Norwich Airport
NORWICH: Civil airport (Aka HORSHAM St FAITH)
Civil airport then military aerodrome later civil regional airport
(Once just NORWICH AIRPORT later NORWICH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT)
Note: All of these pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
ICAO code: EGSH IATA code: NWI
Military users: WW2: RAF Bomber Command 2 Group
18 & 139 Sqdns (Bristol Blenheims)
105 & 139 Sqdns (DH Mosquitos)
19 Sqdn (Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires)
8th USAAF 96th Bombardment Wing 458th Bomb Group
752, 753, 754 & 755 Sqdns (Consolidated B.24 Liberators)
56th Fighter Group (Republic P.47 Thunderbolts) commanded by the legendary “Hub” Zemke
Post WW2: Fighter Command (Gloster Javelins)*
Operated by: RAF from 1939 to 1963. Albiet used by the USAAF in WW2
1980s to 2000: Norwich Airport Ltd
Civil activities: Post 1945: Airline, charter, GA business, private and training
British airline users: Pre 1940: Crilly Airways
Post 1945: Air Anglia, Air UK, Britannia Airways, Business Air, Channel Airways, City Airline, Flybe, Gill Aviation, Interline, Monarch Airlines, Thomson fly
Foreign airline users: Post 1945: KLM City Hopper
Cargo, postal: Post 1945: Titan Airways
Charter, air taxi: Post 1945: Air Anglia, Air Commuter, Airgo, Alidair, Anglian Air Charter, Arrow Air Services, By-Air, Directflight, Norfolk Airways & Rig Air
Flying club/school: Post 1945: Anglia Flight, Anglian Air Centre, Norfolk and Norwich Aero Club, Premier Flight Training, Sterling Aviation, The Norwich School of Flying
Note: In the 1957 The Aeroplane directory, the Norfolk and Norwich Aero Club are listed. No other details but presumably they were based here?
Helicopter ops: Anglian Helicopters (Norwich), Bristow Helicopters Instrument Flying Training School, Sterling Aviation
Maintenance: Post 1945: Air UK
Location: 1nm E of the A140, about 3 nm N to NNW of Norwich city centre
Period of operation: 1935 to - (Military 1940 to 1963) Civil airport since 1969?
Note: This map is reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014.
Runways: WW2: 10/28 1280x46 hard 05/23 1829x46 hard
17/35 1280x46 hard
1990: 09/27 1842x46 hard
2000: 09/27 1842x45 hard 04/22 1285x45 hard
Note: Runway 04 has a 305 metre starter extension available on request
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Note: The first picture, an air-to-air, shows two of 105 Squadrons Mosquitos. The second picture shows light flak damage to Mosquito DK337 in September 1942. The third picture shows a Mosquito of 105 Squadron being loaded with bombs.
Note: The fourth picture is of a Republic P-47C Thunderbolt, of the 56th Fighter Group, fitted with a 200 gallon belly tank. The fifth picture shows Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 458th Bomb Group lining up. These took part in the biggest bombing raid on Nazi Germany, mounted by the USAAF, (up to that date), and designed to be, on Christmas Eve, a 'Happy Christmas' present to Herr Hitler and his band of not so happy men. As the synoptic chart shows, the weather conditions were pretty much ideal - at least when departing.
Note: These two photos, in the sixth picture, show the Azon radio controlled bomb, and the aerials on a B-24 Liberator of the 753rd Bomb Squadron, used in 1944. The seventh picture is a map of USAAF 8th Air Force bases in October 1942. The eighth picture is a map of USAAF 8th Air Force bases in June 1943. The ninth picture is a list of USAAF 8th Air Force bases in June 1944.
It now seems quite incredible, given that this was during a massive world war, just how quickly most of these bases were built. The USAAF bases were, to all intents and purposes, small self contained townships - and invariably far superior in most if not all respects, to RAF aerodromes. The Americans insisting that if you have to go to war, all home comforts, as far as possible, and it wasn't far short, had to be provided. Except for women of course, but it is told, many of the local womenfolk made gallant efforts to redress that failing. Plus, we need to remember, many of these USAAF bases were only used for operations for a year or so.
