In fact Allensmore is a good example at how hard it can be to locate some
airfields and why the Catalogue is so difficult to produce. I can only
start
off with published data and if that is wrong it takes a lot of
research to
dig out the actual location.
Strange as it seems many airfields stay very quiet about their operations
and their position remains word of mouth or are vague entries in Pooleys.
There's a good study on this at
http://www.gaac.org.uk/gasar/GASAR_AerodromeCategorisation.pdf where they
have graded airfields from A to F. Airfields in the A category are the
major
players like Heathrow with good publicity and data freely available (AIP,
web pages) whilst airfields in the F category are described as such:
"The final category contains ninety-eight flying sites that may be best
described as
Basic Airstrips. 95% of aerodromes in this category are listed in
Lockyears
and only a third are
to be found in either Pooleys or AFE flight. Aerial photography rarely
reveals any aircraft parked
in the open and less than half show any sign of hangarage. All sites
in this
category are grass,
87% have only one direction and 97% have TORA lengths less than 900
metres.
As might be
expected 90% are consequently not identifiable on general purpose OS
maps.
None have
runway lighting or navigational aids and only Caunton has occasional
ground
to air radio.
Facilities are very limited. Only one offers maintenance, only four
fuel and
only three can
provide a cup of coffee. Customs and training schools are non existent.
These sites are 90%
owned by individuals although eight are listed as run by companies and
only
one by a club.
Since data for this category was mainly dependent upon Lockyears and
Lockyears does not
indicate landing fees the assumption is that most sites are either
free or
open to donations."
Note the bit about limited notification (Lockyears only) and that even
aerial photography fails to locate them.
I have a similar problem with Alder Hall. The published position is
N52:12
W01:17 but it's total rubbish. I suspect the airfield is some 20nm
north of
that location near Desford but proving this is going to take some time. A
web search isn't much good because all the other UK Airfield listing
pages
just print the location direct from Lockyears or they nick the data
from my
site (it's amazing how a couple of intentional typos can track these
down).
Early on in my work on compiling the Catalogue I found that you cannot
trust
any written source. I found majors errors in Pooleys, AFE, Jeppesen and
Aerad but the official volumes of the AIP and the RAF En Route
Supplements
weren't immune from them either.
Google Earth has been a great boost in doing this work because it is
finally
possible to cross check published positions against visual data. In
fact I
have decided to start again with the Catalogue and go through every
single
airfield just to ensure every position is valid - using GE as the prime
arbiter for location. The only airfields that I can't verify in this
manner
are the early WW1 fields and those that closed prior to WW2 - those in
brown
on my lists. It's a big change because the KML file is now going to
become
the master copy and the web page and spreadsheet will be slaved to this.
bones
bones@xxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
Of Gerry Winskill
Sent: 19 May 2009 20:10
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jhb] Re: Odd IVAO + FSX crash - grrrr
In fact, looking closely at it in conjunction with Lockyears, I'd risk
a bet it's defunct.
The glass houses are remarkably clear but there's no sign of the T
hangar, to the East of the runway location. Also, to the West of the
glasshouses was said to be the Tram Inn. The drinkers must be long
gone, as there's a large factory there now. Shades of Max Boyce!
Gerry Winskill
Gerry Winskill wrote:
I claim my prize. It's at 51 59.51 2 46.51.
The day the GE shot was taken the mower must have been in for a service.
It's in Lockyears but the given co-ordinates of N52 00 W02 50 are
mind blowingly inaccurate!
Gerry Winskill
Fossil wrote:
Equally annoying is looking for a known airfield in high definition
GE and
still not being able to find it.
Allensmore is a private strip 4nm SW of Hereford. It has an entry in
Pooleys, features in quite a few web pages and even in an AAIB Accident
Report. The Lat and Long published in Pooleys N52:00.01 W02:50.08 is
obviously wrong because my yellow dot in GE is in the middle of a
wood - so
where is it?
I can't test your airfield spotting abilities now because I have
already
updated the Airfield Page with the new position but it would have
been an
interesting exercise to see if you could have found it when starting
from
the wrong position above. It took me three hours.
bones
bones@xxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
Of Peter Dodds
Sent: 19 May 2009 14:35
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: pdodds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jhb] Re: Odd IVAO + FSX crash - grrrr
I've just been looking for Erinagh airfield (near Nenagh, Co,
Tipperary)
as I'm planning to fly there next month to visit friends. I was
amazed at
the very poor definition of Google Earth in rural Ireland. It is so
bad
there is no sign of the airfield. (700m grass).
Peter
*From:* Gerry Winskill <gwinsk@xxxxxxx>
*To:* jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Date:* Mon, 18 May 2009 18:51:36 +0100
Aldergrove looks OK but it's sitting in the cr..py Default Northern
Ireland coverage. I won't be buying until the distant day when
there's a photo scenery Ireland.
Gerry Winskill
