Compton Abbas Airfield is a grass airstrip south of

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Compton Abbas Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P851) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee. The aerodrome is not licensed for night use. It was from this airfield in May 1993 that tycoon

Asil Nadir Asil Nadir (born 1 May 1941) is a British Turkish Cypriot businessman, who was chief executive of Polly Peck, which he took over as a small textile company, growing it during the 1980s to become one of the United Kingdom's top 100 FTSE-listed ...

flew to France in a six-seater

Piper Seneca The Piper PA-34 Seneca is a twin-engined light aircraft, produced in the United States by Piper Aircraft. It has been in non-continuous production since 1971. The Seneca is primarily used for personal and business flying. Development The Senec ...

as he fled to Northern Cyprus. In October 2022 it was announced that the airfield was being sold by the owners, the Hughes family, to film director

Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the '' Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr. Ritchie left school at age 15 and wo ...

, who owns the neighbouring Ashcombe Estate. Ritchie will take over running of the airfield on 1 February 2023.

References

External links

* * Transport in Dorset Airports in South West England {{UK-airport-stub