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Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

airfields-freeman.com

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Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#11

Post by crnakfls »

My grandfather ran one of these airports:

https://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_SanBernardino_...

The stories he would tell of that place. Drug runners landing in the night and him chasing them off with a shotgun. People constantly coming around to try and steal things. The people that would fly in to say hello. He had a real community out there. There were some sad circumstances around the end of his life that meant he couldn't run it the way it should have been run and it fell into decay. My family sold it after his passing as the cost and complexity to run such an airport so far from everything was too much (on top of none of us being pilots). It was a sad event. These days I think it's a solar farm.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#12

Post by robrain »

tlb wrote: post #9

England also has a lot of disused airfields, often with huge hangers and stupendous concrete runways built during WWII. A few are open as museums. They can be worth a quick visit.

My family used to farm a chunk of land in Lincolnshire, UK. Many of our farms were on or surrounded by active or decommissioned RAF bases.

I learnt to drive on the unused tarmac at one of those old bases, RAF Wickenby. As the parent poster mentioned, many of the bases are worth a visit and Wickenby in particular has a memorial to airmen lost in the world wars.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#13

Post by embedding-shape »

ultrarunner wrote: post #7

It’s a poignant phenomenon that so many airfields used to exist. People now complain endlessly to get long-established fields shut down *, but red tape keeps any new ones from opening. * It is important to note that usually, something like 98% of noise complaints come from 1-2 individuals, even in areas with thousands of residents.

I mean I kind of get that. If I bought land/house away from stuff, and suddenly they want to place an airfield right next to me, I'd fight it as well. Moving to where an airfield already is and then try to close it is mischievous behaviour though, and obviously not very kind.

> 98% of noise complaints come from 1-2 individuals, even in areas with thousands of residents.

I think you can replace "noise" with "X" and it still applies to almost everything. People generally just adapt and is fine with pretty much anything not directly impacting your life, in many places.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#15

Post by zabzonk »

robrain wrote: post #12
tlb wrote: post #9

England also has a lot of disused airfields, often with huge hangers and stupendous concrete runways built during WWII. A few are open as museums. They can be worth a quick visit.

My family used to farm a chunk of land in Lincolnshire, UK. Many of our farms were on or surrounded by active or decommissioned RAF bases. I learnt to drive on the unused tarmac at one of those old bases, RAF Wickenby. As the parent poster mentioned, many of the bases are worth a visit and Wickenby in particular has a memorial to airmen lost in the world wars.

Dunholme Lodge was defunct RAF base near the then active V-bomber base RAF Scampton. It was a favourite place for us RAF kids to explore - the concrete of the torn up runway provided all sorts of caves, and there was a deserted multi-storey control tower, which was quite frightening when the winds were blowing. This would have been the early 1960s - I think it is all farmland or new-build housing now.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#16

Post by robrain »

zabzonk wrote: post #15
robrain wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family used to farm a chunk of land in Lincolnshire, UK. Many of our farms were on or surrounded by active or decommissioned RAF bases. I learnt to drive on the unused tarmac at one of those old bases, RAF Wickenby. As the parent poster mentioned, many of the bases are worth a visit and Wickenby in particular has a memorial to airmen lost in the world wars.

Dunholme Lodge was defunct RAF base near the then active V-bomber base RAF Scampton. It was a favourite place for us RAF kids to explore - the concrete of the torn up runway provided all sorts of caves, and there was a deserted multi-storey control tower, which was quite frightening when the winds were blowing. This would have been the early 1960s - I think it is all farmland or new-build housing now.

That was on a neighbouring farm to one of ours. It’s just a bit of concrete in the middle of their fields now. You possibly got shouted at by my famously grumpy grandad.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#18

Post by ryandrake »

crnakfls wrote: post #11

My grandfather ran one of these airports: https://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_SanBernardino_... The stories he would tell of that place. Drug runners landing in the night and him chasing them off with a shotgun. People constantly coming around to try and steal things. The people that would fly in to say hello. He had a real community out there. There were some sad circumstances around the end of his life th…

It's too bad, because once these small GA airports go away, they are never coming back. Too expensive to rehab, and nobody is building new ones anymore. So ideally they should be preserved, but nobody wants to do it.

The tiny GA airfield in my home town went up for sale some time back, and the price they were asking was less than what a medium-sized Bay Area home cost. I was so tempted to find a way to make it work (equity partner?) and retire my tech job to become an airport manager. But alas, I chickened out, and some doofus bought it and is probably going to destroy it to build something stupid there. Unlikely it will remain an airport, and unlikely it will ever be sold again as a feasible rehab project.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#19

Post by imoverclocked »

embedding-shape wrote: post #13
ultrarunner wrote: post #7

It’s a poignant phenomenon that so many airfields used to exist. People now complain endlessly to get long-established fields shut down *, but red tape keeps any new ones from opening. * It is important to note that usually, something like 98% of noise complaints come from 1-2 individuals, even in areas with thousands of residents.

I mean I kind of get that. If I bought land/house away from stuff, and suddenly they want to place an airfield right next to me, I'd fight it as well. Moving to where an airfield already is and then try to close it is mischievous behaviour though, and obviously not very kind. > 98% of noise complaints come from 1-2 individuals, even in areas with thousands of residents. I think you can replace "noise" with "X" and it…

Most/all airfields predate the purchase of a home. The noise complaints come from people who came long after the airfield was established.

Re: Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields

#20

Post by AMerrit »

I grew up near an abandoned WWII era airfield. I have fond memories of first learning to drive by going out and blasting along the runway, had to avoid a few spots where trees had grown up through cracks in the tarmac, but it didn't matter if I stalled out the truck and I could get it up to a good speed.
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