Hawarden Airport
Encyclopedia
Hawarden Airport , is a small airport in Hawarden
situated in North East Wales close to the border with England and 3.5 NM west southwest of the city of Chester
. The airport is owned and operated by BAE Systems
. A long term tenancy agreement has been signed with Airbus UK
, giving rights as the sole operator of the site. At the airport there is a large Airbus factory which produces aircraft wings and also a Raytheon
aircraft factory.
The aircraft factory located on the airfield is known as the Broughton
factory, named after the nearest village.
Hawarden Aerodrome has a CAA
Ordinary Licence (Number P786) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Airbus UK Limited).
s and 235 Avro Lancaster
s. Post-war the factory was used by Vickers to build 28,000 aluminium
prefab bungalow
s. Despite the name, the airport is located in Broughton and not Hawarden.
The RAF's No.48 Maintenance Unit was formed at Hawarden on 1 September 1939 and until 1 July 1957 stored, maintained and scrapped many thousands of military aircraft, including the Handley Page Halifax
, Wellingtons, Horsa glider
s and DH Mosquitos.
No.3 Ferry Pilots Pool/Ferry Pool, Air Transport Auxiliary
, was based at Hawarden between 5.11.40 and 30.11.45. Its veteran pilots ferried thousands of military aircraft from the factories and maintenance facilities at Hawarden and elsewhere to and from RAF and Naval squadrons throughout the UK.
On 1 July 1948 The de Havilland Aircraft Company
took over the Vickers factory and over the years built the following aircraft types:
The company became part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation in the 1960s and the production of the Hawker Siddeley HS125 business jet, designed by de Havilland as the DH.125, became the main aircraft type produced by the factory for nearly forty years. Production was moved to the United States
when the 125 business was sold to the Raytheon Corporation. Raytheon still have a 125 and Beech 400 support centre on the airfield, renamed Hawker Beechcraft Ltd in early 2007.
Since the early 1970s the Broughton factory, now owned and operated by Airbus
, has been the centre of wing production for all models of Airbus aircraft.
Raytheon System opened a new facility in 2003, to support the Bombardier Sentinel R1
entering service with the Royal Air Force
.
to transport aircraft wings to Toulouse
, Hamburg Finkenwerder and Bremen
for Airbus
. The Beluga also occasionally visits Airbus' second UK site at Filton, Bristol. There are also regular bmi Regional
Embraer EMB-145 shuttle flights to Bristol Filton
and Toulouse
for Airbus workers. A number of privately owned light aircraft are based at Hawarden. Police aircraft also operate from here. North Wales Military Air Services are also based here offering maintenance for classic military aircraft, such as the Jet Provost, Strikemaster and L-39, with three Strikemasters, one Jet Provost and an Aero L-39 operating from Hawarden for airshows and pilot training.
There is much private and general activity at the airport, adding considerably to the number of aircraft movements at this airport. Operators include Chester Handling Services, which provides air taxi and charter services, Flintshire Flying School, NWMAS, Ramsgill Helicopters, and Cheshire Police base one Islander aircraft at the airfield. The Police Islander has been replaced by a Eurocopter EC135 Helicopter.
Hawarden
Hawarden is a village in Flintshire, North Wales. Hawarden forms part of the Deeside conurbation on the Welsh/English border. At the 2001 Census, the population of Hawarden Ward was 1,858...
situated in North East Wales close to the border with England and 3.5 NM west southwest of the city of Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. The airport is owned and operated by BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
. A long term tenancy agreement has been signed with Airbus UK
Airbus UK
Airbus UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus SAS which produces wings for the Airbus aircraft family. When Airbus was incorporated as a joint stock company in 2001 BAE transferred its UK Airbus facilities in return for a 20% share of the new company. These facilities became Airbus UK...
, giving rights as the sole operator of the site. At the airport there is a large Airbus factory which produces aircraft wings and also a Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
aircraft factory.
The aircraft factory located on the airfield is known as the Broughton
Broughton, Flintshire
Broughton is a small district in Flintshire, Wales, close to the Wales–England border and located to the west of the City of Chester, England. Along with the nearby village of Bretton, the total population was 5,791 at the 2001 Census....
factory, named after the nearest village.
Hawarden Aerodrome has a CAA
United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority
The Civil Aviation Authority is the public corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of aviation in the United Kingdom. The CAA head office is located in the CAA House on Kingsway in Holborn, London Borough of Camden...
Ordinary Licence (Number P786) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Airbus UK Limited).
History
The aircraft factory at Broughton was established early in the second world war as a Shadow Factory for Vickers-Armstrongs Limited. The factory produced 5,540 Vickers WellingtonVickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
s and 235 Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
s. Post-war the factory was used by Vickers to build 28,000 aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
prefab bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
s. Despite the name, the airport is located in Broughton and not Hawarden.
The RAF's No.48 Maintenance Unit was formed at Hawarden on 1 September 1939 and until 1 July 1957 stored, maintained and scrapped many thousands of military aircraft, including the Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
, Wellingtons, Horsa glider
Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces...
s and DH Mosquitos.
No.3 Ferry Pilots Pool/Ferry Pool, Air Transport Auxiliary
Air Transport Auxiliary
The Air Transport Auxiliary was a British World War II civilian organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories, assembly plants, transatlantic delivery points, Maintenance Units , scrap yards, and active service squadrons and airfields—but not to...
