Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield
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Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield is an
airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...
on the west side of
Hinton-in-the-Hedges Hinton-in-the-Hedges is a small village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, due west of the town of Brackley. West of the village is Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 17 ...
near
Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, east-southeast of Banbury, north-northeast of Oxford, and ...
,
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
, England. The airfield is made up of several runways, one of which is
Asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
and measures 700 m (2,297 ft) long. It consists of several well-drained, short-mown grass runways which are designated as 06/24, 09/27, and 15/33. The field is flat and plays home to many activities, including both powered flight and unpowered flying with gliders. The skydiving centre is open 6 days a week (closed Mondays), and
skydiving Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...
takes place weather permitting. During the
British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor racing event organised in the United Kingdom by Motorsport UK. First held by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in 1926 British Grand Prix, 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 ...
at nearby
Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...
, it is used as a
park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...
.


History

As with many airfields in the surrounding area, Hinton was built in 1940 by the
RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...
during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It closed to military activity in 1945 as the war drew to a close. The following units were here at some point: * Relief Landing Ground of No. 13 Operational Training Unit RAF (November 1940 – August 1942) * Satellite of No. 16 Operational Training Unit RAF (July 1942 – April 1943) * Sub site of No. 246 Maintenance Unit RAF (November 1946 – November 1947) *
No. 1478 Flight RAF The numero sign or numero symbol, (also represented as Nº, No̱, No., or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, th ...
(April – June 1943) * Beam Approach Development Unit RAF (April 1943) became 'A' Flight of the SDU. * Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) Flight RAF (? – July 1944) * Signals Development Unit RAF (SDU) (April 1943 – July 1944)


Gliding

The
gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...
club at Hinton Skydiving Centre is owned by Banbury Gliding Club. It has been flying at Hinton-in-the-Hedges for over 20 years and operates mainly on weekends and Bank Holidays, but it is open some Fridays during the summer. It is situated from the A422 road. There is no landing fee at the airfield. The club gliders that operate at the airfield are: * a K13 * a K21 * a Ka6 * an Astir. There are also many privately owned gliders, often flying cross-country, and single propeller aircraft that operate at the airfield. The K21 is used for first-time flyers and trial-lessons, the K13 is used as a trainer, and the Ka6 is used for solo pilots, as is the Astir (G-CGBJ) used for more experienced pilots. The gliding BGA turning point for the airfield is HIN. The skydiving aircraft takes students up to about . It takes off and lands on the main hard runway which is oriented 06/24. The club has two tug planes – a Eurofox and a Super Cub.


Flight Training

Go Fly Oxford is a flying school based at the airfield and operates two Cessna 150 aircraft and a Piper PA-28RT-201 Arrow.
Turweston Flying Club
also operates a Piper PA28-181 Warrior from the airfield.


Notable accidents and incidents

* On Thursday, 6 May 2010, the day of the UK's 2010 General Election, a PZL-104 Wilga, carrying the then former
UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
leader
Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...
, crashed whilst attempting to land at Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield after aborting a flight over
Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
with a UKIP banner attached to the tail. The banner became tangled in the control surfaces on the aircraft's
empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
, which prompted the pilot to attempt an emergency landing. The pilot and Farage were both injured and taken to different hospitals. * In December 2010, the pilot, Justin Adams, was arrested as he was alleged to have threatened to kill Farage and similarly threatened the CAA investigator Martin James.''Nigel Farage plane crash pilot charged with threatening to kill Ukip leader'' (has crash picture) Daily Telegraph, 1 December 2010, retrieved 19 January 2011
/ref>


References


Citations


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton-In-The-Hedges Airfield Airports in England Transport in Northamptonshire Airports in the East Midlands