Turweston Aerodrome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Turweston Aerodrome
IATA: N/A - ICAO: EGBT
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Turweston Flight Centre Ltd
Serves		Turweston
Elevation AMSL		448 ft (137 m)
Coordinates		52°02′27″N, 001°05′44″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
09/27	3,002	915	Asphalt

Turweston Aerodrome (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGBT) located near the village of Turweston, Northamptonshire, is a former Royal Air Force World War II bomber training facility, now a business park and airfield.

1 RAF Turweston
2 Turweston Aerodrome
3 References
4 External links

[edit] RAF Turweston

Based on 220 acres of south Northamptonshire countryside, just off the A43 road and located two nautical miles (3.7 km) east of the market town of Brackley, RAF Turweston served as a bomber training school during World War II. Opened on 23 November 1942 it had three concrete runways and one T1 hangar ^[1]. The three runways were^[2]:

10/28 - 2000 x 50yds
04/22 - 1400 x 50yds (later extended to 1750yds)
16/34 - 1400 x 50yds

It initially housed the Vickers Wellingtons and Avro Ansons of 12 OTU until April 1943, when it began housing the B-25 Mitchells of 13 OTU. In May 1943 they were joined by the A-20 Bostons of No 307 FTU, with both units remaining until closure. No 17 OTU Gunnery Flight began arriving in July 1943 with Wellingtons, and formed fully in November 1943 with a flight of Miles Martinets.

Other types located at Turweston included: Airspeed Oxford; Westland Lysander; De Havilland Mosquito and the Hawker Hurricane.

As a training base, many young airmen were killed and Turweston is reported to have a ghost, last seen by the base cook in 1945 ^[3].

At the end of World War Two, the RAF had a surplus of facilities, and many including Turweston were scheduled for closure. Turweston closed on the 23 September 1945, but was retained by the Ministry of Defence. The land was used for private vehicle storage and agriculture.

[edit] Turweston Aerodrome

Turweston Aerodrome re-opened for business in 1994, having been rebuilt as a combined airfield, aero-club, flight school and rally track. The new conference facilities were opened in 2004, and the location has also served as a dance/rave venue^[4]^[5]. The business park is home to various businesses, including from September 2006 Broom Engineering, the manufacturers of Hesketh Motorcycles.

Turweston also hosts an annual Classic Vehicle Day^[6], which in addition to aircraft showcases vintage cars, motorbikes, tractors and farm machinery. Also run annually is the overland Fast-Track service into the British Grand Prix, whose clients include the corporate guests of McLaren Mercedes, WilliamsF1, Toyota F1 and BMW Sauber