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84-568: Blackbushe Airport ( IATA : BBS , ICAO : EGLK ) is an operational general aviation airport in the civil parish of Yateley in the north-east corner of the English county of Hampshire . Built during the Second World War, Blackbushe is north of the A30 road between Camberley and Hook . For a time, it straddled this road with traffic having to wait whilst airliners were towed across. The south side

168-555: A York as his personal transport. Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory was killed on 14 November 1944, while flying to his new posting in Ceylon to take command of Allied air operations in the Pacific, when York MW126 struck a ridge in the French Alps in a blizzard, 30 miles (48 km) south of Grenoble , France. His wife Dora and eight aircrew also died. The wreckage was found by

252-601: A York when it flew from Heathrow to Gloucestershire Airport to join the collection. It was sold to the RAF Museum in 1972. In 1973 it was restored and painted in RAF markings to represent another aircraft, MW100 ; it was moved to the RAF Museum's Cosford site in 1976, where it is currently displayed. Displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford : Avro 685 York C1, G-ANTK is an ex-Dan Air London aircraft. This airframe

336-466: A batch of both pure freighters and combined passenger/freighter -configured Yorks were also manufactured. Several early production aircraft intended for RAF service were instead diverted to BOAC, who had otherwise received little in the way of similar aircraft prior to delivery of the first York in April 1944. Initial assembly and testing of production Yorks, which were principally destined for service with

420-449: A clear requirement for the strengthening of Britain's air transport forces; the York became the first British aircraft to be used in quantity by Transport Command. The first Royal Air Force (RAF) production order consisted of 200 aircraft; while a further 100 were ordered under a second order placed shortly after. Throughout 1944, the majority of Yorks produced were passenger transport aircraft,

504-482: A flying charity. The airport is open to the general public and is also popular for walks around its perimeter and to see the wildlife in Yateley Common and Castle Bottom National Nature reserve . The airport started life in 1942 as RAF Hartford Bridge, and it was used by RAF squadrons throughout the remainder of Second World War for reconnaissance, defence and strike operations using Spitfires and Mosquitoes . It

588-624: A need for a transport aircraft that was powered by four engines and would be capable of flying for long distances. The design, which was designated as the Type 685 , had its origins in the company's then-newly developed four-engined bomber, the Avro Lancaster , which had made its first flight only earlier that year. The Type 685 paired various elements of the Lancaster, such as its wings, tail assembly and undercarriage and Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, with

672-550: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

756-473: A new civil-orientated transport aircraft. In the midst of an uncertain stage of the Second World War, Britain's aircraft industry was preoccupied by urgent wartime demands, not only to produce military aircraft, but to design increasingly capable models as well. The company's decision to embark on this venture was considered to be ambitious, especially as the development project operated with no official backing early on. The project may well have been influenced by

840-494: A new square-section fuselage that provided double the internal capacity of the Lancaster. The two aircraft also substantially differed in external appearance. In February 1942, Chadwick submitted his drawings to Avro's experimental department. Within five months, the company refined the design and had quickly assembled an initial prototype. On 5 July 1942, the York prototype, LV626 , conducted its maiden flight from Ringway Airport , Manchester . It had initially been fitted with

924-497: A number of smaller planes, such as Spitfires, which were rarely seen on the tarmac. The finest was, perhaps, a Heinkel bomber, but this was sold in order to purchase a replacement which then crashed soon afterwards. On 15 July 1978, the airfield hosted an all-day open-air concert, the Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome, which was attended by some 200,000 people. Bob Dylan headlined, with Eric Clapton , Joan Armatrading , Graham Parker and

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1008-404: A regular sight at Blackbushe until Blink was closed by its new French owners in 2018. In 2014, PremiAir , who had been based at Blackbushe since the early 2000s, and who operated light jets and executive helicopters from Blackbushe, went into administration. They were evicted from the 40,000 sq ft of hangars on the north side, and BCA repurposed them as part of their auction facilities. In 2015,

1092-728: A scheduled service to the Channel Islands, and Eagle Aviation launched several routes to Europe on DC-3s and Viking airliners. Britavia and Airwork also brought in the Hermes airliner, flying charters to Africa and Australia. Blackbushe became a robust diversion airport for London Heathrow, and as a home for aircraft visiting the Farnborough Airshow. The facilities were constantly being upgraded with new buildings, runway extensions, and new navigational aids and lighting. Overseas-based charter airlines often used Blackbushe for their flight to

