Hedon Aerodrome

{{Short description|Former Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox military installation | name = Hedon Aerodrome | ensign = Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg | ensign_size = 90px | native_name = RAF Hull<br>RAF Hedon | location = Preston, East Riding of Yorkshire | nearest_town = Kingston upon Hull | country = England | image = Hedon Aerodrome - geograph.org.uk - 316979.jpg | alt = | caption = The former Hedon Aerodrome site, January 2007 | image2 =  | alt2 = | caption2 = | type = | coordinates = {{Coord|53|44|39.3|N|0|13|40.9|W|region:GB_type:airport|display=inline,title}} | gridref = TA170290 | image_map = | image_mapsize = | image_map_alt = | image_map_caption = | pushpin_map = East Riding of Yorkshire | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Shown within the East Riding of Yorkshire | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_image = | pushpin_label = Hedon Aerodrome | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_mark = | pushpin_marksize = | ownership = Air Ministry<br>Hull City Council (current)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-40105964|title=Yorkshire Energy Park 'threat to Hedon and wildlife'|work=BBC News|date=31 May 2017|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref> | operator = Royal Flying Corps<br>Royal Air Force | controlledby =  | open_to_public =  | site_other_label =  | site_other =  | site_area =  | built = {{Start date|1912}} | used = {{End date|1959}} | builder = | materials = | height =  | length =  | fate = | condition = Grassland | battles = | events = | current_commander =  | past_commanders =  | garrison =  | occupants =  | website = | footnotes =   | IATA = | ICAO = | FAA = | TC = | LID = | GPS = | WMO = | elevation ={{convert|5|m|0}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Agricultural land classification Hedon Aerodrome|url=http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/5067697543970816|website=naturalengland.org|accessdate=23 June 2017|page=4|date=April 1994}}</ref> | r1-number = | r1-length =  | r1-surface = Grass | airfield_other_label =  | airfield_other =   }} '''Hedon Aerodrome''' (also known as '''Royal Air Force Hedon''' and '''Royal Air Force Hull'''), was an airfield located {{convert|6|mi}} east of Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.{{sfn|Delve|2006|p=297}} The airfield was in operation intermittently between 1912 and the late 1950s both in a civilian and a military capacity. It was rejected as a Second World War airfield due to its proximity to the Salt End chemical works and oil tanks.

==History== The first non-agricultural use of the fields was in 1888 when Hedon Park Racecourse was laid out over them. At one time, the racecourse had the longest racing straight section in Britain.{{sfn|Delve|2006|p=297}}<ref>{{cite web|last1=Duffill|first1=Ray|title=History of Hedon Airfield|url=https://hedonblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/history-of-hedon-airfield/|website=The Hedon Blog|accessdate=23 June 2017|date=13 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Winn|first1=Christopher|title=I never knew that about Yorkshire|date=2010|publisher=Ebury|location=London|isbn=978-0-09-193313-5|page=37}}</ref> The racecourse adjoined the Hull-Withernsea railway line (which ran along the northern border of the course) and the North Eastern Railway opened up a station to serve the racecourse, although the station was not in the timetables and trains only stopped for traffic on race days. Traffic ceased when the racecourse closed in 1909, but saw a brief resurgence for a few months in 1948 and 1949, when the site known as Hedon Stadium was used as a speedway track.<ref>{{cite web|title=Disused Stations: Hedon Racecourse Station|url=http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hedon_racecourse_halt/index.shtml|website=www.disused-stations.org.uk|accessdate=10 August 2017}}</ref>

The first person to fly to and from the grassed area that was to become Hedon Aerodrome was a young German pilot called Gustav Hamel in 1912. Hamel also became the first flying postman in England when he carried letters and cards between Hendon and Windsor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glory days of Hedon Airfield|url=http://yorkshirepride.portland.co.uk/hedon/page1.shtml|website=yorkshirepride.portland.co.uk|accessdate=23 June 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010307133302/http://yorkshirepride.portland.co.uk/hedon/page1.shtml|archivedate=7 March 2001|date=7 March 2001|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

