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Elmdon Airport

Ahhh!, this takes me back. I used to cycle to Elmdon every Sunday after my paper round back in the late 60s, picking up my mate Paul at Bacons End on the way.
We saw several incidents over those years and could walk freely around the apron as we knew most of the mechanics and airport police. 'look both ways if your crossing the runway lads'. This all stopped when the IRA kicked off in earnest and then you couldn't even loiter on the roof anymore just in case you'd got a hand held rocket launcher in your bag! we still managed to picnic by the refuelling station though.
 
Hundreds of houses near Birmingham Airport re-roofed after freak winds from planes

Sep 15 2009



HUNDREDS of properties near Birmingham Airport have been re-roofed in the last six years due to freak vortex winds produced by landing aircraft.
The majority of strikes have occurred around the Kitts Green area, affecting roads lying at the end of the runway, directly under the flight path.
Vortex strikes are unpredictable. Ben Hanley, working for the Environment Team at Birmingham Airport said: “Locating risk areas is very difficult, it can be the case that one side of the street has strikes and the other hasn’t, it is very difficult to predict.”
Birmingham Airport conducted a study on the nature of vortex strikes with Kinetic, a company who have worked with the Ministry of Defence. The findings have been inconclusive though it has been confirmed that less than 0.01 per cent of flights cause vortex damage.
George Megarry of Tile Cross Road is the most recent homeowner to be affected by a vortex when a strike dislodged tiles on his garage roof last Sunday, leaving a visible hole.
The airport is aware of the concerns of those living in areas at risk of vortex strikes. Ben Hanley said: “We have a strong commitment to the local community, we’ve spent over a million pounds so far on the roofing project. If we get a call about a property hit by a vortex we will make immediate repairs, and then go back at a later date to re-roof the property.” The new roofing will be “extremely robust”.
Mr Megarry is concerned by the incident, “This was the worst vortex I have ever heard, it was dangerous. If my grandchildren were here, they could have been killed.”
This is not a problem unique to Birmingham Airport and other major airports support similar schemes. Heathrow Airport is funding a £15 million voluntary Vortex Protection Scheme in which every house, school, church or hospital affected by a Heathrow vortex strike is eligible for vortex protection. This problem was a surprise to me when i found this article by chance. Len. Acknowledgment to the Birmingham Mail.







 
Short Stirling Bomber and workers at the Austin Aero works Elmdon. Len.
 
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This thread has had the memories flooding back!
In the early 70's as a young lad, I would cycle or when dad was able to give me a lift and pick me up later, go to Elmdon Airport whenever I could. I used to live in Kingshurst and cycle to Marston Green, over the golf course to Coventry Road then upto the airport.
I used to listen in on a VHF radio, had the log books etc.
My Aunty Hilda used to live in Marston Green (Meriden before that) and used to work in the concourse shop.

I remember the planes mainly were Viscounts, Vanguard's, BAC 111, Trident's, Comet's and a cargo plane called Argosy. That used to open up at the front.
There were also many small private planes buzzing around.
The main airlines using the airport then were BEA, BOAC, Aer Lingus, Britanina Airways, BMA (British Midland), Lufthansa and the coloured jets of Court Line.

I also remember the beacon near the front of the airport shining out sometimes green and, I think, sometimes white light. The destinations pole was at the very front entrance on the Coventry Road.

Great memories, thank you
 
When I was a youngster, I used to stay at my Aunty Lil and Uncle Stan Walton`s in Charles Edward Rd, near The Swan in Yardley during the school holidays. I would often walk with my cousin Pat and her fiance John Lewis in the evening and one of our favourites was to walk to the Old Elmdon Airport along the Coventry Road. Not much flying in those days, but the rare sight of a take off or landing made the walk worthwhile. Those walks were the start for Pat and John, as they will have been wed 48 years in March, and I met my wife Anne for the first time at their reception at The Swan. I think it was the last reception there, as The Swan was rebuilt in 1963.
 
I lived in Yardley and as a nipper I remember the Tiger Moths that flew in and out, John Crump OldBrit, Parker,Co USA
 
I can remember watching the planes taking off and landing going over my Aunties flat in Church Road, Sheldon - and getting in trouble for telling my brother one was going to crash land on the flat!!!
Sue
 
Oh Sue that has made me laugh. It was the opposite with me my brother was always winding me up then I would get my own back by sitting in the middle of his train while it was going round. We visited someone the other day close to the airport in Bell Lane and it did look as if the planes were going to crash into the houses at the back. Jean.
 
doug1944 said:
When I was a youngster, I used to stay at my Aunty Lil and Uncle Stan Walton`s in Charles Edward Rd, near The Swan in Yardley during the school holidays. I would often walk with my cousin Pat and her fiance John Lewis in the evening and one of our favourites was to walk to the Old Elmdon Airport along the Coventry Road. Not much flying in those days, but the rare sight of a take off or landing made the walk worthwhile. Those walks were the start for Pat and John, as they will have been wed 48 years in March, and I met my wife Anne for the first time at their reception at The Swan. I think it was the last reception there, as The Swan was rebuilt in 1963.
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doug1944, I lived in Chas Edward Rd until 1956 and used to go and watch the planes land & take off at Elmdon, took a flight from there to Belfast on a Dakota plane circa 1973?, after my second marriage my Wife took our Son to see the planes many times. The Swan Inn was demolished in 1966, my surname is Copsey maybe your Aunt & Uncle remember my Moms shop?. Len.
 
