• 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 Birmingham International Airport

An especially sensitive cargo being loaded onto this plane.

Surprising how close the houses seem in this photo. By this time the airport had become Birmingham Airport. Viv.

image.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    87.1 KB · Views: 17
I would hazard a guess that those houses were on the Elms Farm estate just off the Radleys, Sheldon possibly Hazeldene Road?
 
James, cast your mind back to your child hood, the houses in Hazeldene were council . I think its the Coventry road.
 
Robert, You may well be right, but looking at the houses they appear to be bungalows. I can't remember so many bungalows on the Coventry Rd., but I can't remember so many bungalows on Hazeldene Rd either.:(
 
Further to above post looking from a different angle the bungalows could possibly be on Elmdon Lane, Marston Green.
 
The houses (semi-detatched) could be in Goodway Rd which are near the old terminal.
I agree with Old Mowhawk. The News article says the plane was in a remote corner of the airfield. All the houses , apart from those near the Coventry Road have rear facing gardens. Those in the picture are forward facing semis with round bays. The land rises uphill from the airport perimeter on the Coventry Road near Goodway Rd into Valley Road and Rangoon Road which run parallel. I'd say the photo was taken near where the new Monarch Engineering hangar is now. If the plane was on the other side of the airfield why would the police be preventing cars stopping on the Coventry Road?

The photo is deceptive though because the angle takes in several rows of houses.
 

Attachments

  • Runway.JPG
    Runway.JPG
    234.9 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:
Stand corrected. Further viewing and reading the text I tend to agree with you. Very deceptive picture though, The houses seem much nearer than they are in reality.
 
The direction of view towards Goodway Road. All those trees on the other side of the Coventry Road were not there in 1967. Thinking about the old terminal reminds me of two short haul flights I was on in the 1970s which landed on the short runway 24 which was unusual then and of course it has now been converted into a taxiway.
elmdon.JPG
 
Birmingham Post today. Sorry about the quality. I'm sure someone may get hold of a better copy.
 

Attachments

  • EA1.JPG
    EA1.JPG
    89.6 KB · Views: 21
  • EA2.JPG
    EA2.JPG
    123.6 KB · Views: 21
I'm no architect and find it hard to conceive how Elmdon Terminal was based on the design of Templehof Airport?
Nevertheless, it seems that the fate the abandoned Templehof Airport has secured a better future than our own!
Unfortunately the old terminal is small and lies within the confines of the new airport which is at the mercy of developers
who's only aim is to maximise profit by destroying the old and building new! (Like much of the surrounding landscape we have seen disappear since 1939).
Surely someone out there can secure a better outcome for our bit of history?

And, Well Done Berlin............

https://www.messynessychic.com/2014...iconic-berlin-airport-now-citys-largest-park/


ps I have signed the petition!
 
Last edited:
I've probably posted these photos before from last year. These are bus views heading to / from the airport. Near Gateway Park.










This view from last summer from the current terminal building (was waiting at the time to head down and get on a Flybe plane)

 
As you can see from the latest pictures, the building has changed little , apart from the 1960s 'stuck' on control tower, from when it was built in 1939.
Anybody not signed? Please do, its over 3,900 now.
 
27332349_10156212414649421_2435796882592928928_n.jpg


Lovely advert. Don't forget to sign the petition.
 
LETS GET THOSE SIGNATORY NUMBERS UP, UP AND AWAY FOLKS!

Air travel as it emerged from the monochrome world of the mid-1900s. A real technicolor treat below. Travelled Britannia Airways quite a few times in the 70s. Was a reasonably priced (cheap!) airline. Viv.

image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
Viv, as the creator of this petition I think I deserve at least 2 of your fantastic pictures?!!
Ps. Thanks everyone for signing :-)
 
And we're so very pleased you created the petition Baedit.

A couple of close shave 'oops a daisy' images for you. More about the incidents attached too. Viv.

image.jpeg

image.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    99 KB · Views: 12
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    126 KB · Views: 12
A Russian-built Cuban plane at Elmdon. I guess this would have been unthinkable 4 years earlier. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
27331998_10156212414179421_5464242824563482791_n.jpg


Another interesting photo taken of the construction off hanger 1, now already demolished.
Construction of the old terminal behind, probably 1938. Lets not let that go the same way.
Sign the petition.
 
Back
Top