Huddersfield flying sites
Note: This map shows the location of CROSLAND MOOR airfield
HUDDERSFIELD: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Berkshire Aviation Co
Location: Near White Horse Inn, Leeds Road
Period of operation: January 1921
NOTES: In 2016 the White Horse 'pub' is listed, on the Leeds Road, so perhaps this is the same place?
HUDDERSFIELD: Private helipad
NOTES: In the mid 1970s private company helipads were few and far between unlike today when hundreds if not a thousand or more exist. This is why I’ve included this site here as it seems the Hughes 269A G-BAXE of Walter Downs Ltd was based here during this period. Does anybody now know where this site was?
HUDDERSFIELD: Civil aerodrome (Also known as CROSLAND MOOR)
Note: These three pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Operated by:
1965: David Brown Industries Ltd
1975: David Brown Ltd
1980s to 2000: Huddersfield Outdoor Services Ltd
2001: J Witham, Huddersfield Aviation Ltd
Activities: GA private and micro-light private and training
Location: 1.5nm SW of Huddersfield
Period of operation: 1960s to -
Note: This map is reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014
Runway:
1965: 07/25 712x27 grass/hard
1990: 07/25 890x22 grass/hard
2000: 07/25 950x25 grass/hard
Also listed in one flight guide as 800 grass/hard
In a 2001 flight guide listed as 07/25 890x22 (640m asphalt and 250m grass) LDA = 790m
NOTES: I landed here in the evening on the 26th August 2002 in the Cessna 150 G-DENB with my wife, on a short tour of the region. The Cessna 172 we’d booked had been pranged and I had then been checked out on a Rockwell 112B, but decided a Cessna 150 was a much better option. Good decision as it turned out as we also landed at COAL ASTON. Without any doubt when flying, and presented with somewhat challenging circumstances, it is always better to deal with these in a type you are very familiar with.
Some people might consider a Cessna 150/152, basically a training type, unsuitable for touring with. But in fact it is surprisingly 'user friendly' for touring with, having quite a generous 'baggage area' and weight allowance.
Arriving at CROSLAND MOOR the reality looked quite alarming, landing towards the east, the hard runway resembling a ski slope, so I plonked the 150 onto the level grass part. On climbing out I heard an instructor telling a pupil, “There is a pilot who really knows what he is doing.” I felt rather chuffed of course, but what’s so difficult in landing a Cessna 150 onto a 250 metre grass strip? One of my many memorable flying experiences.
After landing and parking next to G-BPMB, I was much more interested in this aeroplane, a Maule M5-235C Lunar Rocket. It seems it was once N563ST, and imported from the USA.
A COINCIDENCE
By sheer coincidence the hotel we stayed in was once the home of David Brown and years later in August 2005 I discovered his company once operated this aerodrome. Indeed, in 2012 I read an account saying this site was originally a private airstrip for the David Brown company.
Talk about wheels within wheels? Highly appropriate because the David Brown company was once famous for producing tractors and gearboxes for heavy trucks and, it was due to my experiences as a student hitch-hiking and getting lifts with lorry drivers, (as they were then called), that eventually inspired me to become a owner-driver. In those days the six-speed David Brown gearbox was highly favoured with most British truck manufacturers.
Therefore in part at least, inspiring me, with my wife, for well over a quarter of a century to run a small fleet of trucks operating all over Europe which in turn gave me the opportunity to fly numerous aircraft types in every western European country and many more besides. A career path which I now realise has been really quite unusual especially for a private pilot.
But, we never operated a truck with a David Brown gearbox. At one point the David Brown company owned Aston Martin, a renowned sports car producer who started the ‘DB’ series, gaining everlasting fame in the 1964 James Bond 007 film Goldfinger with a much modified DB.5. The ‘DB’ being short for David Brown.
HUDDERSFIELD see also LOUD MOOR
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
