Lippits Hill
LIPPITS HILL: Police helicopter operations base
Note: Both of these pictures (2019) were obtained from Google Earth ©
Operated by: 1980s till - Metropolitan Police Helicopters
Note: Under threat of closure in 2017. Still in use in 2019.
Location: Between A112 & A104, 0.5nm SW of High Beach, 2nm SSE of Waltham Abbey
NOTES: It appears that Greater London only had three helicopters available for Police duties from the 1990s. Given the multiple threats of attack, especially from Islamic extremists in recent years, both from within and outside the UK, this strikes me as being a rather meagre force of helicopters for a major global city?
At a talk I attended in 2017 I asked why there wasn't another helipad available to the west of London. The answer was very simple, the furthest points within Greater London were no more than ten minutes or so away from LIPPITTS HILL by these latest helicopters. And they can fly directly across London.
As most of my experience of crossing London for the last fifty years has been by road or public transport, and can easily take several hours on a bad day, my thinking was I suppose clouded by these experiences. And of course, when flying a single engine aeroplane, a great deal of Greater London is forbidden territory.
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