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Hi all,
I can remember as a very young lad in the 50's the whole family travelling to Elmdon Airport and having a picnic on the grass right next to the runway. For I think the huge sum of 10 shillings each we all took a pleasure flight for 30 mins in an old Dekota aircraft, my first flight and an experience I will never forget. Mike.
 
Hi Lencops Sorry I can`t ask as they passed away some years ago. I loved staying at Charles Edward Rd and also at my Grandparents in Warwell Lane. Bham was such an exciting place compared to my upbringing in Kidderminster. The smell of Hardy`s Bakery on Coventry Rd (remember their cream buns ?) was far better than the Sugar Beet factory at Kidderminster ! Happy days.
 
Looks like it will now become Londons 3rd Airport if the High speed train goes to plan ??????
I to went on one of those flight mike back in the 50s Don Everal? ( sorry about the spelling) planes,coulkd not hear for about 2hours afterwards lol :0)
 
l left the uk 1958 in a DC 3 from elmdon to glascow then on to the US....never flew before and you can imagin how scared l was alone 22year old who had never travelled further than Devon...we settled in a very small town in Texas and a very quiet place too..the most noise we hear is a train whistle...well when l returned to brum for a visit in the early 70's mom and dad had settled in at castlevale, but l never knew it was so close to elmdon airport...early one morning a plane went over (mom called it the milk train) well l really thought it was going to crash on us it was so low...my boys came running to me so scared but i think l was more scared than them, my parents never batted an eye by then they were so used to it....l visited in 1985 and the concord took off right over Castlevale, l could even see the rivets when l looked up at it now that was noisy and very scarey.....Brenda
 
Thats a wonderful little story Brenda :) I was 4 when you left England and I was born in
the visinity of the airport , I also worked at Elmdom in the early 1970s .
Thank you ....... ragga :)
 
Thanks for reminding me about those Lancasters, Eric. I wonder if you were a navigator in one of those that used to almost scrape our roof as they set off on bombing raids. Some years later I trained for a time as a RAF navigator during my National Service and I was always totally baffled as to how you found your way home given there were no radio aids etc. Per Ardua Ad Astra.
 
Hardy Bakery, I thought it was Harveys? But like you I loved the smell and going there to buy a loaf of NEW warm bread Yummy! Got my hair cut across the street at Billy Hadens barber shop, Condoms hanging for purchase! I think all that whole block is now gone, Newspaper shop, sweet shop etc. John Crump Oldbrit, Parker. Co USA
 
In March 1957 I took my FINAL flight from Eldom to Shannon, Then on a KLM Constelation 17hr flight to New York. John Crump OldBrit Parker. Co USA
 
Hi oldbrit. When I posted I had the wrong bakery name. It was of course HARDINGS bakery. My Uncle Stan used to buy every Fri evening a 10d Cottage Loaf (that was a BIG cottage in those days). Whilst on holiday abroad many years later, a lady recognised my Uncle with a cry of `TENPENNY COTTAGE ! Happy Days
 
Hi lencops . What a lovely photo of the bi-plane and ladies in the drop-head car at Elmdon. The car looks like a Singer 9 to me. Any ideas ?
 
HARDINGS Of COURSE! How the mind along with many others things goes on the blink! I think the building was torn down and the Swan complex in its place. I lived on Moat Lane, use to go to the flicks around the corner from HARDINGS on Coventry Rd, Think its was a bowling alley for a while, HAPPY HAPPY DAYS! indeed, John Crump OldBrit, Parker, Co USA
 
Thats IT! During the war watched the Pathe News and Flash Gordon! Do you still live around there? Had a band in the 50s played at the swan hotel a few times, Mom and Dad where cremated at Yardley Cem. Is the canal still past the cem, use to walk along the paths, REAL dark and murky! John Crump
 
doug1944 said:
Would that be the old TIVOLI oldbrit ?
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oldbrit, Looking down Coventry Rd towards Elmdon, the Tivoli cinema is on left, the original New Inn pub onthe right, Coventry Rd junction with Church Rd and Hardings Bakery can be seen.Len.
 
Alanpol, I was not a navigator merely a wireless operator, and it was after the war (1948 onwards) and our squadron. 82 (PR) was based in East, West and Central Africa surveying and mapping all the British colonies there, a purely peaceful operation which took 7 years and 3,000,000 square miles. One of our Lancasters is now part of the RAF memorial flight. Eric
 
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