

One suspects RETDPI was on holiday and took an air taxi from A to B.
Zanzibar comes to mind - imagery incomplete unfortunately!

I thought I'd found it at Malindi in Kenya, perhaps it is, here's the image I found (looking the other way?), but the taxiway goes off the wrong way.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_yqEhhQ7fH4w/...di,+Kenya).jpg

BAMRA. Not exactly on holiday , but I take your point!.
I've been into Malindi a few times over the years and it is of a very similar feel to the airfield in question, although the layout is somewhat different.
One of the earlier stop-offs on the flight from which the picture was taken was Zanzibar.

OK - I think I've got it - Tanga in northern Tanzania. Couldn't find anything suitable in Kenya, so I dropped below the border a few miles...

Well done nacluv! Tanga it is. Over to you

Thanks, RETDPI. An interesting needle-in-a-haystack challenge!

It is interesting to see that in your photo, there is no evidence of the much longer grass runway (14/32) which runs across the tarmac 06/24... Unless they have dispensed with it recently?

Anyway, I'm sorry to do this but I'm going to back out because I'm off on hols tomorrow. If I may, I'll let RETDPI decide on whether BAMRA should take the controls due to his valuable input, or declare full-on open house.

Have a good Holiday nacluv. BAMRA its over to you . :ok:

I declare 'full on open house' (whatever that is!)

Ok, here's one -

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd11/DJ17DJ/bw.jpg

I believe that's Naval Air Station Lakehurst?