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Denham Aerodrome

Coordinates: 51°35′18″N 000°30′47″W / 51.58833°N 0.51306°W / 51.58833; -0.51306
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Denham Aerodrome
Denham Aerodrome Control Tower
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorBickerton's Aerodromes Ltd
LocationGerrards Cross
Elevation AMSL249 ft / 76 m
Coordinates51°35′18″N 000°30′47″W / 51.58833°N 0.51306°W / 51.58833; -0.51306
Websitewww.egld.com
Map
EGLD is located in Buckinghamshire
EGLD
EGLD
Location in Buckinghamshire
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 775 2,543 Asphalt
12/30 546 1,791 Grass
Sources: UK AIP at NATS.[1]

Denham Aerodrome (ICAO: EGLD) is an operational general aviation aerodrome located 1.5 NM (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) east of Gerrards Cross, near Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It also serves as an important reliever airport for Heathrow Airport and lies beneath its 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 1,000 ft (300 m) 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

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Light aircraft at the aerodrome

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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "Denham - EGLD". NATS AIS. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Denham" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  3. ^ "History of Denham Aerodrome". Denham Aerodrome. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  4. ^ Hearn, Peter (1997). The sky people: a history of parachuting. Shrewsbury: Airlife. p. 135. ISBN 1853108693.
  5. ^ "Welcome to The Pilot Centre". The Pilot Centre. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Contact". Heli Air. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Businesses based at Denham Aerodrome". Denham Aerodrome. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "Denham (Hawksridge)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
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