Denham Aerodrome is an operational

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

located east of

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in south Buckinghamshire, England, separated from the London Borough of Hillingdon at Harefield by Denham, south of Chalfont St Peter and north bordering villages of Fulmer, Hedgerley, Iver Heath and St ...

, near Denham,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies beneath London's

Class D airspace The world's navigable airspace is divided into three-dimensional segments, each of which is assigned to a specific class. Most nations adhere to the classification specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and described be ...

. VFR entry/exit points are at

Maple Cross Maple Cross is a village in Hertfordshire, England, which up until the Second World War consisted of an inn, a blacksmith's shop and a few cottages. Today there are around 800 postwar council houses. Some of these have been sold into private ow ...

(CHT) and St Giles Church. Entry lanes and circuit height are at MSL. It has one paved runway, aligned 06/24, a grass runway also aligned 06/24 which is referred to as the northside grass and one grass runway aligned 12/30. It also has substantial hangarage. Denham Aerodrome has a

CAA CAA may refer to: Law * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India ** Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act * Copyright transfer agreement, Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to ...

Ordinary Licence (Number P646) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Bickertons Aerodromes Limited).

History

There are records that flying has been taking place at Denham Aerodrome since the 1900s. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1915, RAF Denham was established as a flying training school for Flight Cadets. The airfield was first licensed as a private use airfield to Squadron Leader J. M. Bickerton by the CAA on 19 May 1938. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the airfield was used again as a training school. The largest based aircraft was a

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

of Gregory Air Services and occasional airshows have been staged here. The airfield was the home to one of the earliest parachuting clubs in the UK, starting in 1955 the "British Parachute Club" was based here until May 1956 when they moved to

Blackbushe Airport Blackbushe Airport is an operational general aviation airport in the civil parish of Yateley in the north-east corner of the English county of Hampshire. Built during the Second World War, Blackbushe is north of the A30 road between Camberley ...

in Hampshire. The club at Denham was run by instructor Dumbo Willans and also known as the "No. 1 Civil Parachute Training School".

Services

Presently, there are a number of charter and flight instruction and filming operators based at Denham Aerodrome as well as a helicopter maintenance facility. The Pilot Center flying school, HeliAir, TAA UK, Aerospace Design Facilities, AS Aerospace Ltd, FlyingTV Ltd, Helicopter Film Services, JetFly. A restaurant near the control tower is named "

Biggles James Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance ...

", after the fictional airman of that name, there is also a small cafe called "The Crew Room" on the north side of the airfield.

Units

* No. 21 Elementary Flight Training School. * No. 125 Elementary Gliding School. * No. 125 Gliding School.

References

External links

* {{authority control Airports in England Airports in the London region Transport in Buckinghamshire Airports established in 1915 Denham, Buckinghamshire