Kampala Airport, commonly known as Kololo Airstrip and officially as Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, was an airport in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. It was one of the forty-seven airports in the country.

Location

Kampala Airport was located on the south-facing slope of Kololo Hill in the centre of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital and largest city. Its location is about , by air, north of

Entebbe International Airport Entebbe International Airport is the only international airport in Uganda. It is located about southwest of the town of Entebbe, on the northern shores of Lake Victoria. This is approximately by road south-west of the central business distr ...

, Uganda's largest airport. The

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

had a single gravel

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 ...

of 1000 x 60 yd (914 x 55 mt). The main campus of

Kampala International University Kampala International University (KIU) is a private, not-for-profit institution based in Uganda. It was established in 2001 and assumed chartered status in 2009. In pursuit of the dream to raise the next generation of problem solvers for the Eas ...

is about 35 minutes from the Kampala Airport.

Overview

Kampala Airport was a small

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, city airport, that served the city of

. The airport now serves as Independence Park and has no scheduled airline service. The airport is not administered by the

Uganda Civil Aviation Authority The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) is the government agency responsible for licensing, monitoring, and regulating civil aviation matters. It is administered by the Uganda Ministry of Works and Transport. Location The authority's head of ...

History

Kololo Airstrip was constructed during 1936 at the instigation of Philip Euen Mitchell, Governor of Uganda 1935 – 1940. It consisted of a 1000 x 60 yard all-weather gravel strip cut out of the hillside, with a small tarmac apron on the north side fronting a small hangar and the control building, which still exists. Aviation use seems to have been low-key, with little justification for what was quite a major construction - the £18,500 contract having been awarded to Gailey & Roberts Limited. All international traffic continued to use the existing airport at

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. T ...

Port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internati ...

– ironically, at the request of the Governor's office: although Kololo was designated a “Customs Aerodrome”, from 1 November 1937. Wilson Airways based a

de Havilland Dragonfly The de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly is a 1930s British twin-engined luxury touring biplane built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield Aerodrome. Development The Dragonfly shares a clear family resemblance with the Dragon Rapide, but ...

(VP-KCA) at the airstrip for official and private charter within Uganda. There is no evidence, however, that any scheduled services were ever contemplated by this or any other airline. A 1939 survey by

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

notes that prior notice of intended arrival should be sent to P.W.D. Kampala: that Customs, Health and Immigration, and flares for a night landing were also available with prior notice. There was a small P.W.D. workshop, and a Wilson Airways ground engineer. There were no wireless facilities, the nearest W/T station being at Entebbe with the callsign VQQ. Aviation use during WW2 is unknown – the airstrip however had fallen out of use by 1946 and remained unused thereafter. During the late 1940s to early 1950s Wampewo Avenue and the residential development of Nyonyi Gardens were laid out across the eastern end of the strip, shortening the remaining runway length to approximately . The airstrip was used for the Independence Ceremony in October 1962 and for an open-air Mass by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

in 1969. Until the latter date, it had remained unfenced, and had been used for practice purposes by a large number of under-age and/or unqualified drivers. Over the years, the airstrip has hosted national events, especially on public holidays. In 2012 the Ministry of Defence begun major construction works that included the erection of a public pavilion to be used during events. Below the pavilion are offices that are today used by the Ministry of Defence and the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA). The airstrip was used to host the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Minor changes were made to make the venue challenging for athletes.Uganda on Right Track to Host World Event - IAAF
Uganda Radio Network. Retrieved on 25 September 2021. In recent years, it has also been the main venue for the annual MTN Kampala Marathon, Uganda's biggest marathon event. Possibly the last use of the airstrip by fixed-wing aircraft was in the mid-1970s by members of the

Safari Rally The Safari Rally is a rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically r ...

Committee who obtained special consent to operate from the site with a

Cessna 310 The Cessna 310 is an American four-to-six-seat, low-wing, twin-engine monoplane produced by Cessna between 1954 and 1980. It was the first twin-engine aircraft that Cessna put into production after World War II. Development The 310 first fle ...

. Any such use would be impossible nowadays due to the presence of mature trees and permanent fencing. Aviation use is now restricted to rotary-wing aircraft. Government officials, including the president, use the site when flying by helicopter. A portion of the airstrip has been reserved as a burial ground for ‘national heroes’. Two eminent Ugandans including Ignatius Musaazi, the founder of

Uganda National Congress Uganda National Congress (UNC) was the first political party in Uganda. UNC formed Formed on Sunday 2 March 1952, Ignatius Kangave Musaazi was its first President, and Abubaker Kakyama Mayanja the party's first Secretary General. Apollo K. Kiro ...

, and former president of Uganda Prof. Yusuf Kironde Lule, are buried at the grounds.

References

External links

Uganda Civil Aviation Authority HomepageOld Buildings of Kampala
{{authority control Defunct airports Airports in Uganda Kampala Central Division Transport in Kampala

Location

Overview

History

See also

References

External links