1176-583: A shortage of transport aircraft, as well as by the formation of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), in 1940, to run all of the nation's overseas civil air routes. However, according to aviation author Donald Hannah, there was little incentive and few materials available for the construction of transport aircraft, it was impossible to predict when the war would end and, thus, when large-scale demand for civil aircraft would return. Roy Chadwick , Avro's chief designer, had foreseen

1260-409: A total of 12 sleeping berths in addition to passenger seating due to the journey time. The majority of BOAC's York fleet were fully furnished passenger airliners or as combi passenger-cargo aircraft. In the post-war years, BOAC expanded its use of the York considerably, such as on its Cairo to Durban service, which had previously been operated by Shorts flying boats . Other airlines also adopted

1344-555: A villager in June 1945. While there are no flying examples of the Avro York, there are two complete examples on display in the United Kingdom. Both aircraft were initially allocated to the RAF, but were used by civil operators for most of their flying careers; both aircraft were issued with military and civil registrations. Avro 685 York C1, TS798 (cn 1223 ), now part of the collection of

1428-499: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1512-600: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

1596-518: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

1680-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

1764-532: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

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1848-404: Is restricted by this common land status. In November 2016, an application was submitted by Blackbushe Airport to Hampshire County Council to deregister the active aerodrome. Blackbushe Airport have published its vision for the airport's future, which includes a new terminal building, a new café, hangarage for maintenance and aircraft parking, and a flying school hub. A public inquiry was held at

1932-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2016-484: The Air Ministry issued an order for three more prototypes of various configurations to be built along with an initial production batch under Specification C.1/42 , part of Operational Requirement OR.113 for a new transport aircraft. The prototypes were used to test various adaptions and potential roles for the aircraft. LV626 , the first prototype, was rebuilt to the C.II standard , the principal modification of which

2100-561: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

2184-645: The Martin P4M Mercator . Large USN transports that used the airport regularly were the Douglas R5D Skymaster and Douglas R6D Liftmaster . In 1955 USN UK-based communications and liaison aircraft of FASRON 200, previously attached to RAF Hendon , in north London, were switched to Blackbushe. By 1955 the airport was handling 36,000 movements per year. The US Navy also set up a base as a communications headquarters. This brought new aircraft such as Beech Expediters, Dakotas, DC-7s and Super Constellations. In

2268-605: The RAF Museum . This aircraft was completed in October 1945 and intended for the RAF as TS798 , but quickly passed to BOAC and given the civil registration G-AGNV . In BOAC service it flew routes in South Asia and Africa until 1950. In 1955 it was acquired by Skyways, who operated it until 1964. It was sold to the Skyways airframe collection for preservation and made the last ever flight by

2352-576: The Second World War . The design was derived from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber , several sections of the York and Lancaster being identical. Due to the importance of Lancaster production, York output proceeded slowly until 1944, after which a higher priority was placed upon transport aircraft. The York saw service in military and civilian roles with various operators between 1943 and 1964. In civilian service, British South American Airways (BSAA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) were

2436-741: The Elvetham Hotel on 2–5 April 2019. On 12 June 2019, the Planning Inspectorate issued a decision granting the application to deregister the airport from Yateley Common. Hampshire County Council subsequently sought a Judicial Review of the Inspector's decision which was held at the Royal Courts of Justice on 11–12 February 2020. On 23 April 2020, the High Court ruled in favour of Hampshire County Council. The Court of Appeal upheld this decision, and

2520-539: The French Aéronavale procured five Yorks from the British Air Ministry and operated the type at Le Bourget for around a year. On 21 February 1944, the first civilian York ( G-AGJA ), initially built for the RAF as MW103 , received its airworthiness certificate , thus clearing its delivery shortly thereafter to BOAC. On 22 April 1944, the York inaugurated an initial UK- Morocco - Cairo route. Following

2604-600: The RAF at that time, was performed at Ringway, reaching its peak in 1945; these activities later being transferred to facilities in Yeadon , Leeds and Woodford , Cheshire , where work was undertaken at a slower pace. Only eight aircraft of the second order for 100 aircraft were produced; in April 1948, the final York, PE108 , was completed. Abroad, a single pattern aircraft was completed by Victory Aircraft in Canada; however, no further orders were received. Victory had tooled up for

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2688-484: The Rumour , Lake, and Merger also appearing. From 1985 to 2015, the airport was owned by British Car Auctions (BCA), who refurbished the terminal building, and replaced the tower in 1992. From 1998 to 2009 The Queen's Helicopter was based there.. In 2008, the newly formed Blink launched their European air-taxi service from Blackbushe to over 600 destinations using a fleet of Cessna Citation Mustang aircraft. These were

