Walsall flying sites
Note: This map only shows the position of Walsall town within the UK.
WALSALL see also BESCOT STADIUM
WALSALL see also CAULDERFIELDS FARM
WALSALL see also SPRING VALE
WALSALL: Civil aerodrome later partly military airfield (Aka ALDRIDGE)
Note: The information about this site has come from a wide range of sources, and The Story of Walsall (historywebsite.co.uk) has been especially helpful.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', has found these pictures and maps.
Note: The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
A BIT MORE INFO
Later Mike discovered this article which was published in Flight magazine on the 11th July 1935, describing the aerodrome official opening ceremony on the 6th July. In those days there was often quite a long lag between an aerodrome becoming operational and the official opening ceremony.
Military user: WW2: US First Army 32nd Field Artillery Brigade
Operated by: 1919 and 1921: Berkshire Aviation Company
1934 Mr E A Bayley
Re-opened in 1935 by: Mr S N Jones - South Staffs Aero Club
Flying Club: Pre 1940: South Staffordshire Aero Club
Location: S of Bosty Lane, just E of Mellish Road, in Aldridge roughly NE, (about 2.5nm?) of Walsall town centre
Period of operation: Initially 1919 to 1921, later 1934 to 1956
Runways: 04/22 869 grass 07/25 768 grass
10/28 869 grass 15/33 814 grass
Note:This aerodrome was pretty small in total area, covering just 230 acres it seems.
NOTES: It appears that this aerodrome was first laid out in 1934, and became the base for the South Staffordshire Aero Club, previously known as the Walsall Aeroplane Club, first established at nearby CAULDERFIELDS FARM in 1932 or thereabouts. It appears they had about fifty flying members and around one hundred non-flying members. A club house with a bar and small office was built, together with a hangar large enough to accommodate four to five light aircraft. The Council it seems employed an aerodrome manager who also acted as a ground engineer.
MORE INFORMATION
In 1933 it appears only sixteen municipal authorities had Air Ministry Licensed aerodromes, but, five towns had purchased sites with the intention of developing them. These were Carlisle, Doncaster, Leicester, Southport and Walsall. In the event all five ‘made the grade’ and succeeded. Another eight towns had also located and reserved sites as part of their town planning schemes and these were: Basingstoke (HAMPSHIRE), Blyth (NORTHUMBERLAND), Burton (STAFFORDSHIRE), Maidstone (KENT), Milton UDC (Wherever that was?), Rotherham (YORKSHIRE), Skegness (LINCOLNSHIRE) and Southwold (SUFFOLK). As far as I can determine, only Skegness, of these eight towns, actually succeeded in establishing a municipal aerodrome?
HELLIWELLS
In 1938 Helliwells Limited leased a site for a large factory from the Corporation. They specialised in aircraft repairs and maintenance and later went on the build large sub-structures, like the wings for the Percival Prince and Pembroke. It appears they opened a flying school in 1943, presumably for ab initio training for service pilots.
It is reported that in the 1950s the airfield was mainly used by Helliwells, but by 1956 they transfered to ELMDON. On the 8th October 1956 Helliwells cancelled their lease, and the airfield closed.
FLYING CIRCUS VENUES
The venue (20th September) for Alan Cobham’s 1935 No.1 Tour was ‘The Aerodrome, Walsall’. I find it interesting that in 1934 WALSALL was a venue for a previous Cobham Tour, displaying on the 8th June, the very year this aerodrome is said to have opened.
THE MIDLANDS GLIDING CLUB
The Midlands Gliding Club regularly sponsored gliding and sail-plane displays here soon after it opened and it appears that Amy Johnson flew her Kirby Kite and a Gull sailplane at one of these events on the 26th June 1938. The event atttacted around six thousand visitors, many arriving to see Amy in person. She certainly made a big impression on her second flight when a wingtip caught the perimeter fence, flipping it over. She was unhurt but somewhat shaken.
Although being a good licensed aircraft engineer, she never professed to being much of a pilot. It is often overlooked that on her flight to Australia in the de Havilland DH60G Gipsy Moth, G-AAAH (Jason), she crashed it badly twice, needing extensive repairs.
FLYING CLUBS AND SCHOOLS
In 1938 fifty-seven of the ninety-nine flying clubs and schools in the UK including the South Staffs Aero Club signed up to become a Civil Air Guard ‘members’ which provided subsidised flying “to provide, in times of crisis, a body of men and women, physically fit with a knowledge of flying, and pledged to give their services at once in any state of National Emergency arising from war or threat of war, to the RAF, or in any other direction concerned in aviation”. It seems the going rates for wannabe pilots were 5/- an hour weekdays, 10/- an hour weekends. Cheaper than normal club rates certainly but still not cheap as such for most people. Here again the age old class divide seems to have been at work in effect surely excluding most working class people from participating? (A policy eventually much regretted as WW2 developed?) Very interestingly I think there was no sex discrimination. The age limits were 18 to 50, again remarkably progressive by modern standards, and the aim was to train pilots up to ‘A-license’ standards, the equivalent of a full PPL in those days. Many thousands joined up though at times the scheme almost foundered under the mountain of paperwork, rules and regulations required.
WORLD WAR 2
It appears that two USAAF Piper L-4 Grasshoppers were based here during WW2, and I now wonder what duties they performed? This site was also used for the maintenance of Spitfires and Harvards, but by whom? The answer it seems was that it was operated by Heliwells Ltd.
POST 1945
Today it is a park but a couple of the original buildings, including a hangar, still exist I’m told and, in 2005 at least, it appears that model flying takes place here and probably has done for a lengthy period?
UPDATE: MORE VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION
I was warned when starting out on this project, by very kind people who really did know this subject, that the task was impossible. And how right they were to warn me. But, at least a start has been made. In 2023 Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide' of course, discovered that this location had been used many years before, by the Berkshire Aviation Company in 1919 and 1921. And, provides the following proof.
Operating dates: 29th September to 5th October 1919 20th to 29th August 1921
The article was published in the Walsall Observer on the 27th September 1919. The advert was also placed in the Walsall Observer, but on the 20th August 1921.
NOTES: In many ways researching the history of British flying sites, is very akin to peeling an onion. Peel off one layer and another appears, again and again, until you end up in tears. Yes, it can be very frustrating. This is, after all recent history, going back, mostly, to the late 18th century when the first balloon ascents were being made. And yet, in 2025, after starting this project about a quarter of a century ago, am still adding new locations most weeks.
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