Spitsortie
proper brummie kid
Thank you - I thought one had slipped through the net
-
Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.
We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
Elmdon Airport
- Thread starter Avolon
- Start date
cookie273uk
master brummie
I have always known it as the Warwickshire Aero Centre, took a few flying lessons there in a Piper Tomahawk in the 90's, aircraft were based at the 'old' aerodrome. The flying club was completely independent of the airport. I was very impressed with my instructor. He said some of the members had a 'time share' a/c, they all clubbed in and 'shared' it over the year, so many days/weeks use depending on their share, there was also hanger fees, maintenance costs and the annual 'airworthy certificate' so rather an expensive hobby. Eric
Spitsortie
proper brummie kid
Thanks Eric
sheldontony
master brummie
At the time I frequented PB,s nightclub on Damson lane - now Solihull Moors ground. That was used by engineers from various airlines, Orion etc. I got to know a few and hence taken to Warwick Club. I was once invited to accompany a senior engineer on a test flight to Alicante, great time. Strangely we spent the afternoon in Alicante and despite living only an hour from there now I havent visited again, except the airport.
Spitsortie
proper brummie kid
I can understand that with it being on your doorstep, so to speak. It'll be interesting to know if anyone took any photos of the club premises or inside...
sheldontony
master brummie
It was just a hut and probably went a long time ago.
Spitsortie
proper brummie kid
Still room for a dart board, no doubt, lol
Spitsortie
proper brummie kid
As far as I understand it (which isn't very far), the wartime Fire Fighting service at Elmdon comprised of local groups formed under the ARP to keep watch during air raids.
The first reference I can find to post-war fire fighting vehicles are the Austin K6 Fire Tenders which were replaced in the 1960s.
Can anyone fill the gaps for me regarding the beginning of the Rescue & Fire Service at Elmdon/BHX, ie, the establishment of the permanent station and the allocation of its vehicles?
I have various photos from c1977 that include Thornycroft Nubian Majors and a 1968 Bedford RL-HCB rescue tender, but no clue to when the photos were actually taken.
The first reference I can find to post-war fire fighting vehicles are the Austin K6 Fire Tenders which were replaced in the 1960s.
Can anyone fill the gaps for me regarding the beginning of the Rescue & Fire Service at Elmdon/BHX, ie, the establishment of the permanent station and the allocation of its vehicles?
I have various photos from c1977 that include Thornycroft Nubian Majors and a 1968 Bedford RL-HCB rescue tender, but no clue to when the photos were actually taken.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A Vickers Viscount G-AMOA at Elmdon c1954. It was built in 1953 and was a British made gas turbine powered aircraft exported to many countries. The photo raises nostalgic memories of several flights I had in them from that terminal in the late 1950s. With only 60 max passengers, comfortable seats, large windows, and quiet engines, they were a pleasure to fly in.
I felt safe flying in them but some research produced the following:-
Number built 445
Hull-loss accidents: 131 with a total of 1521 fatalities
10.6% of all occupants survived fatal accidents
G-AMOA seen below not looking good after an accident at Renfrew Airport, Glasgow in December 1955.
The pilot had turned off the runway too sharply and broke the undercarriage leading to collapse of the aircraft, curled propeller blades and damage to the engines. There were no major injuries to passengers and crew and it was repaired and returned to service.
In January 1970 the Viscount G-AMOA was damaged beyond economic repair during a very heavy landing at Bristol Airport. All 59 passengers and 4 crew survived.
I felt safe flying in them but some research produced the following:-
Number built 445
Hull-loss accidents: 131 with a total of 1521 fatalities
10.6% of all occupants survived fatal accidents
G-AMOA seen below not looking good after an accident at Renfrew Airport, Glasgow in December 1955.
The pilot had turned off the runway too sharply and broke the undercarriage leading to collapse of the aircraft, curled propeller blades and damage to the engines. There were no major injuries to passengers and crew and it was repaired and returned to service.