2772-634: The Supreme court declined to hear the case, referring the matter back to the Planning Inspector for redetermination. In November 2023 a Planning Inspector issued a decision confirming the footprint of the Terminal Building and part of the airport cafe to be removed from the register of common land, but no curtilage. In January 2024, Blackbushe Airport submitted a new application to the Planning Inspectorate for deregistration and exchange of 35.3 acres of

2856-497: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Avro York The Avro York was a British transport aircraft developed by Avro during

2940-542: The UK, normally finding that the airfield was open for operations, even when other airports in the London area were closed by fog. The airfield's hilltop position helped in this respect. The Avro Yorks of Tropic Airways of Johannesburg visited for several years. Blackbushe was used as a major location for the 1956 film The Crooked Sky in which the former RAF station buildings and then current commercial aircraft are seen. The airport

3024-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

3108-461: The York. In military service, the York was used on all of the trunk routes operated by Transport Command, such as the critical England – India route. Overall, 208 Yorks were manufactured for the RAF. During the Berlin Airlift , RAF Yorks from seven different squadrons flew over 58,000 sorties to provide the city with vital supplies between 1948 and 1949. In total, in excess of 1,000,000 tons

3192-644: The airfield was opened as Blackbushe Airport under the control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Full customs facilities were provided for both air transport operators and the private owners of light and executive aircraft. Over the next few years, airlines such as Britavia , Westminster Airways, Airwork , and Silver City all moved in operating Lancastrians (passenger aircraft derived from Lancaster bombers), DC-3s , and Bristol Freighters . Movements by 1950 had risen to 11,000 per year, with 16,000 passengers. The 1950s saw further expansion, Air Contractors started

3276-475: The airfield was shrouded in fog, the fuel was ignited. The heat created would cause the fog to rise and disperse. On 18 November 1944, the airfield was renamed to RAF Blackbushe, due to confusion over a similar area in Norfolk. On 15 November 1946, the RAF had moved out, and the airport was handed over to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, becoming Blackbushe Airport. The A30 was reopened to traffic. In February 1947

3360-806: The airport for an equally sized area at Cottage Farm, some 2 miles to the east of the airport. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

3444-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

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3528-421: The airport was sold to Sir Peter Ogden , who previously founded Blink , in 2008. The north side hangars were not included in the sale, so Blackbushe currently has no hangar facilities. The new owners plan to invest in the refurbishments of the airport and bring the facilities into the 21st century, including building new hangars to replace the space lost on the north side. Investment has been made in repairs to

3612-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

3696-491: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

3780-553: The committee's decision were that most of the land was to be an open space, so that the proposal would be detrimental to the amenities of Yateley village, and it would interfere with safety and traffic flow on the Basingstoke - London trunk road. Despite many objections AVM Bennett battled the red tape and finally owned and opened the aerodrome in 1962. The airport became a base for a large collection of historic World War II aircraft, including four Junkers Ju 52s , six Douglas DC-3s and

3864-420: The development of a private aerodrome on the site of Blackbushe Airport. The applications, made by AVM Bennett, were for the use of an area of 325 acres as a private aerodrome, and for the erection of aircraft hangars. The vice-chairman of the committee, Lord Porchester, said that the Ministry of Aviation was not supporting AVM Bennett in his attempt to re-open Blackbushe for private flying. The reported reasons for

3948-531: The diversion of the first five RAF production Yorks to BOAC, it was decided to allocate a further 60 to the airline but in fact only 25 more were delivered to BOAC. Early BOAC operations were conducted in close collaboration with No. 216 Group RAF ; this led to some early Yorks bearing a confusing combination of both civilian registrations and military external markings. Flights were soon established to Johannesburg , South Africa , in conjunction with South African Airways ; Yorks assigned to this route fitted with

4032-481: The enclosure had eight perspex windows to reduce claustrophobia . It also had a telephone, an instrument panel, drinking facilities and an ashtray with room for cigars, a thermos flask , newspapers and books. Testing at RAE Farnborough found the "egg" to work satisfactorily. Avro said it was too busy with the new Lancaster IV ( Avro Lincoln ) work so it was never installed in Ascalon . It was considered for installation in

4116-919: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

4200-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

4284-425: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

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4368-593: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

4452-439: The four prototypes and three production aircraft had been manufactured, but production was scheduled to rise to three aircraft per month throughout 1944. Early production Yorks were principally used as a VIP transport aircraft; notably, the third prototype, LV633 being luxuriously fitted out and becoming the personal transport of Winston Churchill. On 25 March 1943, RAF Transport Command had been formed, which soon established

