Walsall Aerodrome, also known as Walsall Airport, Walsall Municipal Airport, and later as Walsall Aldridge Airport was an airport at

Aldridge Aldridge is an industrial town in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from Lichfield. ...

, Staffordshire, England, serving the town of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

, north

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, Sutton Coldfield and

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

(Aldridge is now part of Walsall, and in the

West Midlands county West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act ...

). It operated from the 1930s–1956.

History

Walsall Council purchased Aldridge Lodge and of its estate in 1930. Work on the airport began in 1932 and in 1937 the council contracted Walker Brothers Ltd of Victoria Ironworks, Walsall, to erect a hangar. A licence to operate was obtained in 1938. In 1938

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records du ...

gave a glider display to a crowd of around 6,000. On her

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of ...

, her glider's wingtip touched a hedge and the aircraft turned over. She was taken to hospital, but was not seriously injured. Operations were limited by the airfield's size, slope, and wet clay soil, making it unsuitable for larger aircraft. It closed in 1956 and most of the buildings were later demolished. The land is now a public open space, known as Aldridge Airport, and hosts a variety of leisure activities under the auspices of

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Walsall Council, formerly Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was created in 1974 to administer the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was assessed by the Audit Commission in 2008 and judged to ...

. However, it is still used for occasional

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

landings, including training exercises by the

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...

helicopter. Currently it is also used by local dog walkers, Childrens football league and all forms of model aircraft flying, this has been on going since the mid 1940’s, continuing the tradition of an airfield.

Helliwells

The engineering company Helliwells Ltd. had a base at the airfield . They made aircraft components and carried out modifications and repairs to aeroplanes.

References

Aldridge Defunct airports in England Walsall Transport in Staffordshire 1938 in aviation Airports established in 1938 Airports in the West Midlands (region) {{UK-airport-stub

History

Helliwells

Archives

References