Langford Lodge Airfield is a former

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and

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 ...

station near Belfast,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Today the airfield is owned by RLC (UK) a subsidiary of RLC Engineering Group which is headquartered in the Isle of Man. Langford Lodge is located on the eastern shores of

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...

and close to

RAF Aldergrove Aldergrove Flying Station, also known previously as JHC FS Aldergrove, is a British military base located south of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, Northern Ireland and northwest of Belfast, and adjoins Belfast International Airport. It is som ...

Belfast International Airport Belfast International Airport is an international airport northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland, and is the main airport for the city of Belfast. Until 1983, it was known as Aldergrove Airport, after the nearby village of Aldergrove, Cou ...

and the former

RAF Nutts Corner Royal Air Force Nutts Corner, or more simply RAF Nutts Corner, is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located east of Crumlin, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and north west of Belfast. Second World War The site was selected for use as ...

. The site was also known as No. 20 Satellite Landing Ground.

History

Planned to be a Satellite Landing Ground for No. 23 Maintenance Unit at RAF Aldergrove, Langford Lodge was selected in October 1941 to be developed as an air deport for the maintenance and repair of USAAF aircraft. A scheme was devised whereby the British Ministry of Aircraft Production would build the airfield and necessary facilities, while the American

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and merged in 1995 with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-u ...

would staff the depot with civilian employees. Built during January-October 1942, and extended during the winter of 1943-44, the airfield eventually had two concrete runways, 26 pan hardstandings with 100 'fingers’ for aircraft storage, and nine T2, eight Robin and some 20 Butler hangars, plus a Lockheed-designed hangar. Essentially, Langford Lodge was one of four primary air depots in the UK which during the period up to July 1944 when the contractual arrangements with Lockheed were terminated, provided complete logistical, ie supply and service back-up facilities to the USAAF, initially the 8th Air Force and then also the 12th, 9th and 15th Air Forces, albeit less extensively,. The other two, larger, depots were at

Burtonwood Burtonwood is a village in the civil parish of Burtonwood and Westbrook, in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the name Burtonwood is known worldwide as the location of the ...

and Warton in Lancashire but there were links between all three which were formalised by the setting up of a Base Air Depot Area organisation (BADA) in September 1943, at which time Langford Lodge was officially designated the 3rd Base Air Depot. From July 1944 until its closure at the end of July 1945, the base functioned as a Storage and Experimental Station, continuing to do some of die work for which it had previously been responsible and, as the war moved towards a conclusion salvaging increasing numbers of war-weary aircraft. For a few months in 1944, Langford Lodge was also the base for Ferrying Squadrons of the 27*' Air Transport Group. Following its closure in 1945, the airfield was placed in Care and Maintenance until 1952 when it was refurbished and used briefly to accommodate the RAF's No 5 Air Navigation School until its disbandment in January, 1953. The following units were here at some point: * No. 4 Air Navigation School RAF was formed here on 22 September 1952 but disbanded less than two months later on 15 November 1952 * No. 5 Air Navigation School RAF from 15 November 1952 until 31 January 1953 using

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

s until it was disbanded * Sub site of No. 257 Maintenance Unit RAF (March 1946– ?) Langford Lodge was a target in Operation Grün (Ireland), a second front to

Operation Sea Lion Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (), was Nazi Germany's code name for their planned invasion of the United Kingdom. It was to have taken place during the Battle of Britain, nine months after the start of the Second World ...

, which was the planned

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

invasion of Britain. German paratroopers were to capture Langford Lodge, Aldergrove and Nutts Corner while

RAF Long Kesh Royal Air Force Long Kesh, or more simply RAF Long Kesh, is a former Royal Air Force station at Maze, Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Various aircraft operated from the airfield during the Second World War, including the Supermarine Seafire and Spi ...

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

was to be destroyed. Notably, on 2 March 1989 a

Dan-Air Dan-Air (legally ''Dan Air Services Limited'') was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based shipbroker, shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, i ...

BAe 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (formerly Avro HS 748) is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorptio ...

from Newcastle, bound for

, mistakenly landed at Langford Lodge. Some of the wartime airfield facilities used to house the Ulster Aviation Society's Heritage Centre. Exhibits included a

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British aircraft carrier, carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough Aerodrome, Brough, it was later officially k ...

, a

Hawker Sea Hawk The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its design originat ...

and a

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34. It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes from Sikorsky's H-34 was the rep ...

. In 2005 the society moved to Maze Long Kesh, Lisburn.

Today

Langford Lodge is currently home to two model flying clubs; Langford Model Aviation and Langford Model Heli Club. There is a

rocket sled A rocket sled is a test platform that slides along a track (e.g. set of rails), propelled by rockets. A rocket sled differs from a rocket car in not using wheels; at high speeds wheels would spin to pieces due to the extreme centrifugal forces ...

track owned by

Martin-Baker Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited is a British manufacturer of ejection seats and safety-related equipment for aviation. The company was originally an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection seats. The comp ...

for

ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the aircraft pilot, pilot or other aircrew, crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an exp ...

testing. The track, running alongside the old main runway, has been in use since 1971.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links