, was based at Hawarden between 5.11.40 and 30.11.45. Its veteran pilots ferried thousands of military aircraft from the factories and maintenance facilities at Hawarden and elsewhere to and from RAF and Naval squadrons throughout the UK.
On 1 July 1948 The de Havilland Aircraft Company
De Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
took over the Vickers factory and over the years built the following aircraft types:
- de Havilland MosquitoDe Havilland MosquitoThe de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
- de Havilland HornetDe Havilland HornetThe de Havilland DH.103 Hornet was a piston engine fighter that further exploited the wooden construction techniques pioneered by de Havilland's classic Mosquito. Entering service at the end of the Second World War, the Hornet equipped postwar RAF Fighter Command day fighter units in the UK and was...
- de Havilland Sea Hornet
- de Havilland VampireDe Havilland VampireThe de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
- de Havilland VenomDe Havilland VenomThe de Havilland DH 112 Venom was a British postwar single-engined jet aircraft developed from the de Havilland Vampire. It served with the Royal Air Force as a single-seat fighter-bomber and two-seat night fighter....
and Sea Venom - de Havilland DoveDe Havilland DoveThe de Havilland DH.104 Dove was a British monoplane short-haul airliner from de Havilland, the successor to the biplane de Havilland Dragon Rapide and was one of Britain's most successful post-war civil designs...
and DevonDe Havilland DoveThe de Havilland DH.104 Dove was a British monoplane short-haul airliner from de Havilland, the successor to the biplane de Havilland Dragon Rapide and was one of Britain's most successful post-war civil designs... - de Havilland CometDe Havilland CometThe de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
13 only, and two aircraft that became the prototypes for the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod - de Havilland Canada Chipmunk
- de Havilland Canada Beaver(assembly only)
- de Havilland Sea VixenDe Havilland Sea VixenThe de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen was a twin boom 1950s–1960s British two-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm designed by de Havilland. Developed from an earlier first generation jet fighter, the Sea Vixen was a capable carrier-based fleet defence fighter that served into the 1970s...
- de Havilland HeronDe Havilland HeronThe de Havilland DH.114 Heron was a small, propeller-driven British airliner that first flew on 10 May 1950. It was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove, with a stretched fuselage and two more engines. It was designed as a rugged, conventional low-wing monoplane with tricycle...
The company became part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation in the 1960s and the production of the Hawker Siddeley HS125 business jet, designed by de Havilland as the DH.125, became the main aircraft type produced by the factory for nearly forty years. Production was moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
when the 125 business was sold to the Raytheon Corporation. Raytheon still have a 125 and Beech 400 support centre on the airfield, renamed Hawker Beechcraft Ltd in early 2007.
Since the early 1970s the Broughton factory, now owned and operated by Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
, has been the centre of wing production for all models of Airbus aircraft.
Raytheon System opened a new facility in 2003, to support the Bombardier Sentinel R1
Bombardier Global Express
The Bombardier Global Express is an ultra long range corporate and VIP high speed jet aircraft produced by Bombardier Aerospace. The Bombardier Global 5000 is a slightly shorter version...
entering service with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
.
Airlines and destinations
Although there have been scheduled services to Hawarden in past years, there are currently no public scheduled passenger flights to the airport; most flights are chartered, or corporate, but the airport has frequent air freight flights provided by the Airbus BelugaAirbus Beluga
-External links:*...
to transport aircraft wings to Toulouse
Toulouse Blagnac International Airport
Toulouse Blagnac Airport or Aéroport de Toulouse - Blagnac is an airport located west northwest of Toulouse, just south of Blagnac, both communes of the Haute-Garonne département in the Midi-Pyrénées région of France....
, Hamburg Finkenwerder and Bremen
Bremen Airport
Bremen Airport or Flughafen Bremen serves the German city of Bremen and is located south of the city. There were 2.4 million passengers in 2008.-History:The beginnings of the airport date back to the early 20th century...
for Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
. The Beluga also occasionally visits Airbus' second UK site at Filton, Bristol. There are also regular bmi Regional
BMI Regional
British Midland Regional Limited is a British regional airline based in Aberdeen, Scotland. BMI Regional is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Midland International operating scheduled passenger services primarily within the UK...
Embraer EMB-145 shuttle flights to Bristol Filton
Filton Aerodrome
Bristol Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome lies on the border between Filton and Patchway, within South Gloucestershire, north of Bristol, England. The airfield is bounded by the A38 trunk road to the east, the former London to Avonmouth railway line to the south and the Old Filton Bypass road to...
and Toulouse
Toulouse Blagnac International Airport
Toulouse Blagnac Airport or Aéroport de Toulouse - Blagnac is an airport located west northwest of Toulouse, just south of Blagnac, both communes of the Haute-Garonne département in the Midi-Pyrénées région of France....
for Airbus workers. A number of privately owned light aircraft are based at Hawarden. Police aircraft also operate from here. North Wales Military Air Services are also based here offering maintenance for classic military aircraft, such as the Jet Provost, Strikemaster and L-39, with three Strikemasters, one Jet Provost and an Aero L-39 operating from Hawarden for airshows and pilot training.
There is much private and general activity at the airport, adding considerably to the number of aircraft movements at this airport. Operators include Chester Handling Services, which provides air taxi and charter services, Flintshire Flying School, NWMAS, Ramsgill Helicopters, and Cheshire Police base one Islander aircraft at the airfield. The Police Islander has been replaced by a Eurocopter EC135 Helicopter.