Scone Memorial Airport, is a public airport in the Upper

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

, north-west of

Scone, New South Wales Scone () is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2021 census, Scone had a population of 5,013 people. It is on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres (167.77 mil ...

, Australia. It was built to provide a public aerodrome replacing Nandowra aerodrome on located on ''Nandowra'', approximately nine kilometres south of Scone.

History

In 1937, No. 3 Squadron RAAF aircraft, including

Hawker Demon The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

and

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 ...

, together with an Aerodrome Defence Crew camped at Nandowra Aerodrome. During

World War II 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 ...

, the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

utilised Nandowra Aerodrome as an emergency landing ground. Between 1988 and 2001, Yanda Airlines based an aircraft and pilots at Scone to operate commuter flights to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

via Cessnock,

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

and Maitland. The company's fleet of PA-31 aircraft were also maintained by Scone Aircraft Maintenance at the airport until Yanda's grounding by the

Civil Aviation Safety Authority The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is an Australian statutory authority responsible for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's civil aviation. CASA was formed on 6 July 1995 under the ''Civil Aviation Act 1988'' when the Civil ...

Current facilities

There are currently no airlines serving Scone. The airport is home to several businesses providing a range of services. These include: Scone Aero Club, a social club and Ultralight Flight Training Facility approved to conduct

Recreational Aviation Australia Recreational Aviation Australia (abbreviated to RAAus), formerly known as the Australian Ultralight Federation (AUF), is the governing body for ultralights in Australia. RAAus registers ultralight aircraft and issues pilot certificates throug ...

instructor training and which organised the Warbirds Over Scone series of airshows in 1998, 2001 and 2003; Pay's Air Charter and the Warbird Museum Airspeed Aviation, an charter operator and flying school; Scone Aircraft Maintenance, an approved aircraft maintenance facility; and AirPasture, an aerial application business. In 2010, an agreement between the

Upper Hunter Shire The Upper Hunter Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi Shire, Murrurundi and Merr ...

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

and local business owners secured up to $2 million in funding to update and expand the airport facilities. The upgrades include improved drainage, a runway extension and a new taxiway. The runway extension was completed by May 2011. The Upper Hunter Shire has expressed an interest in attracting commuter airline services to the upgraded airport.

Accidents and incidents

*On 31 October 1982, a de Havilland DH-82 Tiger Moth preparing for a display formation involving two other aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff and was destroyed by the post impact fire, killing both the pilot and passenger. The cause of the crash was determined to be a combination of factors attributed to pilot error.

References

External links

Scone Aero Club
{{Airports in Australia N Air transport in the Hunter Region RA-Aus Approved Flight Training Facilities Airports in New South Wales Upper Hunter Shire Airports established in 1937 1937 establishments in Australia