Note: The tenth picture is of the 74 Squadron Gloster Meteor T7, WL380 c.1952. The eleventh picture shows members of 74 Squadron entertaining Miss Trinidad during the winter of 1952. No doubt brightening up their day and, it looks like, the officer by the cockpit looks like he is trying to get his leg over. The twelth picture shows 74 Squadron Meteor F.8s at their dispersals in August 1953.
Note: This thirteenth picture, a rather blurred aerial photo detail, is of some of the western 'pans' in July 1946 and shows four Spitfires and one Mosquito. The last item, the local area view, is from my Google Earth © derived database.
Note: This map was obtained from The Mighty Eighth by Roger A Freeman.
NOTES: In WW2 this aerodrome was a typical but large USAAF bomber base with in late 1944 some 2972 personnel listed as being on station, ‘Loop’ type hard-standings for 50 four-engined bombers and 6 fighter hard-standings.
CIVIL OPS
When HORSHAM St FAITH was being 'converted' to become NORWICH airport, three air taxi/charter operators - Anglian Air Charter, Norfolk Airways and Rig Air combined their resources to form Air Anglia in 1970. This airline was later absorbed into Air UK. However, during their ten years of operation they operated a fascinating diversity of types, from light aircraft through regional airliners to a serious air freighter, the Argosy. Here is the list:
Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy
Brittan-Norman BN-2A Islander
Cessna 172
Cessna 404
Douglas DC-3
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
Fokker F27 Friendship (100 & 200 Series)
Fokker F28 Fellowship (1000 & 4000 Series)
Handley Page Herald
Piper PA-23 Aztec
Piper PA-30 Twin Commanche
Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain
THE JAVELIN PERIOD
In his book SEPECAT JAGUAR Peter Foster comes up with information which may well be pretty much forgotten these days. During 1957, whilst a single hard runway (05/23) was being constructed at RAF COLTISHALL, their two squadrons were deployed here. And, it appears, during this period were re-equipped with Gloster Javelin FAW.4s, thus becoming the first Javelin Wing in Fighter command.
THE HAF’S BRIEF VISIT
The Historic Aircraft Flight, (now the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight), transferred here in 1961 and stayed until 1963 before moving on to nearby COLTISHALL. In those days the Flight had just two aircraft, the Hurricane LF363 which was the first aircraft the Flight possessed and the Spitfire Mk.XIX PM631.
SOME 21st CENTURY INFO
In 2006 the Sterling Helicopter training fleet was divided between rotary and fixed wing aircraft with an unusual mix of types. The fixed wing fleet comprised one Cessna F.172, one Britten-Norman (Pilatus) Islander and two Beech King Air 200s (at £816 per/hr). The rotary fleet was one Hughes 300C, six Bell Jetrangers, one Eurocopter AS355, and two Bölkow Bö 105s (the latter two at £922 per hour). Obviously a company looking at the commercial pilot training market because only the F-172 and Hughes 300C were available for hire.
A PERSONAL MEMORY
On our joint project for Ian Allan in late 1992, concerning producing two books about UK airports, Aussie Brown and I decided that Norwich airport had to be included. For reasons best known to them this publishing company decided to delay giving the contracts to us until the autumn, which turned out to be one of the worst weatherwise on record! That made our task rather interesting and we suffered many serious delays along the way. Norwich was to be our last visit and on the 25th November, flying down from HUMBERSIDE, we landed at 12.40. However, at that time of year we only had a hour at most to take pictures and acculumate information before planning our trip back to Wycombe Air Park, where we landed in the dark just before a severe weather front with torrential rain arrived.
So, our visit to Norwich Airport was very brief! Which was a such a shame as the history of this site is very interesting; not least because of the operations conducted by Air UK.
ANOTHER MEMORY (AND SOME)
In March 2018 I received this cracking missive from Michael J Harrold by e-mail. The subject was initially, "Woodley and the Herald" but with agreement I think it is better placed here.
"I was involved many years ago with the Strathallan museum, where we had a number of Miles' beautiful aeroplanes - sadly, I never got to fly any of them, although I did fly several Beagle Pups (Beagle of course being the result of the Miles/Auster merger)." My note: Then based at SHOREHAM (SUSSEX).
