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Elmdon Airport

tim eborn said:
Did Austin make planes before WWII, got a feeling they may have.
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Yes Tim, the Austin Whippet biplane built in 1919. Only 5 were built
There is a replica of it in the South Yorkshire Air Museum in Doncaster.

whippetad.jpg
 
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Decided to update Elmdon (BHX) in my Flight Sim today. Took a Microlight up to have a look ... the runway and aprons are correct but an airport with no car parks ! The runway extension shows with the Coventry Rd curved around it but the scenery auto gen has built loads of houses around the airport !
BHXSim.jpg
The real view with the car parks etc and only fields south of Coventry Rd.
BHXReal.jpg
 
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Saw this view walking past the Holiday Inn on the Coventry Road. There is now a walking route to a viewing point around the Coventry Road semi circle. Is a pelican crossing. The path goes onto Catherine-de-Barnes for walkers or cyclists.

 
thanks mort...the news that this lovely building is now grade 2 listed is i hope a step forward to getting it back to its former glory...i have enjoyed many a drink in its public lounge during the 70s:) of course back then i never appreciated the historical significance of the building...

lyn
 
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It was featured on the BBC News this morning:

Listed status for airport terminal in Birmingham
Historic England has awarded a 1930s airport building Grade II listed status.

The Elmdon terminal at Birmingham Airport opened in 1939 and closed to passengers in 1984 during a decade in which Concorde was welcomed.

It is among several buildings on Wednesday to help take The National Heritage List for England to 400,000 entries.

Historic England said the terminal was recognised for a "playful" design intended "to be an experience for passengers and spectators alike".
 
farmerdave said:
It was featured on the BBC News this morning:

Listed status for airport terminal in Birmingham
Historic England has awarded a 1930s airport building Grade II listed status.

The Elmdon terminal at Birmingham Airport opened in 1939 and closed to passengers in 1984 during a decade in which Concorde was welcomed.

It is among several buildings on Wednesday to help take The National Heritage List for England to 400,000 entries.

Historic England said the terminal was recognised for a "playful" design intended "to be an experience for passengers and spectators alike".
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Link to BBC with short video, along with Raleigh Building in Nottingham.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-45258581
 
Morturn said:
Do bear in mind that list it does not mean its saved, as i know only too well.
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absolutely true mort...unfortunately we can still only wait...it is amazing just how many people think that listed buildings are safe forever

lyn
 
I think bringing it to peoples attention and in the media is oftern a good way forward
 
Absolutely great news !

A big thank you to Baedit for all his hard work to get the building listed. As others have said, there’s more work to be done. So let’s continue to give our support where we can. If there’s specific help needed Baedit, please let member’s know. Thanks all. Viv.
 
Great news, but as you say its not safe.
What actually does grade 2 listed mean then, and what needs to happen to make it absolutely safe?
In what way is it now safer then before?
 
It is safer than before in that there are additional steps needed to make changes or demolish it. Grade 2star or grade 1 would make it safer but Grade 2 is the status that has been assessed for it so I don't think we can get it re-assessed.

I remember local historian Dr Paul Collins once saying at a talk I attended, "When is a listed building not safe? When it is in the way!"
 
Or something along the lines of the old airport terminal at Liverpool, turn it into a Hotel.
Thanks for the comments David.
 
mbenne said:
New member. Interested in local history and surprised at how many of my searches call up BH Forum articles and photographs. Lots of interesting articles. Often felt on the outside looking in as there are many articles I have wanted to comment on. Consequently I took the step to join.

Re Birmingham Airport

The Hansard article below may be of interest – it concerns a claim for compensation due to a Seafire aircraft crashing on land belonging to Castle hill Farm, Jan 1946. I’ve been meaning to pass it on to an old school friend as his grandparents were tenant farmers at Castle Hill farm - which we used to visit back in the 60’s.

It’s a lengthy piece but interesting as the claimant has difficulty establishing who is responsible for damages / compensation i.e. the RAF or The Admiralty. It also references the decommissioning of the airport, which seems to have been shortly after the crash occurred.
https://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1946/jul/17/crashed-aircraft-damage-bickenhill-claim
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Hi I used to go castle hills farm riding school, in the 80’s? Albert Hadley owned castle hills then, his sister lived in the adjoining residence, there was a brother Ralph? I was always curious about the building half way up the lane, opposite the hay field, never did find out, would luv to know more & see pictures of the farm in its days as a dairy farm, last I’d heard Albert had moved to Meriden? after the extension, beleive the horses moved to sanctuaries, such a shame I had many happy times there, luv to know more, & I also discovered the plane crash on the farm - there’s more information about it now
 
In the foreground of the 1939 picture are two things that used to be very common, the split-wood and wire fencing that would be used around construction sites and the 'saw-horse' barriers that guarded any hole in the ground. Now we have boarding that hides everything and plastic cones and barriers of various sorts. The fencing could be rolled up and used again. I wonder what happens to all those big sheets of wood used nowadays? The old 'saw-horses' probably took up more storage space than modern barriers but always seemed to stay in place, unlike cones and the lighter plastic barriers.

I was surprised to see the Birmingham Post call the airport 'Birmingham', twenty years later it was always 'Elmdon', (without airport). 'Local' names can be very long-lived, despite the wishes of 'the authorities'!
 
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As a point of interest, the fencing is called Cleft Chestnut Pale Fencing or as we would say palings.

It was a very common type used by the council; my recollection was into the early nineties. It was used on the back gardens of most council owned houses to separate gardens etc. Chain link fencing was used to separate front gardens.

The chestnut was riven, carefully split along the grain with a tool called a frow, a cleaving too with a long blade and the handle set at right angles to it. They would sharpen the tops of the pales, which was as much to do with reducing the area of end grain and discourage people climbing over it.

Riven timber is incredible stable and strong, the Houses of Parliament would specify only riven timber was to be used for any furniture made for it.

Chestnut is a lovely wood and did look quite nice when it weathered, it lasted for years, quite often it was the galvanised wire that would rust first. When you burn chestnut, its crackles and spits like mad, not advised to burn it on a open fire.
 
Solihull Council used that type of fencing last year to cordon of a piece of land on Load Lane, it was protecting some newly planted shrubs.
 
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