Redhill
REDHILL: Temporary aerodrome (Possibly same site as present day REDHILL aerodrome?)
Notes: Used by the Berkshire Aviation Company in December 1922. The 27th is the date given but they usually stayed for several days. For example their previous venue was BETCHWORTH PARK, a few miles west where they stayed from the 20th to the 26th December.
REDHILL see also EAST SURREY HOSPITAL
REDHILL: Civil private aerodrome, military aerodrome during WW2. Later civil aerodrome
Note: These pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Note: All other pictures by the author unless specified.
ICAO code: EGKR IATA code: KRH
Military user: WW2: RAF Fighter Command 11 Group
41 & 304 (Free French) Sqdns (Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires)
421 (RCAF) Sqdn (Spitfires) – seconded to KENLY
611 (West Lancashire) Sqdn (Spitfires)
116 Calibration Sqdn (Airspeed Oxfords)
No.1 Aircraft Delivery Flight
83 GSU
Operated by:
1965: British Air Transport Ltd
1980 to 2000: Redhill Aerodrome Ltd
Activities: Post 1945: GA business, charter/air taxi, private, training, maintenance and major helicopter maintenance and training base
Charter/air taxi: Post 1945: British Air Transport, Flyaway
Flying club/schools: Pre 1940: British Air Transport
Note: This great picture, from a postcard, was kindly provided by Mike Charlton, a great friend of this 'Guide'. See: www.aviationpostcard.co.uk
The picture is not dated but it would seem to be taken in the 1950s/60s? The cluster of light aircraft at the northern end of the aerodrome seems to be a reasonable clue? The information I have found to date, (see below), appears to bear this out?
Post 1945: Cabair Flying Schools, Cloudbase Aviation services, Cubair Flight Training, Delta Aviation, Harvard Aviation School of Flying, Redhill Aviation, Redhill Flight Training, Redhill Flying Club, Tiger Club
1959 ‘snapshot’. PFA Group 172 (also at OLD SARUM & THRUXTON), Tiger Club
Gliding Club: 1960s only?: Imperial College Glding Club
1981: Tiger Soaring Group
Helicopter ops: Post 1945: Bristow Helicopters, EBG (Helicopters), London Helicopter Centres, Redhill Flight Training
Maintenance: Post 1945: Bristow Helicopters, British Air Transport, Redhill Engineering
Manufacturing: Post 1945: Airmark, Cierva, F G Miles (1949-52), Rollason Aircraft and Engines, Rotorcraft and Servotec
Location: SW of Ridge Green, 2nm SE of Redhill
Period of operation: Civil 1934 to present day. Military from 1937 to 1954
Note: These maps are reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014.
Runways: WW2: Steel matting 08/26 1433 grass 01/19 966x46 grass
1965: N/S 906 grass ENE/WSW 1128 grass ESE/WNW 797 grass
1990/2000: 01/19 850x25 grass 08R/26L 897x30 grass 08L/26R 678x23 grass
(The two 08/26 runways are seperated by about 50 metres)
NOTES: Late in 2009 I found a mention in the Flight magazine archives that in 1936 REDHILL aerodrome was occupying just 40 acres
FLYING CIRCUS VENUES
Venue (13th April) for Sir Alan Cobham's last 1935 National Aviation Day Display Tour
Venue (11th April) for CWA Scott’s Flying Displays 1936 Tour
Venue (5th May) for Coronation Air Displays 1937 Tour
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', has unearthed these press items regarding Sir Alan Cobham's visit and provided two maps.
The captioned photo of the three then famous airmen was published in The Tatler on the 24th April 1935.
AN ACCOUNT IN FLIGHT MAGAZINE
NOTE: This is interesting in that the reporter has, without much if any doubt (?), got his facts wrong. The 1935 Tour commenced on the day before, (the 12th) at Titchfield Road, Fareham in Hampshire. It visited 72 venues before splitting into two Tours on the 1st July.
