Mark
Hobley
ALDRIDGE AIRFIELD
Aldridge Airfield may also be known as "Greenacres" or "The T.I.
Airfield". Aldridge Airfield was established as a municiple airfield in
1935 and was licenced for public use in 1936. It occupied an
area of 230 acres and had a
small runway of 900 yards in length. Aircraft runways of today have a
minimum length of 3000
yards.
In 1938 a newly built
factory on part of the airfield was leased to Helliwells Ltd, a firm
that made aircraft components and during World War Two, the airfield
was used mainly as a maintenance
airfield for Spitfire, Harvard, Boston, Anson and Seafire aircraft,
although Lanacaster and Lincoln parts were also manufactured by
Helliwells.
In 1943, additional leasing was granted to Helliwells School
of Flying Ltd.
The airfield is no longer operational for full size aircraft, however
model flying takes place there. The airfield is now used by Greenacres Model
Aero Club.
