Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport , formerly Halfpenny Green Airport and Wolverhampton Business Airport, locally Bobbington Airport, is a small, airport situated near the village of
Bobbington,
South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of the West Midlands county, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south. It contains notable settlements ...
. The airport is situated south-west of
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
, the city which it serves.
Wolverhampton Airport 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 ...
Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P872) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.
History
The airfield was constructed between mid-1940 and early 1941 for use by the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, being initially named RAF Bobbington. The name was changed on 1 September 1943 to RAF Halfpenny Green, to avoid confusion with
RAF Bovingdon
Royal Air Force Bovingdon or more simply RAF Bovingdon is a former Royal Air Force station located near the village of Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, England, about south-west of Hemel Hempstead and south-east of Berkhamsted.
During the Second ...
in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
. The first RAF unit to be based was No.3 Air Observer & Navigator School which flew
Blackburn Botha
The Blackburn B.26 Botha was a four-seat reconnaissance and torpedo bomber. It was produced by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft at its factories at Brough and Dumbarton.
The Botha was developed during the mid 1930s in response t ...
s and later
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...
s. The unit disbanded on 13 November 1945.
The
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
film ''
The Way to the Stars
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' was set on a fictional ''RAF Halfpenny Field'', but despite the similar name RAF Halfpenny Green was not used in any way for this film.
After a lengthy gap, flying at RAF Halfpenny Green resumed on 5 May 1952 by No.2 Air Signallers School, again equipped with Avro Ansons, the unit disbanding on 13 September 1953. A ground-based equipment sub-unit of No.25 Maintenance Unit occupied much of the airfield from 1 March 1946 until 15 November 1956. Following closure of this unit, the airfield lay disused for several years before civil aviation use commenced in 1961.
Current operation
Wolverhampton Airport is located from the edge of the
West Midlands conurbation
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the towns of Sutton Coldfield, Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge and Halesowen in the English West Midlands ...
and operates a number of
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 ...
services including facilities for private aircraft; business jets; helicopters; flying schools; and training and maintenance facilities.
The majority of aircraft operating from the airport are
light aircraft
A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997.
Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft c ...
, such as the single engine
Cessna 182
The Cessna 182 Skylane is an American four-seat, single-engined light airplane built by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas. It has the option of adding two child seats in the baggage area.
Introduced in 1956, the 182 has been produced in a ...
and twin engine
Piper PA-34 Seneca
The Piper PA-34 Seneca is a twin-engined light aircraft, produced in the United States by Piper Aircraft. It has been in non-continuous production since 1971. The Seneca is primarily used for personal and business flying.
Development
The Senec ...
.
![Auster Beagle A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Auster_Beagle_A.61_Terrier_2_G-ASDK_H.Grn_27.02.65_edited-3.jpg)
The small-airfield image the airport has retained was under threat until late 2006 as previous owner CityHopper Ltd had ambitious plans to expand the airport for airline usage, initially by up to 500,000 passengers a year which would necessitate construction of a new longer runway; plus intended open-air facilities to test jet engines for Boeing 737s. The Wolverhampton Airport Action Group is a local group which was set up in late 2002 to fight against the expansion.
New owner MAR Properties Ltd announced on 24 November 2006 that such plans had been dropped and it had no intention to expand to allow scheduled passenger services, its intention being to expand on the current general aviation and flying school activity which had been in steady decline at the airport since the late 1990s. MAR confirmed that the previously mooted runway extension was no longer necessary and had also been dropped from the plans.
The airfield is also becoming more popular with flex-wing and three-axis microlight pilots, and a microlight flight school has been on-site for some time. In support of short field operations, an unlicensed grass runway, measuring approx has been provided which runs parallel to and to the left of Runway 28.
Recent developments involve the potential of a GNSS Approach, which would allow aircraft to land in bad weather, without the need for expensive ILS equipment.
Up until 1 January 2016, the Central Counties Air Operations Unit police helicopter operated from Halfpenny Green. It was withdrawn under a rationalisation scheme operated by the
National Police Air Service
The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a police aviation service that provides centralised air support to the 43
territorial police forces in England and Wales, as well as the three special police forces serving that area. It replaced the pr ...
that would see air operations not being restricted to force boundaries and thus the availability of cross working when necessary.
Runway lighting
As of January 2009, Runway 16/34 has high-intensity bidirectional edge lighting along its length (with low-intensity omnidirectional components) and high-intensity threshold and stop end lighting. Full
precision approach path indicator
A precision approach path indicator (PAPI) is a visual aid that provides guidance information to help a pilot to acquire and maintain the correct approach (in the vertical plane) to an airport or an aerodrome. It is generally located on the left- ...
(PAPI) lights are installed for both ends.
Incidents and accidents
* On 28 August 1972, a
Piper Cherokee
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 62–64. Werner & Werner Corp, ...
that was taking part in a race event, hit a tree, flipped over and crashed into an earthen bank outside the airfield's boundary. The pilot,
Prince William of Gloucester
Prince William of Gloucester (William Henry Andrew Frederick; 18 December 1941 – 28 August 1972) was a grandson of King George V and paternal cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. At birth he was fourth in line to the throne; he was ninth in lin ...
, a cousin of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
, and his passenger were killed .
*On 30 April 2017, a
de Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...
aircraft, participating in an airshow, damaged runway 10/28 during takeoff as its jet tore up some of the asphalt surface. The aircraft was unaffected and landed later on an alternate runway. Repairs to the surface were complete by 3 June.
*On 23 May 2017, a
Piper PA-28 Cherokee Warrior II overshot the runway and collided with a tyre wall. The pilot and two passengers received minor injuries, the third passenger was unharmed.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Wolverhampton Airport websiteWolverhampton Airport ImagesHadair Microlights
{{authority control
Transport in Staffordshire
Airports in England
South Staffordshire District
Transport in Wolverhampton
Airports in the West Midlands (region)