When the First World War was declared, the airfield became a gathering point for Holderness villagers in the event of an invasion and the East Yorkshire Regiment used the airfield as a parking place for their heavy artillery.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=96}} Flying activity at Hedon during this time was confined solely to 33 and 76 Squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps who used it as a night landing airfield which they deemed to be a 2nd-class landing ground.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=96}} After the end of the First World War, the airfield was closed to military flying.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Philpott|first1=Ian M.|title=The Royal Air Force : an encyclopedia of the inter-war years|date=2005|publisher=Pen & Sword Aviation|location=Barnsley|isbn=1-84415-154-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/royalairforceenc0000phil/page/245 245]|url=https://archive.org/details/royalairforceenc0000phil/page/245}}</ref>

Prince George performed the opening ceremony for the Hull Municipal Airport in October 1929 which also saw a flying display by No. 29 Squadron RAF.<ref>{{cite magazine|editor1-last=Spooner|editor1-first=Stanley|title=Prince George opens the Hull Municipal Aerodrome|magazine=Flight Magazine|date=18 October 1929|volume=XXV|issue=1086|pages=1117–1118|publisher=Flight|location=London|issn=0015-3710}}</ref> Flying resumed when the Hull Flying Club (now known as Hull Aero Club) commenced pleasure flights from what was then a grassed area covering {{convert|200|acre}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hull Aero Club 2016|url=http://www.hullaeroclub.co.uk/|website=www.hullaeroclub.co.uk|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=96}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Communications {{!}} British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/east/vol1/pp387-397|website=www.british-history.ac.uk|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref> At this time, Hull Council had acquired the site to promote commercial interests too and the grassed area had no definable runway with the dimensions being {{convert|4830|ft}} from west to east and {{convert|2040|ft}} from north to south.{{sfn|Delve|2006|p=297}} Flying at the site was restricted because of radio masts, telephone wires and its proximity to Salt End chemical works which was only {{convert|1|mi|adj=on}} to the south-west.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=96}}

The piece of history that Hedon is most famous for was in August 1930, when Amy Johnson arrived at the aerodrome to a rapturous applause and gifts from the people of her home town.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=96}} She had just returned to the United Kingdom after performing her solo flight from England to Australia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia – archive, 1930|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/26/amy-johnson-solo-flight-australia-1930|accessdate=24 June 2017|work=The Guardian|date=26 May 2017}}</ref> Sir Alan Cobham's Flying Circus visited the site in the 1930s and for a while from 1934 to 1935, the Dutch carrier, KLM, operated flights from Amsterdam to Liverpool with a stopover at Hedon.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|pp=96–97}} In the early 1930s, the Civilian Aircraft Company established a manufacturing site on the southern edge of the aerodrome. The venture was short-lived as the company was bankrupted in 1933 after producing only one type of aircraft.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=A. J.|title=British civil aircraft since 1919.|date=1973|publisher=Putnam|location=London|isbn=0-370-10010-7|pages=28–29|edition=2}}</ref>

After 1935, grazing rights for cattle were applied for by three local farmers and the building of a cattle shelter on the site.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hedon (Hull) Aerodrome Committee 1929–1936|url=http://catalogue.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/files/c-tcae.pdf|publisher=Hull History Centre|accessdate=23 June 2017|page=3}}</ref> Hedon was surveyed after the outbreak of the Second World War, but was declared unfit for the needs of military flying. The proximity to the chemical works and the oil tanks at Salt End, were deemed to be too close for safe flying. Old cars were piled up upon the airfield to prevent enemy aircraft from using it.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=97}} However, the airfield was utilised as No. 63 site of the Hull Barrage, flying balloons deployed from RAF Sutton on Hull. Meteorological readings were also taken from here to determine the levels of static electricity.<ref>{{cite web|title=17 Balloon Centre – RAF Sutton on Hull : Balloonatic|url=http://www.17balloons.co.uk/pages/page-05.html|website=www.17balloons.co.uk|accessdate=23 June 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After the Second World War it was used as a speedway track by the 'Hull's Angels', before the Hull Corporation Airfield Company was wound up by the council, who then abandoned the aerodrome in July 1951.{{sfn|Barrymore Halpenny|1982|p=97}} A large portion of the site is now farmland with the rest taken over by industry, woodland and Skirlaugh ARLFC's rugby ground.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/hedon-hull/|title=Hedon (Hull)|work=Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref> thumb|The plaque, unveiled by the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust (ABCT), July 2017. In the late-1950s a group of businessmen, spearheaded by Kingston upon Hull resident Neville Medforth, attempted to restart flying from the site. Despite valiant efforts to clear and level the former airfield and with some brief flying taking place, the attempts of the group, which was known as the ''East Yorkshire Aero Company'', ultimately failed following a planning objection by The Distillers Company of Salt End in September 1959. Despite the matter going to a public inquiry in February 1960, the decision remained in favour of the industrial works. Their efforts were not totally in vain however, as the flying group would eventually go on to establish an airfield in Paull during the late-1960s, which would become the base of the newly reformed Hull Aero Club until the early-1980s. In June 2016, a book about these efforts was published by Neville Medforth's grandson, entitled ''The Hedon Aerodrome Saga: Death of an Airport''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hu17.net/2016/10/06/new-book-lifts-the-lid-on-local-aviation/|title=New Book Lifts The Lid on Local Aviation|date=6 October 2016|website=HU17.net – It’s all about Beverley!|accessdate=28 July 2017}}</ref>

