Stapleford Aerodrome (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGSG) is an airfield in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England near to the village of Abridge. It is about 3.4 nautical miles (6 km) south of North Weald Airfield and 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 km) north of Romford. The airfield is just within the M25, near to the junction with the M11. An IATA airport code, also known an IATA location identifier or simply a location identifier [1], is a three-letter code designating many airports around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). ... The ICAO (IPA pronunciation: ) airport code or location indicator is a four-letter alphanumeric code designating each airport around the world. ... Romford is a large suburban town in east London, England and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Havering. ... The term above mean sea level (AMSL) refers to the elevation (on the ground) or altitude (in the air) of any object, relative to the average sea level. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The or meter (see spelling differences) is a measure of length. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The or meter (see spelling differences) is a measure of length. ... Natural vegetation dominated by grasses Grass is a common word that generally describes a monocotyledonous green plant in the family Poaceae. ... Base layer of asphalt concrete in a road under construction. ... An IATA airport code, also known an IATA location identifier or simply a location identifier [1], is a three-letter code designating many airports around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). ... The ICAO (IPA pronunciation: ) airport code or location indicator is a four-letter alphanumeric code designating each airport around the world. ... Epping Forest is a local government district of the county of Essex, England. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Statistics Population: Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TQ466969 Administration Parish: Lambourne District: Epping Forest Shire county: Essex Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Essex Historic county: Essex Services Police force: Essex Police Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East of England Post office... A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. ... North Weald Airfield (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGSX) is an operational airfield, near the village of North Weald Bassett in Epping Forest, Essex. ... Romford is a large suburban town in east London, England and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Havering. ... The M25 motorway looking south between junctions 14 and 15, near Heathrow Airport. ... This page is about the M11 motorway in England. ...

History

The 1930s

Stapleford opened as Essex Aerodrome in 1933 as a base for Hillman Airways who provided a service to Paris and other European cities using De Havilland DH.84 Dragon and DH.89 Dragon Rapide biplanes. Amy Johnson was one of the Hillman Airways pilots. After running into financial difficulties, Hillman was bought up by Whitehall Security Corporation Ltd and merged with three other airlines that they already owned to form British Airways Ltd. Operations began in 1936, but after 4 months all flights were moved to Heston Aerodrome, leaving just a small number of private aircraft. City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... For other uses, see De Havilland (disambiguation). ... The de Havilland Dragon was a commericial aircraft designed and built by the de Havilland company. ... The de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide was a successful British short-haul passenger airliner of the 1930s. ... A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings of similar spans, normally one mounted above, and the other level with, the underside of the fuselage. ... Amy Johnson in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, July 1930. ... This article deals with the 1930s airline British Airways Ltd. ... Heston Aerodrome, in the west of London, UK, was operational between 1929 and 1946. ...

The RAF took an interest in the airfield in 1937 and in 1938 No 21 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training school was established at Stapleford. Flying training was provided by Reid and Signist Ltd, under contract to the Air Ministry. One of the most famous students was J.E. "Johnnie" Johnson who became the RAF's top scoring pilot and reached the rank of Air Vice Marshal. RAF is an three letter acronym for: Royal Air Force -- the Air Force of the United Kingdom (see also Air Ministry) Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion) -- a German terror organisation Rigas Autobusu Fabrika -- a factory making buses in Riga, Latvia Rapid Action Force in India Računarski Fakultet RAF... The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the United Kingdom Government, established in 1918 with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the (then newly formed) Royal Air Force. ... Air Vice Marshal James Edgar Johnnie Johnson CB, CBE, DSO and two Bars, DFC and Bar (9 March 1915–30 January 2001) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who during World War II shot down 38 Luftwaffe aircraft, thus becoming the British flying ace with the most kills during... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... An Air Vice Marshals sleeve/shoulder insignia An Air Vice Marshals command flag Air Vice Marshal is the third most senior rank active in the Royal Air Force today, after the inactivation of Marshal of the Royal Air Force as a substantive rank in peacetime during defence cuts...

World War II

The airfield was requisitioned shortly after the start of World War II as RAF Stapleford Tawney. A long perimeter track and dispersal points were built and some accommodation buildings were erected. By the end of March 1940 the airfield was ready to become a satellite station for North Weald. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... St Marys Church, Stapleford Tawney Stapleford Tawney is a civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. ...

The first squadron to make regular use of Stapleford was No 151 Squadron, making patrols from the base from August 1940. Six aircraft were lost and two pilots, including squadron leader Eric King, killed in action on 30 August. After a short stay, the squadron was moved to Digby, Lincolnshire, but one aircraft struck a crane after take off and burst into flames. The pilot, Pilot Officer Richard Ambrose, was killed; he is buried in Epping cemetery. The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Digby is a small village located near a large Royal Air Force base (RAF Digby), south of Lincoln on the B1168 road. ...

No 46 Squadron arrived in September, having lost all their Hurricane fighters when the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was sunk while evacuating the squadron from Norway. No. ... The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. ... HMS Glorious was a warship of the Royal Navy. ...

Other units to use Stapleford included the secret 49 flight, formed in August 1940 as the operational air-arm of the SOE (Special Operations Executive). They were intended to use Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys to drop agents and supplies behind enemy lines. Westland Lysanders would be used to pick up agents as well as other important people. Because of heavy Luftwaffe attacks on North Weald, the flight moved to Stapleford on 4 September. The Whitley was a rather large aircraft to use Stapleford's grass runways. Only two operations were carried out from Stapleford; one to Brest and the other to Fontainebleau. The flight then moved to Stradishall, Suffolk on 9 October. The Special Operations Executive (SOE), sometimes referred to as the Baker Street Irregulars after Sherlock Holmess fictional group of spies, was a World War II organization initiated by Winston Churchill and Hugh Dalton in July 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. ... Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. ... The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was one of three twin-engine, front-line medium bombers in service with the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of World War II. // Developed from the A.W.23 bomber-transport to meet Air Ministry Specification B.3/34 and manufactured by... Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset, formed just before the start of World War II. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their Lysander would serve as an important liaison aircraft with the RAF. After the war the... Westland Lysander III (SD). ... This or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Brest (lol) is a city in Brittany, or the Bretagne région, north-west France, sous-préfecture of the Finistère département. ... Location within France Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. ...

Other squadrons at Stapleford were No 242 Squadron and the RAF's oldest, No 3 Squadron and, in 1941, a new Air Sea Rescue squadron was formed at Stapleford - No 277 Squadron. No. ...

In March 1943, Stapleford was taken out of Fighter Command and placed under the command of No. 34 Wing of the Army Co-operation Command. Fighter Command was one of three functional commands that dominated the public perception of the RAF for much of the mid-20th century. ... RAF Army Cooperation Command was a short-lived major command of the Royal Air Force during World War II. It was formed on 1 December 1940 when No. ...

Stapleford played an important part in the preparations for D Day and many units arrived. On 20 November 1944 a V2 rocket landed in the middle of the airfield leaving a crater 60 feet in diameter. On 23 February 1945 another rocket landed on the airfield camp site killing 17 personnel and injuring 50. A number of the personnel are buried in the church cemetery at North Weald. Battle plans for the Normandy Invasion, the most famous D-Day. ... German test launch. ...

Stapleford finished its wartime service with the last personnel leaving before VE day. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) was May 8, 1945, the date when the Allies during the Second World War formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitlers Reich. ...

A memorial at the airfield recalls those who lost their lives.

Post-war

In 1953 Roger and Buster Frogley transferred the Herts and Essex Aero club from Broxbourne in Hertfordshire to Stapleford, the hangars were renovated and they began flying Tiger Moths and Austers. Broxbourne is a commuter town in the Broxbourne borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. ... The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth was a 1930s biplane designed by de Havilland and operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. ... Auster Autocrat from 1952 For the Roman god of the south wind, see Notus. ...

In 1955 Edgar Percival the famous pre-war aircraft designer, set up a company at Stapleford under his name and started a production line for his EP9 crop spraying aircraft. A total of 40 aircraft were built. Edgar Wikner Percival (1897 - 1984) was a British aircraft designer and pilot whose aircraft were noted for speed and grace. ...

Today

The airfield is currently the home of Stapleford Flying Club, a privately owned, family run business which has been training pilots for around 40 years. With a fleet of over 40 aircraft, they train pilots at all levels, from PPL to CPL and ATPL. Other companies provide business charter services and London sight seeing flights. PPL can stand for: An abbreviation for People, often used in IRC and Instant Messengers. ... CPL may stand for: The Cyberathlete Professional League: a professional e-sports league. ... The Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL or ATP) is the highest level of aircraft pilot certification. ...

The airfield has two long parallel runways 04/22, one of them being partly asphalt at one end, and a shorter grass runway 10/28. Base layer of asphalt concrete in a road under construction. ...

References

• United Kingdom AIP

Pilot magazine, October 2006 Aeronautical Information Publication (or AIP) is defined by ICAO as a publication issued by or with the authority of a state and containing aeronautical information of a lasting character essential to air navigation. ...

External links

• Stapleford Flight Centre
• Aerial photograph