In January 1970 the Viscount G-AMOA was damaged beyond economic repair during a very heavy landing at Bristol Airport. All 59 passengers and 4 crew survived.
cookie273uk
master brummie
the Viscount was the first a/c my Wife flew in, we were going to Tunisia from Heathrow so decided to fly to HR from Birmingham to give her a taste as she was rather nervous, I too, like old Mohawk, found it comfortable and quiet on the 40 minute flight and my Wife was OK. Her next Holiday was an entirely different A/c, an old Boeing 707 leased to Air Malta, this was 1979.Eric
DavidGrain
master brummie
I flew on British Midland Airways Viscounts on two journys. December 1976 to LHR for an onward SAS flight to Copenhagen and a couple of years later Birmingham to Gurnsey. All the flights were very comfortable.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I had mentioned a flight in a company aircraft in the earlier post above and recently found a pic of it ... nice little aircraft we could chat to the pilots as they flew it.Thanks Eric for that interesting link. I used to fly with GKN's 'airline', which was based at Elmdon. One day in the early 80's we left Elmdon in clear weather in a 'Kingair' to Sweden where it was -26 when we landed. Coming back, Britain had been blanketed with snow heavier than forecast, and the pilots couldn't get responses about weather from very busy airports. They even listened to Radio 2 for a weather report! Jimmy Young was on saying most of the UK was at a standstill. Eventually the pilots contacted Elmdon but it was closed, Heathrow and other big airports etc wouldn't accept us, we looked at Dublin - too much crosswind, Amsterdam was full.
As we circled over the Midlands, the pilots looked slightly worried and said we had to take a chance with East Midlands airport which was closing, but would let us have a try at our discretion. So down we went and landed on a snow covered runway.
Good old Elmdon more fun than BHX
cookie273uk
master brummie
oldMohawk, what is that a/c in post #223 ? Eric
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A Viscount aircraft G-ANHC was used to fly Mr Khrushchev and Mr Bulganin into Elmdon in April 1956 for their visit to the British Industries Fair.
Two years later this aircraft crashed after a mid-air collision with Italian Air Force Canadair built F-86E Sabre fighter MM19830 at 23,500 feet above Nettuno, near Anzio, Italy, during flight BE142 from Heathrow Airport, London, England to Luqa Airport, Malta via Naples Airport, Italy 22 October 1958. Passengers and crew did not survive.
Bronson
knowlegable brummie
Hi, I have recently retired after 17 years working at the airport, the signpost is now situated outside the terminal so it is still there.
DavidGrain
master brummie
Ell, Hope you had a good time in Birmingham's twin city of Lyon. I have not been there for many years and in those days we had to fly from Heathrow. However I am expecting to visit Lyon in 2019 (Who says I don't plan ahead?).
oldbrit
OldBrit in Exile
March 1957 Left Brum for my new adventure and life in the USA I flew from Eldom to Shannon,Then by a Lockheed Electra KLM plane to New York, 16 hour flight can still now hear the drum drum drum of the engines. I also remember the bright yellow Tiger Mouths that flew out of Eldom and over our hour house on Moat Lane Yardley
ellbrown
ell brown on Flickr
Yeah Lyon and Burgundy was good. Holiday with Riviera Travel. Including Beaune, Dijon, Cluny Abbey, Vienne, Fontenay Abbey. Even wine tasting in Beaune.
The view of Lyon Airport from the plane after landing.
Elmdon Boy
master brummie
Hello All
New to this forum having only recently moved into the 21st century by purchasing a computer.
Love the photos and reports from Elmdon Airport as I still prefer to know it by.
I used to live down near the Wheatsheaf just off Old Load Lane and spent many a happy day aircraft spotting at Elmdon during the 1960s. In fact I'm still an aircraft enthusiast to this day though not as a spotter. Once its in your blood it never goes away.
In answer to a few of the previous threads, the old battle headquarters which is still there is a typical design which was built at many military airfields during WW2 and due to the fact they were built mainly underground still exist at many old airfields around the country, although usually totally overgrown with brambles and filled with water. Pertentualy very dangerous places to explore. If you wish to see one that's fully restored and available to look round, go to Wellesbourne Mountford airfield near Stratford on Avon at the Wellesbourne Wartime Museum, open every Sunday and bank holiday Monday. The battle Headquarters were there to move airfield operations to if the airfield came under attack from the enemy, also as a means of defending the airfield from ground attack if the country was invaded. There would have been facilities to stay there for a few days.
The other point raised was the Warwick club. There was the Warwickshire Aero Club, this was in one of the old Nissan style huts close to the public enclosure. During the time around 1966 they had a disco night on a Friday and called the club Angels 1, 5, for that event only. I went during this time,
it had a good atmosphere, but was very small, it didn't last long. Could this be the club referred to.
Next door at the other Nissan hut at around the same time the local aircraft spotters formed a club
which produced a monthly magazine called Contrail. It was started by a councillor from I believe Small Heath named Barry Chair. I was a member of this club, don't think the members from the Aero club next door appreciated the presence of us riff raff though. Ah happy days.
