Small world 
I was looking at it too, but as a tenant, when Shoreham was looking extra shakey some years ago. What is there now?
Peter wrote:
I was looking at it too, but as a tenant, when Shoreham was looking extra shakey some years ago. What is there now?
I haven’t been for a while (defected from the UK 3 years ago) but my brother lives right next to it. It’s now owned by a BA 747 captain who was keen to keep it as active as possible. Last time I saw inside the hangars there were about 10 aircraft indoors and another three outside. Always enjoyed my time there, I got to “P2” in a Baron, Yak 52, Cessna 12, Taylorcraft, Tiger Moth, Piper Comanche and Clipper. Now I have my own PPL I hope to fly myself in there one day. A TB20GT was a regular visitor at one point too.
Peter wrote:
Small world
It is! I did my first few hours flying from Shoreham in the Tomahawks with Sky Leisure. I remember seeing your TB22 quite often, I even got a photo of it here.
Anyway, back on topic…
Given how Fairoaks, Redhill and GA use of Biggin are under serious threat, now seems the time to start a consortium to return either Wisley or Kenley to aviation use.
My feeling is that the days of relatively wealthy people (now don’t you start; if you can afford even 30 mins a fortnight in a Cub, you are relatively wealthy; but most of you are much more wealthy than that, and you know it) expecting unlimited use of large tracts of land near London for a pittance are over.
We need to start thinking about investing our own money into infrastructure.
Sure as hell wrecker Grayling ain’t going to do it. If he was willing to completely destroy the Criminal Justice System to save threepence halfpenny, he ain’t about to invest millions of public funds into leisure aviation.
So the time might have come for each of us to invest some serious money (hundreds or thousands each) to acquire our own airfields that we are not going to then sell for industrial use.
Personally, I think that the crumbling architecture of SE England airfields may see out my own flying career – I’m 60. But in ten years, there may be literally nothing unless we band together and make something happen, rather than weep into our beer about how bad it’s getting while doing f*ck all about it.
Sorry. Rant over. Love you all.
…and yes, I know Kenley is in sort of aviation use, but you know what I mean..
I totally agree that is the way forward.
But finding UK pilots who will stick their hands deeper than 0.1mm into their pockets is a tough job.
There is a house just put on the market, at Upper Harford in the Cotswolds, which comes with the right to use the airstrip there which I own. Strip is 700 m long, in superb condition. Search on Savills, it’s near Bourton on the Water. Listed at £1.5 million. Happy to put anyone in touch with the owner. I fly a Malibu Mirage off the strip.
Not quite in the EuroGA area, but if you have a spare 17million USDs to spare:
Katafanga Island
Well, for quite a bit less, I would actually buy myself Walker’s Cay, which is reportedly for sale for 14 million USD. Maybe a bit less after this hurrcane season…
Instead of focusing on the “airfield” why don’t we create a “GA destination”? A long, well maintained grass airfield in a central location with a couple of crew cars, a nice lodge and some activities for families? (a few horses, near hiking trails, etc)
In SW Scotland we are faced with the same problem – existing WW2 airfields converted to industrial use, burial sites for infected livestock, or whatever.
Constructing new all-weather, all-season runways to replace them requires some effort and a bit of imagination, but precious little money. Ours cost about £10k, even though the site was not obviously suitable. A friend’s grass runway has cost barely a tenth of that for fencing, rolling and drainage.
For sure, land is more valuable near London, but finding suitable sites will be much easier if we abandon the popular delusion that a runway must be flat, and/or more than 1,300 ft long, to accept some decent sized GA aeroplanes:
