Canterbury flying sites
Note: This map only shows the location of Canterbury within the UK.
CANTERBURY see also BEKESBOURNE
CANTERBURY: Balloon launching site
NOTES: In his book Flying and Ballooning John Fabb has a picture captioned, “The ‘Colonel’ balloon, preparing to take Colonel Brine on his first Channel trip from Canterbury, 1882.
CANTERBURY: Temporary aerodrome (See entry for COCKERING FARM)
In August 1929 the Sir Alan Cobham's Municipal Aerodrome Campaign visited Canterbury. It was their 53rd venue. Does anybody now know the location of the venue?
Starting in May and ending in October one hundred and seven venues were visited, mostly in England but with two venues in Wales and eight in Scotland. Without any doubt this Tour resulted in the commission of several aerodromes / regional airports - but not in Canterbury.
The aircraft he used was the DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV named 'Youth of Britain'. The punishing schedule he set himself seems astonishing today - see STOCKTON-on-TEES for more information. Better still, read his memoirs in A Time To Fly.
CANTERBURY: Private airfield (Known mostly as DUNKIRK)
Note: Pictures from Alan Faupel. The control tower picture is dated December 1997 and the hangar picture April 1997.
Operated by: 1980s/1990s: Mr J A Brockman
Location: Near Dunkirk on N or E side of the ‘new’ A2, 3nm WNW of Canterbury
Period of operation: 1980s (?) to late 1990s
Note: This map is kindly reproduced by Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014.
Runways: 1980s: 02/20 670x(?) semi-hard
1990: 02/20 670x12 hard 02/20 426x18 grass
Helipad: 1990: 13 x 13 (crushed & rolled tarmac on eastern boundary)
NOTES: Microlight flying was listed in 1990.
Many years ago Guy Browning and I were planning a flight here from TOP FARM. David Morris was around and asked us where we were going and we were very surprised at his response; which was in effect - "You are not taking one of my aircraft there." It appeared that far from having a hard runway, it was in fact covered in loose material which could easily damage propellers at high power settings. Taking his advice we quickly planned another destination.
What now appears is the alternative grass runway which we may well have used? I cannot recall having this as an option at the time. Also, I cannot remember which Cessna 172 we were intending to fly that day. If it was the 150hp version, perhaps not a good idea. What has interested me is that the 150hp Rolls-Royce Continental version had six cylinders - and made a lovely throaty noise at full power. Yet the 160hp Lycoming had four cylinders.
Which is exactly the reverse of what you would expect in road vehicles - the six cylinder versions always (?) producing more power than four cylinder versions. It always surprised me just how much difference an extra 10hp could make in an aircraft, let alone another 20hp.
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