4536-520: The independents was Skyways. In 1964, the last Yorks were retired from service by Skyways and Dan Air . When the Distant Early Warning Line (Dew Line) was being constructed in Canada in the late 1950s, the York was introduced as a freighter by Associated Airways to support the initiative, these being used later in ordinary airline service. At least one of the Yorks, CF-HAS , was retained, and

4620-482: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

4704-551: The largest users of the type. In military service, large numbers of Yorks were used for air-supply missions during the Berlin Blockade 1948–49. A number of the type were used as air transports of heads of state and government ; VIPs who flew on Yorks included British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , French General Charles de Gaulle , Indian Governor-General Lord Mountbatten and South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts . During 1941, Avro elected to begin development of

4788-479: The late 1950s, BOAC launched operations of the Comet airliners. Other operators such as Pan-Am, SAS, and BEA were using Blackbushe regularly as a diversion from Heathrow. However, with the newly built Gatwick airport, the lease on Blackbushe was not granted, and these operators were forced to start using Gatwick. On 31 May 1960 the airport closed. All of the infrastructure, fixtures, and fittings were auctioned off. Parts of

4872-423: The licensee (Blackbushe Airport Limited). The aerodrome is licensed for night use. One of several airfields eclipsed since 1958 by the growth of Heathrow and Gatwick airports, Blackbushe was once a significant airport for passenger and cargo charter flights for the London area. Currently based aircraft include several corporate jets , two flying schools, a helicopter training facility, as well as Aerobility,

4956-454: The manufacture of 30 aircraft and had built parts for five aircraft, but, ultimately, only one would be completed around the time that the war came to an end. This aircraft would later be purchased by Skyways Ltd. The Avro York was a high-wing cantilever monoplane, using an all-metal construction, with many similarities to the Lancaster from which it was derived. The wings used a two-spar structure, which housed seven internal fuel tanks between

5040-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

5124-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

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5208-400: The parachutes towards the fixed tailwheel , posing an entanglement risk. Production of the York proved difficult to speed up, due to shortages of key materials. Moreover, Avro was also obliged to place a high priority on the manufacturing and refinement of the Lancaster. Officials had also judged that there was no requirement for large numbers of Yorks at that time. By the end of 1943, only

5292-428: The rear of the cabin. Emergency exits were present in the ceiling of each cabin. Passengers were subjected to very noisy conditions due to the aircraft's engines, but from a pilot's perspective, the York was reasonably pleasant to fly. In 1945, No. 511 Squadron became the first squadron to be fully equipped with Yorks; eventually a total of ten squadrons of RAF Transport Command were wholly or partially equipped with

5376-612: The reopening was due to one man and his resolve, Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett , CB , CBE , DSO . Born in Toowoomba , Australia and best known for his RAF Pathfinder exploits in the Second World War and his escape after being shot down during the raid on the German battleship Tirpitz , he evaded capture and escaped to Sweden , from where he was able to return to Britain. The Hampshire County Council Planning Committee rejected an application on 25 August 1961, one of two applications for

5460-405: The runways were dug up. The airport remained closed until 6 October 1962 when it was formally reopened as a general aviation field. During the closure, many light aircraft continued to use the airfield. The airport passed into private ownership and was formally reopened as a general aviation field on 6 October 1962. There had been a fight to reopen the airport, as there were many objections; however

5544-501: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

5628-521: The spars, containing 2,478 imperial gallons (11,270 L; 2,976 US gal). The outboard panels of the wings were tapered on both edges and were furnished with detachable tips. The wings featured all-metal hydraulically -actuated split trailing edge flaps and carry the four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in four underslung nacelles attached to the front wing spar. Each engine drove a three-bladed constant-speed fully feathering metal propeller , manufactured by de Havilland Hydromatic . The fuselage

5712-497: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

5796-513: The successor aircraft, a Douglas C-54 B but the contractor Armstrong Whitworth decided it was impractical and the project was shelved. The whereabouts of "Churchill's Egg" are not known. MW140 , Endeavour , flew to Australia in 1945 to become the personal aircraft of the Duke of Gloucester , Australia's Governor-General. It was operated by the Governor-General's Flight from 1945 to 1947; it

5880-538: The taxiways and parking areas, as well as repainting all of the airside markings. In late 2017, a new airport management team was put in place. They have set about supporting the general aviation activities at the airport. Blackbushe Airport sits on part of Yateley Common. Despite access to the active airfield site being restricted since the 1940s, and provisions of the Aviation Security Act 2018 prohibiting trespass on an aerodrome, development of new facilities