Anybody out there remember, and was also perhaps a member of the spotters club.
New to this forum having only recently moved into the 21st century by purchasing a computer.
Love the photos and reports from Elmdon Airport as I still prefer to know it by.
I used to live down near the Wheatsheaf just off Old Load Lane and spent many a happy day aircraft spotting at Elmdon during the 1960s. In fact I'm still an aircraft enthusiast to this day though not as a spotter. Once its in your blood it never goes away.
In answer to a few of the previous threads, the old battle headquarters which is still there is a typical design which was built at many military airfields during WW2 and due to the fact they were built mainly underground still exist at many old airfields around the country, although usually totally overgrown with brambles and filled with water. Pertentualy very dangerous places to explore. If you wish to see one that's fully restored and available to look round, go to Wellesbourne Mountford airfield near Stratford on Avon at the Wellesbourne Wartime Museum, open every Sunday and bank holiday Monday. The battle Headquarters were there to move airfield operations to if the airfield came under attack from the enemy, also as a means of defending the airfield from ground attack if the country was invaded. There would have been facilities to stay there for a few days.
The other point raised was the Warwick club. There was the Warwickshire Aero Club, this was in one of the old Nissan style huts close to the public enclosure. During the time around 1966 they had a disco night on a Friday and called the club Angels 1, 5, for that event only. I went during this time,
it had a good atmosphere, but was very small, it didn't last long. Could this be the club referred to.
Next door at the other Nissan hut at around the same time the local aircraft spotters formed a club
which produced a monthly magazine called Contrail. It was started by a councillor from I believe Small Heath named Barry Chair. I was a member of this club, don't think the members from the Aero club next door appreciated the presence of us riff raff though. Ah happy days.
Anybody out there remember, and was also perhaps a member of the spotters club.
sheldontony
master brummie
If I remember there were two clubs,one near the old entrance called the Warwick, mainly a drinking club frequented by air crew and engineers. The other was down a lane off the A45 called Warwick Aero which was a nightclub.
Welcome Elmdon Boy. You've added some very interesting information to this thread. Thanks. Viv.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
In 1977 I flew from the old terminal to Moscow via Heathrow and looking through some old files I found my itinerary issued by a travel agent and the British Airways ticket, hand written back in those days, and I notice the fare was £367 return. Flying from Brum to Moscow in the 'Cold War' days was unusual and I've commented about it in a couple of posts in the Cold War thread.
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/the-cold-war.9942/page-2#post-503282
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/the-cold-war.9942/page-2#post-503282
fisho
Ex B26
I recall Barry Chair working on his Banda manual printer, churning out the monthly Contrail magazine. When all the pages had been printed he would get the club members to staple them together and place them in envelopes, to be mailed out.
There was a hard core of spotters at the club who would travel the country and pass on the information and photos to Barry.
One of our contacts at Heathrow would have the latest registrations, months before Air Pictorial!
There was a hard core of spotters at the club who would travel the country and pass on the information and photos to Barry.
One of our contacts at Heathrow would have the latest registrations, months before Air Pictorial!
Elmdon Boy
master brummie
Sheldontony, the aero club down the lane off the A45 was the Midland Aero club. The lane was I think Elmdon Lane and came to a dead end at the back of hanger 2. The lane used to go straight over to Marston Green before the airfield was built but was then cut off. It joined up obviously with Elmdon Lane over there. The Midland Aero club clubhouse was on the left side as you came down the lane. The weekly disco nights were known as the Aero. Went there a few times as well in the mid to late 60s. Often frequented by airfield staff and air crew. My aircraft interest started to wane a bit as girls started to have more interest, though aircraft soon came back and is still with me. The Midland Aero club was one of the oldest aero clubs being originally formed in 1909. At first they only flew models in Sutton Park ,later they moved to Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton as its first proper flying headquarters. WW1 stopped the flying, and the club remained dormant until 1925 when it reformed at Castle Bromwich, the then Birmingham Airport. When Elmdon was built in 1939 they moved over and was the main aero club there. By the mid 60s it was mainly just a social club.
There's a very good book called, The history of Black Country Aviation, by Alec Brew with lots of interesting aviation facts.
Hey I wonder if I know any of you from the 60s at Elmdon.
There's a very good book called, The history of Black Country Aviation, by Alec Brew with lots of interesting aviation facts.
Hey I wonder if I know any of you from the 60s at Elmdon.