In July 2017, a plaque commemorating the airfield was installed by the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust at the neighbouring Kingstown Hotel in Hedon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0588f3n|title=28/07/2017, Andy Comfort - BBC Radio Humberside|work=BBC|accessdate=28 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Plaque marks former airfield|date=29 July 2017|work=Yorkshire Post|page=3|issn=0963-1496}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/plaque-remember-former-hedon-airfield-262344|title=Plaque for former Hedon Airfield which welcomed Amy Johnson flight|last=Shoesmith|first=Kevin|date=3 August 2017|work=Hull Daily Mail|accessdate=3 August 2017}}</ref>

==Yorkshire Energy Park== In 2013, a consortium of companies announced their intention to build on the remaining land and create the '''Yorkshire Energy Park'''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-23225752|title=Hedon biomass power station plans to bring '700 jobs'|date=8 July 2013|accessdate=23 June 2017|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/environment/jobs-will-persuade-people-energy-park-is-good-idea-1-8024535|work=The Yorkshire Evening Post|title=Jobs will 'persuade people energy park is a good idea'|date=20 July 2016|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref> This would involve a business park, an educational campus, a data centre, local sport provision and a power plant. Originally the power was intended to be generated from biomass but this has been amended to run off natural gas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yorkshire Energy Park marketing pack|url=http://yorkshire-energy-park.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/YEP-Marketing-Pack.pdf|website=yorkshire-energy-park.co.uk|accessdate=23 June 2017|page=1}}</ref><ref name=":YEP:" /> Part of the proposal is to move the Skirlaugh ARLFC ground to the eastern end of the site.<ref name=":YEP:">{{cite web|url=http://yorkshire-energy-park.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/FAQS.pdf|title=Yorkshire Energy Park – faq |page=4 |website=Yorkshire-energy-park.co.uk|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref> It was hoped that the park could be started in 2018,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Casci|first1=Mark|title=Green energy park could bring 1,000 jobs to Hull|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/green-energy-park-could-bring-1-000-jobs-to-hull-1-8543380|accessdate=23 June 2017|work=The Yorkshire Post|date=15 May 2017}}</ref> however, it was not until June 2020 that the final approval was given.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Standley |first1=Nathan |last2=Laister |first2=David |title=£200m Yorkshire Energy Park gains government backing |url=https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/200m-yorkshire-energy-park-gains-18341196 |accessdate=2 June 2020 |work=Birmingham Post |date=1 June 2020}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== *{{cite book|last=Barrymore Halpenny|first=Bruce|title=Action Stations 4; Military airfields of Yorkshire|year=1982|publisher=Patrick Stephens|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-85059-532-0}} *{{cite book|last=Delve|first=Ken|title=The military airfields of Britain, Northern England; County Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire|year=2006|publisher=Crowood Press|location=Marlborough|isbn=1-86126-809-2}}

==External links==

*{{cite web |title=16mm black and white film of Amy Johnson landing at Hedon in 1930 |url=https://www.yfanefa.com/record/2238 |website=Yorkshire and North East Film Archives |publisher=Yorkshire Film Archive |access-date=9 October 2022}} *[https://britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw036416?keyword=8733&ref=4 Image of the site from the south-west] *[https://britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw031624 Image of the site looking south-eastwards] {{RAF stations in Yorkshire}} {{Civil airports in Yorkshire}}

Category:Airports in England Category:Transport in the East Riding of Yorkshire Category:Aircraft assembly plants in England Category:Airports in Yorkshire