THREE PICTURES FROM FLIGHT MAGAZINE
These pictures accompanied the article above, all being published on the 18th April 1935.
The captioned photo was published in the Reynold's Newspaper on the 14th April 1935. The article in two parts was published the day before the display in the Surrey Mirror on the 12th April 1935. The local area view is from my Google Earth © derived database - and - not all the flyng sites listed in this 'Guide' are marked on this database.
REDHILL MEMORIES
Contained in the three anthologies compiled by Peter G Campbell regarding stories of flying in the 1950s, a lot of stories are told about REDHILL. One, by Chris Dearden, in Tails of the Fifties is worth relating as it involves C Nepean Bishop, a central figure in the Tiger Club. “On highdays and holidays… Bish would amaze the assembled multitude with his party piece of landing a Magister straight off a stall turn. He’d wait until the circuit was completely clear then beat up the ‘drome, downwind and right on the deck. At a precisely judged instant he’d chop the power, pull up steeply over the hedge, stall turn and flop the thing onto the ground with a little blip of throttle. It was a harrowing spectacle, particularly for those who knew how the Magister turned itself into a product of ‘The Instant Brick Co.’ when it ran out of airspeed.”
The Tiger Club had been formed by Norman Jones at CROYDON before moving here in 1959 after CROYDON closed. It has been based at HEADCORN (KENT) since 1990.
MILES AT REDHILL
It appears the presence of F G Miles Ltd as a manufacturing company based here is a rather sad story, signifying Miles attempts to keep going after his main concern at WOODLEY (BERKSHIRE) had folded in 1947. It appears they built only three aircraft here, one a Gemini IA (G-AMBH) and two M.75 Aries (G-AMDJ and G-AOGA). The first Miles M.75 Aries (G-35-1/G-AMDJ) first flew here on the 21st March 1951.
The design capabilities of F G Miles were still recognised and were combined with Auster to form Beagle at SHOREHAM (SUSSEX). Typically in this post-War period, the powers of the time in charge of aviation company mergers, made damned certain that centres of excellence, (and associated companies), were mis-married as far as possible, or am I being over cynical? I think not. For example the Beagle A109 Airedale reeks of Auster whereas the Beagle B121 Pup is Miles through and through albeit in metal?
THE ROLLASON CONNECTION
Rollason Aircraft and Engines Ltd produced components and built Druine Condors and Turbulents at CROYDON, but after CROYDON closed it appears they were test-flown here. Presumably this connection explains why the Tiger Club decided it would be a lot of fun to start a formation gaggle, (or squadron), of Turbulents for air shows/displays? It was certainly entertaining, doubly so if a wind was blowing, to watch the antics of these Turbulents attempting to perform their ‘party pieces.’
THE LUTON GROUP BETA
Ron Smith in British Built Aircraft Vol.3 tells a story of the Luton Group Beta, an aircraft type I certainly didn’t know about. “Five engineers working at Luton (in the ex-Hunting Percival branch of BAC) designed the Luton Group Beta, which was the winner of a 1964 racing aircraft design competition sponsored by Norman Jones. As the prize-winning design, the Luton Beta was then built by Rollason Aircraft and Engines Ltd. While not fully competitive with U S Formula 1 designs, the Beta nevertheless offered an exciting 195mph and 2,000ft/min climb rate on an affordable 90hp. The prototype Luton Beta B1 G-ATLY was first flown on 21 April 1967.”
He goes on to say, “Three improved Beta B2 aircraft were constructed by Rollason: G-AWHV, G-AWHW and G-AWHX, with G-AWHV flying on 15 February 1969.” Presumably here?
THE REDHILL FLYING CLUB ETC
In the early 1950s, (at one point at least), the Redhill Flying Club operated three Miles Magisters and two Auster Autocrats. From 1969 Airmark built at least four developed versions of the American Cassutt racer here. Airmaster Helicopters built their H2-B1, G-AYNS, first flown in 1972 but failing to reach production. Yet another example it would appear of the British being well ahead of the game in ideas but generally lacking support. This niche now dominated by the, (so often lethal when flown by inexperienced pilots), Robinson R.22.