"Regarding the Herald - I used to work for an airline called Air Anglia, later Air UK (following a disastrous merger), which often chartered Heralds. They were good aeroplanes in some ways, and the Dart, (My note: The Rolls-Royce turboprop engine), was very reliable, but there was one simple reason why the F-27, [My note: The Fokker F-27 Friendship], (which we operated in large numbers) was preferred: not only was it a nicer-handling beast, but unlike the Herald, it could be refuelled from under the wing. The Herald necessitated the refuelling crew climbing on top of the wing - which, in wintry Aberdeen (minus 27 Celsius one night I was on duty there! Braemar was even colder, -28), was a perilous job."
"Why was the Herald never fitted for under-wing refuelling? Surely it would have been a simple fix... The F-27 was also just a touch faster, and could carry a wee bit more payload. Not much in it, but it all added up to making it a more attractive package."
"After-sales service from Fokker was exemplary, too - HP (My note: Handley Page) by this time had disappeared, via Scottish Aviation, inside British Aerospace, who wanted as little as possible to do with the Herald, and as we wouldn't buy the then-gutless and unreliable Jetstream, were disinterested in helping us."
"We proceeded to buy two F-28 jets (as well as chartering several, the Paris Air Show prototype included, from Fokker), and they were equally brilliant, with almost fighter-like handling, as company chief pilot 'Spud' Murphy demonstrated, flying a vigorous display at Norwich which reportedly included appearing out of the valley below the airfield - inverted! Alas, I wasn't there to see it."
"We had so many great pilots - Eric Garland MC & bar, MBE
(https://www.lordashcroft.com/2015/08/a-few-near-misses-one-mans-war/)
And Sqdn Ldr Gerry Fawke, ex 617 Squadron, who used to demonstrate to younger pilots in the Aztec his old Mosquito toss-bombing technique on railway tunnels! To name but two. One day I was out with Gerry on a run to Munich, not his usual route: I was on the jump seat, and he commented to me as we came in: "See that railway marshalling yard down there? Last time I was here, I made a terrible mess of it!"
"Air Anglia may be long gone, (Air UK having disappeared inside KLM), but it lives on in immortality on PPRuNe."
My note: It also lives on in this 'Guide' in hopefully all the airfields they operated from. What a great contribution, everything I could have wished for when deciding, some twenty years ago, to compile a 'Guide'.
It seems such a shame, as the pictures clearly show, that this airport has decided to become GA unfriendly. But why? It is hardly swamped by commercial flights like STANSTED and LUTON for example.
tony powles
This comment was written on: 2019-08-03 17:00:54I was at Air Anglia in 1971 until 1981. A basic reservatioins system until 1975 when we began using KLM's CORDA system and never looked back!
Michael Pearce
This comment was written on: 2019-09-01 17:41:37This is my local airport and I'm surprised you didn't delve more into the history of the maintenance/paint facilities we have here. Air Anglia established a maintenance base around 1975 inside one of the old WW2 hangars (what is now Hangar 3a), and in 1980 this became Air UK following the merger with British Island Airways. From then on it was known as Air UK Engineering and they built the two main hangars still used today (Hangars 7 and 8), and if you walk around Liberator Road between Hangar 3 and the new aviation academy you can still find Air UK Engineering signs! When Air UK was taken over by KLM in 1997 they were renamed to KLM UK Engineering and have been so ever since. Air Livery was established as Sprayavia in 1977 at Norwich in Hangar 1/2 and later also Hangar 3. They also opened another facility at Manchester before being acquired by Southend-based Air Livery in 2008, moving their HQ to Norwich. This stayed the same until recently in December 2018 when they were acquired by Satys but the Air Livery name remains. Only just a few days ago KLM and Air Livery announced the construction of a new hangar for KLM on the current Bristow Helicopters site, to replace Hangar 3a that Air Livery will move into. Currently KLM can only service up to A320/737-sized aircraft but this new hangar will mean they will be able to service 757s, which would be nice to see more of here (we get Condor/Icelandair ones occasionally)!
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