Which Aerodrome Mk IV
 

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....69971b0586.jpg
As it's OH...

Is it Christchurch - New Zealand?

It might be the 1963 royal tour which fits with the V-Jet in the background. If so, I would take a wild guess at Coolangatta based on the terrain.

O Ops nails it first up with Christchurch. The VIP RAAF V700 was the decoy (not particularly effective in this case). The photo was post 1963 Royal tour; The VJets didn't come to Christchurch until 1965 IIRC although this was taken in 1966.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....60f8abe3f1.jpg

Thanks siftydog it was a bit of a fluke. I couldn't see too many eucalyptus trees so I thought I would widen the search a bit to within sort of Viscount range. Later did a bit of digging and think your snap probably shows Viscount A6-435 which was at Christchurch on 8th February 1967 collecting the Australian Prime Minister.



Here is one to go on with. I'll put another clue on this evening.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....24e94b5fd9.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9487e9597e.png

Threshold present day.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....edd8f27106.png


Once quite common on the aerodrome............its crest not well seen.........emblematic

It looks a green and pleasant land but a big sky… East Anglia or Northern France perhaps.

Indeed one or the other.

Somewhere like Thetford Snarehill? - Good for Nightjars...........

Not like Thetford (Snarehill) would encounter performance limitations there..........

RAF Graveley?
I'll tell you why if I'm correct.

Sorry for the delay chevvronwe had to leave the wilds of north-east Norfolk this morning in a futile quest for a replacement motor car. ( My wife suggested a Hearse rather than an old-people carrier.) I'm afraid it isn't Gravely but perhaps I'll do that next and then you can tell me why. I'm loathe to put up another visual clue just yet, however Folks can have a look at the first image, just below the windshield. That should give an indication of aircraft type - I've put a couple of hints on the image of the Night Jar too which should move us all on a bit............?

Windshield looks like a Viscount and there's a 'line' in the grass to the left of the runway which led me to suggest Graveley.

chevvron if your answer about Gravely was to include 692 Squadron all I can say is that you were certainly in one respect working along the right lines.

I see our posts have crossed. I fear it is not a Viscount. Keep chipping away !

I think my remarks about 692 Squadron and Graveley better be disregarded as irrelevant. A small visual clue for you all.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0187554df5.jpg

RAF Spanhoe?

Sorry Sifty - it is not RAF Spanhoe . This was an RAF Aerodrome but there were no Transport Squadrons stationed there until the end of The War. I will leave it at that for the moment. Perhaps The Night Shift can make a connection? Incidentally the first and the above image were taken in July 1944.

Downham Market (AKA Bexwell)?

ea200 alas not Downham Market but you could be getting warm....... (214 Squadron moved to Downham from Chedburgh)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ef97db72fd.jpg

214 (FMS) Squadron Chedburgh 1943. Based here October 1942 - December 1943. A period when they suffered their heaviest losses. Photo credit Dave Wallace son of Flt Lt A.C. Wallace via 214 Squadron website. https://www.214squadron.org.uk/

Would that be a 214 Sqn Stirling?

Ultor in umbris - Check badge !

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8216f592f3.png
Stirling HCU Landing Accident 1944 - no casualties. Photo credit New Zealand Bomber Command Association.

Chedburgh? I had thought of that previously but according to 214 history they had moved out before your July 44 date to be replaced by 1653 HCU?

p.s. Does dawn come early in Norfolk these days?

Bravo Max Tow - Chedburgh, Suffolk it is. I'll put some pictures on.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bb98f928da.jpg



https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4c47cb5faa.jpg


Pages from Flying Officer Terry Ford's (75 Squadron) Album. 1653 HCU Chedburgh. Photo credit University of Lincoln IBCC Archive.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ab4079bb7f.jpg

218 Squadron Chedburgh December 1944-August 1945


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....db01cd918f.jpg

Looking towards the threshold to R/W 23. Photo credit ukairfieldsandairports website.

Great photos, thanks!
OH to give someone else a chance. If not, I'll post something at 1100Z

Thanks Max - couldn't sleep.

Try this one...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....390a43b73.jpeg

Looks like a Hudson.
The reason I suggested Gravely was because I identified the line to the left of the runway as possbly being FIDO and the taxiway pattern was similar to Gravely.

Interesting challenge in the NEW 4th Age of Which Aerodrome. Dc-3, some small aircraft and a proper PanAm job. the roof of the hanger is rather manky TBH - For some reason Canada popped into my mind?

Wild, wild shot but reminiscent of old moth eaten hangers left of 10L threshold, as it was then, at Heathrow. Remember Pan Am 707s in there early 70s

Looks like a Bavaria Herald in the foreground, with an (ex-Hamble?) Apache and a Morava in the hangar with the DC-3. Maybe Field's at East Midlands?

Sorry, not EMA,LHR or even Canada.
Regulars of the previous "Which Aerodrome Mk III"may recall a recent challenge to find an airfield with a former motor racing track. This place shares that feature, albeit briefly. Going back a few more years from the original photo:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e0f6f8094.jpeg
1950



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....39ed94a20.jpeg
1950

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....67739df16.jpeg
1950s

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3b9b2be30.jpeghttps://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....39cb7472e.jpeg
1950

Germany perhaps?

Milan - Malpensa ?

Yes to Allan and...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c8b004ac6.jpeg
..a DH nose for Mr Lupton...


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....046db1092.jpeg
...and another Hatfield nose (ish) carrying a rocket man home


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e32da9f9d.jpeg
A visitor from the early 30s, some of whose passengers were, in a very real sense, at the leading edge of air travel...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4034c6b57.jpeg
and another visitor from the late 30s, of great consequence

Well,the car is an AFM driven by it`s designer Alexander von Falkenhausen,also chief engineer for BMW vehicles during WW2,racing at Munich-Riem Airfield in 1949. The m/cycle may be an NSU modified scooter....

OH if correct

Munich Riem it is, despite the deliberate mis-steer of using Pan Am rather than LH images!

The Herald in the first photo was correctly spotted as op by Bavaria.

Part of the Riem perimeter was used for motor cycle and F2 car racing between 1949 and 1951. The Pan Am Connie was on its first visit to the airport in 1950 after post-war repairs. The Comet was United Arab SU-ALE after an overrun in Feb 1970 and the SAS Caravelle was bringing Wernher von Braun on a visit back home in 1960. The Lockheed Electra was of course G-AEPR arriving with Neville Chamberlain in Sep 1938.

The Junkers G.38 was an interesting beast - only 2 built and used by Lufthansa through the 30s. The second one, D2500/D-APIS, shown at Munich, carried 34 passengers including 6 in the wing roots - by all accounts, a very noisy and uncomfortable place to be. This particular aircraft was apparently destroyed in Athens by RAF bombers in 1941. The Japanese built 6 more as the Mitsubishi Ki-20 bomber.

Riem has long since closed but the iconic tall red tower survives in the exhibition grounds together with a token strip of runway.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....aca058ab0.jpeg
Motor racing 1949-51

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5d11530d6.jpeg
Junkers G.38 with seating in wing leading edge

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2e47d3893.jpeg
SU-ALE written-off Feb 70

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d441c8b86.jpeg
The old tower now "Brainlab", an exhibition/function centre


OH called...