In his book British Built Aircraft Vol.3, Ron Smith gives the convoluted history of the Cierva/Servotec/Rotorcraft sequence of companies who were based here. It would appear that only versions of the CR. LTH-1 Grasshopper made any progress? The first nominal prototype was G-AXFM but it seems the second prototype G-AWRP first flew on the 18th August 1969. However, it appears the first Rotorcraft Grasshopper 1, G-ARVN, was first flown seven years earlier on the 11th March 1962. Built in Feltham, Middlesex, did it first fly here?
Ron Smith also mentions the Storey TSR.3 Wonderplane G-AWIV which was built here and first flown in July 1968 and says that in 1998 it was based at LAND’S END (CORNWALL). And, tells of an unnamed motor glider constructed just after WW2 for whom Ken Wallis, of gyrocopter fame, supplied the engine – a German jet starter motor.
THE TIGER CLUB
Home to the Tiger Club for many years from 1959 to 1990 who appeared at many air shows to give thrilling performances. One very notable if not unique type in the UK they used in the 1960s was the Le Vier Cosmic Wind G-ARUL. I well remember being especially impressed by the displays given in this small, fast and very impressive aircraft. It zoomed around the sky like a wasp that had just stung itself and the engine cut-out whenever it went inverted which was quite frequently. It was going so bloody fast though, so this never seemed to matter!
The Club was formed in January 1956 mainly to exploit the racing and aerobatic potential of the DH.89A Tiger Moth and was originally based at CROYDON and indeed their four original aircraft were all ‘Tigers’ G-ANSH, G-ANZZ, G-AOAA and G-AODR. The venerable G-ACDC, often claimed to be oldest Tiger Moth still flying, (but in real terms quite possibly the newest as so much of it has been replaced), joined the fleet in 1957. It had a very serious crash at the Rochester Air Show in September 1963 and I was standing nearby and neither saw nor heard it happen. The pilot I’m glad to say survived. Incredible at the time because it was just a mangled heap, not recognisable as an aircraft.
The Tiger Club employed Rollason Aircraft to modify four Tiger Moths, and these were named as ‘Super Tigers’ and were capable of ‘continuous’ inverted flight. Arguably the two most famous being the Archbishop G-ANZZ and the Deacon G-AOAA. What is often forgotten is that the first ‘Super Tiger’ was G-APDZ Bishop which crashed at LITTLE SNORING (NORFOLK) in 1960 killing the pilot ‘Mac’ McAully. The flying group based at LITTLE SNORING was renamed the McAully Flying Group in his memory and it is still going. The fourth ‘Super Tiger’ was the Canon G-ANMZ and this crashed at CHALLOCK (KENT) on the 22nd May 1969.
PARACHUTING & WING WALKING
I cannot remember ever seeing parachuting in a Tiger Club display, (I was born too late), but it was once a major feature. To quote from his book Tiger Moth Stuart McKay tells us: “As an ardent supporter of the Tiger Club and an integral part of their flying displays, Sue Burges was rewarded in April 1959 with a Tiger Moth specifically converted for parachute dropping and named after her.” This was G-APRA and “The Sue Burges” was painted on the engine cowlings. “The modifications included removal of most of the normal impedimenta from the front cockpit, substitution of the starboard door with a low cut padded decking, and a streamlined windscreen. The walkway on the starboard wing root was widened and a transparent panel let into the trailing edge of the lower mainplane to facilitate sighting over the dropping zone.” Here is the bit I love; “In all other respects the Tiger Moth Moth was standard, although surprisingly, faster than all others in the Club at that time.”
The Tiger Club stalwart Lewis Benjamin came up with the idea of introducing a wing-walking act and the Tiger Moth G-ARAZ was modified. The CAA were not much impressed by the idea and tests had to carried out using a dummy. The first ‘live’ flight had ‘Benjie’ himself installed, standing on the fuel tank, (wing-walking not being strictly correct when applied to Tiger Moths), on the 4th March 1962.
When CROYDON closed in 1959 the Tiger Club moved here in 1960 and stayed until 1990, when they moved to HEADCORN (KENT), as this airfield is now generally known as. Being rather pedantic it is in fact LASHENDEN, HEADCORN being the defunct WW2 airfield just to the south.
BRISTOW HELICOPTERS
For many years REDHILL was the HQ, maintenance and training base (in England at least) for Bristow Helicopters who became a major operator in the North Sea supplying personnel to and from the oil and gas rigs.
HELI-TECH
The Heli-Tech exhibitions have been held here, from one source found on the inter-web from 1987 to 1999. I find this somewhat difficult to believe and will much welcome advice on this. Could anybody kindly help here?
A COUPLE OF PERSONAL MEMORIES
For many years, and possibly still today, pilots flight guides warn: Can get waterlogged in winter. My first cross-country flight away from Wycombe after getting my PPL was to Redhill in January 1990 fortunately accompanied by a very experienced pilot. The weather was awful over the North Downs and the aerodrome was so boggy nearly full power was required just to taxi. (Very happy memories though). Redhill is sometimes closed for several weeks for GA during winter months for fixed wing operations.
Our company was the UK sales agent for REPCON rain repellent, a product applied to aircraft windscreens and Bristow Helicopters were a major customer. After passing my GFT to become a private pilot, I often delivered these orders by flying into REDHILL and my wife often pointed out that by doing so we never made a profit from supplying them. It was a very useful method of honing my skills in cross-country flying and many a good lesson was learnt.
For example, on one flight I was mortified to find that REDHILL ATC were not responding to my calls. Asking FARNBOROUGH for advice they suggested a frequency I could call for advice. This turned out to be GATWICK Approach, and needless to say I was quickly given advice to 'piss off', but in much more formal language. So what to do? I decided to conduct a radio failure procedure, and everything worked out perfectly. On landing ATC hadn't noticed I had landed.
The radio frequency had been changed, but no notification, even in NOTAMs, had been promulgated. This of course led me to be highly cynical about official sources of information, and proved highly beneficial later on when flying across Europe.
On the 1st October 1992 I made another delivery in the Cessna 182 G-LIGG, and took off to make another delivery to Adams Aviation at BIGGIN HILL. Taking off from runway 01, and getting a straight-in approach approved for runway 03 at BIGGIN HILL, this flight was logged as fifteen minutes. Without any doubt the shortest flight I ever made from one aerodrome to another. The actual flight time could well have been a tad shorter.
The first picture shows the Cessna 152 G-WACB, (which I had made my first solo flight in), outside Bristows Helicopters in March 1990.
I made several other visits by air. One of which was with my good friend Mark Woodley, a fellow pilot at Wycombe Air Centre, this visit being on the 15th July 1998 in the Cessna 172 G-WACW.
In April 2013 I was tasked with collecting the Chipmunk WK633 from here in my truck.
Timothy Foster
This comment was written on: 2020-08-22 15:33:20Chipmunk WK633! I had an air experience flight in this craft in 1956 out of St Athan.(qv)
Colin Labouchere
This comment was written on: 2021-02-10 17:43:19I was lucky enough to fly the Bishop Tiger. I was 18/19 at the time. Metal prop, lightweight fabric, strengthened sternpost, longer elevators, slats removed, hatches faired in, modified harness, oil scavange normal and inverted, two fuel systems - one normal and the other direct injection (fixed rate) into the choke tube - full power only but worked any way up. Outside loops, flick rolls, vertical eight, slow roll over 28 seconds, roll off the top at the end of the runway (85kts needed). Gee didn't i have fun. 1958/59.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
