Derby Airport (also known as Derby Municipal Airport, Burnaston Airport and during the Second World War as RAF Burnaston) was an airport located at

Burnaston Burnaston is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It is about southwest of the city of Derby and has a population of 1,531. It contains the headquarters and vehicle manufacturing plant of Toyota M ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. Opened in 1938 as the commercial airport serving

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, it was superseded by

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

in the 1960s but continued as an airfield until the spring of 1990. The site is now occupied by a

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

car factory, which started operations in December 1992.

History

The airport was created at the suggestion of Captain Roy Harben DFC, a veteran of the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

, who persuaded the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

that a flying school was required. The airport served the nearby town (now city) of

and was initially owned by Derby Corporation, which acquired the Burnaston House estate for £21,500 in 1936. The airport was opened for training flights in 1938, with the official opening performed by the

Secretary of State for Air The Secretary of State for Air was a secretary of state position in the British government that existed from 1919 to 1964. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. The Secretary of State for Air was supported by ...

Kingsley Wood Sir Howard Kingsley Wood (19 August 1881 – 21 September 1943) was a British Conservative politician. The son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, he qualified as a solicitor, and successfully specialised in industrial insurance. He became a memb ...

, in June 1939. Plans to develop the airport for commercial flights were interrupted by the Second World War, when Burnaston was used by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF). RAF Units; * No. 3 Basic Flying Training School RAF (1951–53) using Chipmunk T.10s * No. 16 Elementary Flying Training School RAF * No. 16 Reserve Flying School RAF * No. 30 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF * No. 30 Elementary Flying Training School RAF * No. 49 Gliding School RAF In the post-war era Derby Aviation (later Derby Airways) began operating a number of scheduled services from Derby, the first route being to

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

in 1953. During this time, Burnaston House served as the airport's terminal building. Commercial flights ceased in the 1960s when services were transferred to the newly opened

nearby. The airfield continued to be used by flying clubs until being closed altogether in March 1990 to make way for the construction of the Toyota car plant. Following the closure of the airport,

Derby Airfield Derby Airfield is a small privately owned grass airfield situated between the Derbyshire villages of Egginton and Hilton, in the East Midlands of England. The airfield is 7 miles southwest of Derby. Derby Airfield is the home of Airspeed Av ...

, a three-runway grass airfield, opened nearby.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Defunct airports in the United Kingdom Airports in the East Midlands Defunct airports in England 1938 establishments in England 1990 disestablishments in England History of Derby Airports in Derbyshire Airports established in 1938 Airports disestablished in 1990

History

See also

References

Bibliography