RAF Woodvale

[McFunkletrumpet]

Duncan Check your PM.

[Maude Charlee]

I'd be surprised if Woodvale was quiet at the weekend. It's home to a very busy UAS (or is it 2 now?), and the vast majority of their flying is weekends, and usually Mon and Tue are the days the squadrons stand down. It certainly used to be anyway, before they bought plastic Airfix kits and went all civvy on us.

[Crashed&Burned]

Visit Woodvale while you can.

With the demise of the UAS and AEF systems, it will be another housing estate by this time next year.

[Gannet06]

Help, a major security lapse. Never mind landing at a closed(?) airfield without the required permission and entering private premises uninvited, the Mars Bars are obviously at risk. What next? I hear there is a Kit Kat mountain in there somewhere.
Is nothing sacred?

[cdb]

OK guys... so there is stuff other than the police Helo and the UAS going on?

Do microlights, gliders etc. operate out of the field, or somewhere unlicensed nearby? Is the airfield available PPR to civvies, and does anyone know if the West Lancs Aero Club (or any flying club) is still based there?

Thanks all!

[Crashed&Burned]

Microlights are on the other side of the bypass down from Tescos. WLAC disappeared yonks ago, I think. Just 2 UASs, the Bill and an AEF there now.

Civvies can land PPR and at usual RAF rates.

[Small Rodent Driver]

I believe the airfield is available to visiting a/c ppr and at MOD rates. This however, only when ATC is active. (They sometimes dont operate on certain days).

No microlights or gliders operate from Woodvale but, there is an unlicenced strip at Ince 2.5nm SSE. Longest runway is 400mtrs E/W with unobstructed approaches. Rest are appx 300mtrs in length.

Depends on what you are flying but a lightly loaded C172 will / has coped OK.

West Lancs Aero Club ceased to exist some time in the mid - late 1990,s. A private owners group is apparently still active at Woodvale though.

[Maude Charlee]

Woodvale is 24hrs PPR by telephone [phone] ext 7243) according to Pooleys, 0900-1800 Tue to Sun normally.

"Considerable risk of birdstirke". Yup, remeber one of my fellow studes coming back in a Bulldog with rather a lot of seagull splattered all over the place. Lovely.

[Speedtape]

Yup, it was definitely Woodvale, I've just checked back in Skylog. It was in a Pa28-161 in December. I was not imagining it. I was directed there by Warton after checking the Hawarden weather with them. They suggested I land at Woodvale because they had seen an aircraft in the circuit there (a Cessna if I remember correctly). Warton didn't think there was any ATC there as they had tried them on the landline but gave me the frequency to free call them which tied up with my flight guide and the runway (22)which the cessna had seemed to be using. I did not get any reply from either ATC nor the Cessna which by this time had departed. So using blind calls, I made an overhead join, approach, landed and taxied to nearby the tower. We wandered around looking for someone to talk to or a phone to use. The hangars I looked in had Bulldogs in them. I never said I went into the hangars, just looked through the gaps in the doors and there was definitely what appeared to be a club or as some have said, a private users section where there was a payphone but we used our mobiles anyway and when the vis improved at EGNR, launched off. In that time (approx 1h45 ) didn't see a soul.

[McFunkletrumpet]

Perhaps someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that the Bulldogs have been long gone from Woodvale. Admittedly there was no specific year in which the December visit took place.
I wonder why anyone who had a mobile phone with him might wander around looking for a phone to use !!
Anyway, most ,if not all of the foregoing info on Woodvale has now been said and paints a current true picture of life at this super little RAF station. Twas always my favourite.

McFunkletrumpet (Co founder of West Lancs Aero Club ).

[Krystal n chips]

I've always been curious as to why Woodvale has survived over the years --other than for the UAS / AEF elements---when other Stations have been closed. It would seem to be a "prime target" for the beancounters after all. Sorry if the question is off topic, but I drive past the place albeit on an infrequent basis--and just recall my visits there as an ATC cadet many years ago--plus helping to recover a Gnat once in the early 70's.

[Crashed&Burned]

RAF Woodvale is the only flyable RAF presence in the NW of England, so has some value.

Woodvale was always a favourite for strange military helicopters transitting to and from Ulster during the main troubles. Fairly discrete, good links to Manchester and Liverpool.

Also useful if Prince Andrew fancied golfing at Birkdale...!