Brimpton (Wasing Lower Farm) Airfield is an unlicensed single-

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

civilian airfield in the south-east of

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a local government district in Berkshire, England, administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbury, Bradfield Rural Distric ...

, United Kingdom.

History

Close to

RAF Greenham Common Royal Air Force Greenham Common or RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire. The airfield was southeast of Newbury, about west of London. Opened ...

, the airfield was founded in the 1950s by Sir William Mount, a director at

Miles Aircraft Miles was the name used between 1943 and 1947 to market the aircraft of British engineer Frederick George Miles, who, with his wife – aviator and draughtswoman Maxine "Blossom" Miles (née Forbes-Robertson) – and his brother George Herbert ...

Woodley, Berkshire Woodley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, east of Reading and joined to the neighbouring town of Earley, to the west, and from Wokingham. Nearby are the villages of Sonning, Twyford, Winnersh, Hurst ...

. In the 1970s, the airfield was used by

crop spraying Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampric ...

contractors for local agriculture until 1979 when it was designated for public civilian use. Since 1983 there have been

Percival Provost The Percival P.56 Provost is a basic trainer aircraft that was designed and manufactured by British aviation company Percival. During the 1950s, the Provost was developed for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a replacement for the Percival Prentice ...

aircraft based at the strip.

Flying club and improvements

The airfield is the home of Brimpton Airfield Ltd. which has over 80 members. The strip has over 20 resident aircraft. The strip has in the early 2000s expanded, seeing a taxiway and aircraft hangars south of the runway. The runway is being extended to 620 metres. Further outside open-ended hangars have been added. From February 2017 the field offers outside tiedowns and open hangar space. Two Yak18T aeroplanes are based at Brimpton and a Yak 50 is proposed.

Location

Brimpton Airfield is due south of a point equidistant between the Berkshire towns of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and Newbury, in the gently ascending fields south of the

A4 road This is a list of roads designated A4. A4 is the name of several roads: * A004 road (Argentina), a road connecting Buenos Aires-La Plata highway with the Juan María Gutiérrez circle * A4 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Vienna and Nickelsd ...

. Due to the airfield's close proximity to the

Atomic Weapons Establishment The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research ...

in nearby

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke ...

, an R101(2.4) restriction is in place for the surrounding airspace, requiring all circuits to be completed to the north of the runway. Within the R101 catchment, the airfield has special exemption from the

Civil Aviation Authority of the United Kingdom The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of e ...

(CAA).

Incidents

*On 14 February 2009 a pilot sustained injury in crashing their

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

within the airfield's perimeter. * On 5 June 2016 a

Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

crashed on takeoff and collided with 2 parked cars. A woman on the ground was injured.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 Transport in Berkshire Airports in South East England Wasing