AeroModeller – June 2018

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24 AeroModeller - June 2018

Arcadia Uncovered



  • Radlett Aerodrome


(1980 -1993)


Dave Hipperson shares his experience of changing the use of a suitable open space for FF...


T


his is a story of what you can
achieve if you really want it - if it
is important enough. It started 38
years ago, in the Spring of 1980,
when a colleague of my wife
mentioned that every morning on his way in
to work coming south from Harpenden on
the train to Hampstead, he went past a large
expanse of fl at open land which looked a bit
like an old aerodrome and on which were
parked hundreds of cars - new cars, and
all very close together. We had moved into
Borehamwood only the year before, and part
of the reason we chose our house was that
it was walking distance from a large open
area of countryside - Parkfi elds - ideal for
trimming, but only on the very calmest of

evenings. It was never really large enough
for relaxed fl ying and also had the hazard
of the public and dogs, so this information
was interesting. A look at the map revealed
he must have been referring to Radlett
Aerodrome, which up until this moment I had
presumed to have been built on long ago.
Seemed it hadn’t, and it was just four miles
up the road - I went and looked.
From the main road (Watling Street), which
was originally the A5, there was an entrance
around the side of a building that advertised
itself as Granada Publishing. At it’s rear
was a light fence and an open gate onto an
enormous expanse of aerodrome. I got out
of the car and walked on astonished. To me
this was a vision of inestimable beauty. I

walked the full length and width of it. Nearly
a mile long and at it’s widest a good half a
mile. True, up at the north corner, the widest
part and quite close to the railway line, there
was a huge collection of brand new Vauxhall
motorcars presumably awaiting export, or
at least loading off to dealerships. They
would hardly be in the way. Everywhere
beautiful grass intersected by a north/south
runway and two similar shorter ones, running
approximately east/west and north west/
south east. Deserted. Not a soul. I was alone
on Handley Page’s old factory aerodrome,
vacated a decade earlier and still in perfect
condition. Perfect for me, at least there
were a few weeds. You can imagine my
excitement. The next afternoon I returned

Dave Hipperson’s Senator approaches the snowy expanses of Radlett fi eld in 1983.

RADLETT.indd 24 26/04/2018 16:20

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