Denham Aerodrome Explained

Denham Aerodrome
Icao:EGLD
Type:Public
Operator:Bickerton's Aerodromes Ltd
Location:Gerrards Cross
Elevation-F:249
Elevation-M:76
Coordinates:51.5883°N -0.5131°W
Pushpin Map:United Kingdom Buckinghamshire
Pushpin Label:EGLD
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Buckinghamshire
Metric-Rwy:Y
R1-Number:06/24
R1-Length-F:2,543
R1-Length-M:775
R1-Surface:Asphalt
R2-Number:12/30
R2-Length-F:1,791
R2-Length-M:546
R2-Surface:Grass
Footnotes:Sources: UK AIP at NATS.[1]

Denham Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome located 1.5NM east of Gerrards Cross, near Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It lies beneath Heathrow's Class D airspace London CTR. VFR entry/exit points are at Maple Cross (CHT) and St Giles Church. Entry lanes and circuit height are at 1000feet MSL. It has one paved runway, aligned 06/24, a parallel grass runway and another grass runway aligned 12/30. It also has substantial hangarage.

Denham Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P646) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Bickertons Aerodromes Limited).[2]

History

There are records that flying has been taking place at Denham Aerodrome since 1915, when during the First World War, RAF Denham was established as a flying training school for Flight Cadets.[3]

The airfield was first licensed as a private use airfield to Squadron Leader J. M. Bickerton by the CAA on 19 May 1938. During the Second World War, the airfield was used again as a training school. The largest based aircraft was a Douglas DC-3 of Gregory Air Services and occasional airshows have been staged here. The airfield was the home to one of the earliest parachuting clubs in the UK, starting in 1955 the "British Parachute Club" was based here until May 1956 when they moved to Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire. The club at Denham was run by instructor Dumbo Willans and is known as the first civilian parachuting school in Britain.[4]

Services

Presently, there are a number of charter and flight instruction and filming operators based at Denham Aerodrome as well as a helicopter maintenance facility. The Pilot Center flying school,[5] HeliAir,[6] Aerospace Design Facilities, AS Aerospace Ltd, FlyingTV Ltd, Helicopter Film Services, JetFly. A restaurant near the control tower is named "Biggles", after the fictional airman of that name, there is also a small café called "The Crew Room" on the north side of the airfield.[7]

Historical Units

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Denham - EGLD. NATS AIS. 28 May 2014.
  2. Web site: Denham . . 28 May 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140529085344/http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/375/20140521OrdinaryLicencesAndMapsAtoE.pdf . 29 May 2014 .
  3. Web site: History of Denham Aerodrome. Denham Aerodrome. 28 May 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20180222001314/http://www.egld.com/history.php. 22 February 2018.
  4. Book: Hearn . Peter . The sky people: a history of parachuting . 1997 . Airlife . Shrewsbury . 1853108693 . 135 .
  5. Web site: Welcome to The Pilot Centre. 28 May 2014. The Pilot Centre.
  6. Web site: Contact. 28 May 2014. Heli Air.
  7. Web site: Businesses based at Denham Aerodrome. 21 January 2023. Denham Aerodrome.
  8. Web site: Denham (Hawksridge). Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. 28 May 2014.