Stanton St John
Note: This map shows the location of New Inn Farmhouse, so presumably the Landing Ground was reasonably close by?
STANTON St. JOHN: Private Landing Ground
Operated by: Mr V W Tomkins, New Inn Farm, Stanton St. John
Location: Probably between Beckley and Stanton St John village on the B4027, about 2nm NNW of Wheatley and roughly 4.5nm ENE of Oxford city centre
Period of operation: 1930s only?
Runways: Max landing run: 421 grass
NOTES: News of this A.A. (Automobile Association) approved Landing Ground only came in 2013, from an ‘on-line’ list of 1930s ‘aerodromes’ compiled by the Airfield Research Group, when I’d reckoned I had most of the seventy-four A.A. approved Landing Grounds in mainland Britain already listed.
The details seem worth looking at. The availability of fuel was given as being a pump adjacent to the hangar or else from the City Motor Co (Oxford) Ltd – which probably indicates a somewhat limited and unreliable supply source at the Landing Ground. Transport, (typically a taxi service), was also available from the City Motor Co. The two recommended hotels were the Randolph Hotel in Beaumont Street, Oxford, (built in 1864) and still in business, and the Mitre in the High Street. Quite unusually the Mitre Hotel (extent from 1888) is no longer in business; it now being student rooms for Lincoln College.
Only a few 1930s A.A. recommended Landing Grounds had hangars and it was not indicated if this example could be used by visitors. Also in this case, and very unusual, a telephone was available in the hangar.
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