5964-439: The twin fins and rudders of the Lancaster but the increased fuselage side area forward of the wing compared to the Lancaster necessitated fitting a third central fin to retain adequate control and directional stability; the third fin was fitted as standard on subsequent production aircraft. Flight trials of LV626 were quickly transferred to RAF Boscombe Down . In response to the prototype's favourable performance during trials,

6048-504: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

6132-786: The type, such as its use by British South American Airways (BSAAC) on their routes to the Caribbean and South America, prior to their merger into BOAC in September 1949. On 7 October 1952, BOAC withdrew its Yorks from passenger services, retaining the type for freight operations. BOAC's Yorks continued to operate freight schedules until November 1957 when the last example was withdrawn. After disposal by BOAC and BSAAC, their York fleets were purchased by several UK independent airlines and operated on both passenger and freight flights; these service often included long-distance trooping flights to Jamaica and other UK garrisons. The largest York operator out of

6216-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

6300-640: Was also the home of the Free French Squadron (Lorraine). A number of important people landed at the airport including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth , Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Field Marshal Montgomery . RAF Hartfordbridge was also the home of a new system known as "FIDO" (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation) built by the Airforce Construction Unit. Pipes were laid down both sides on Runway 26, and fed with fuel. The pipes had small holes, and if

6384-576: Was also used as a filming location in the making of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky directed by Henry Koster, starring James Stewart , Marlene Dietrich and Jack Hawkins . From the early 1950s, the United States Navy (USN) had a facility on the north-east edge of the airport which frequently handled visiting naval aircraft. These included patrol types such as the Lockheed P2V Neptune and

6468-638: Was built at Yeadon, near Leeds, in January 1946 and entered RAF service with 242 Squadron as MW232 that August. It joined the fleet of Allied aircraft engaged in the Berlin Airlift and in May 1947, the York moved to 511 Squadron at Lyneham, where it served until May 1950 when it was used by Fairey Aviation for flight refuelling research. It then retired to 12 Maintenance Unit at Kirkbride for storage prior to disposal. In July 1954, MW232 became G-ANTK with Dan Air and it

6552-623: Was carried by the York fleet; the type had borne close to half of the British contribution, alongside other aircraft such as the Douglas Dakota and Handley Page Hastings . Following the end of the Airlift, the RAF retired much of its York fleet; around 40 of these were sold onto civilian operators while many others were scrapped due to the onset of corrosion . During the 1950s, numerous military contracts were issued to civilian York operators. In 1954,

6636-480: Was in service with Transair as late as 1961. The Avro York was, like its Lancaster and Lincoln stablemates, a versatile aircraft. One of the prototypes, LV633 , Ascalon , was custom-built as the personal transport and flying conference room for King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill . Ascalon was to be fitted with a special pressurised "egg" so that VIP passengers could be carried without their having to use an oxygen mask . Made of aluminium alloy,

6720-404: Was of a semi- monocoque construction, complete with a flush- rivetted skin, and was built in five separate sections. In a typical passenger configuration, the York could accommodate a 21-seat three-abreast arrangement split between the fore and aft cabins. The main entrance door was set between the two cabins, along with cloakrooms and lavatory and a kitchen and baggage hold was located at

6804-588: Was the Royal Australian Air Force 's only York. Another York, MW102 was fitted out as a "flying office" for the use of the Viceroy of India and C-in-C South East Asia Command , Lord Mountbatten . During its first major overhaul by Avro at Manchester (Ringway) in 1945, the aircraft was repainted a light duck egg green, a shade intended to cool down the aeroplane, instead of its former normal camouflage colour scheme. South African leader Jan Smuts also used

6888-512: Was the installation of Bristol Hercules VI radial engines in place of the Merlins; it was later decided to standardise on the Merlin engine, leaving this as the sole Hercules-powered York. The fourth prototype, LV639 , was furnished as a paratroop transport , complete with ventral dropping doors. However, flight testing found that the York was unsuited to this role, due to the slipstream wash drawing

6972-502: Was used for aircraft maintenance, using wartime-built hangars. Today, only the part of the airfield that lay north of the A30 remains in active use. The historical name for the flat piece of land on which it is sited is Hartford Bridge Flats. The nearest towns are Yateley and Fleet . Blackbushe Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P693) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by

7056-537: Was used for freight work until its retirement in May 1964. It was ferried to Lasham Airfield and used as a bunk house by the Air Scouts until 1974. The Dan Air preservation group took it over and began to restore the aircraft in their spare time. In the mid-1980s, Dan Air realised the impracticality of the restoration work being undertaken and began negotiations with the Duxford Aviation Society. In May 1986,

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