Hard times
Both a Net Flicks offering and going back in time sees Cessna C.172 G-AVKF doing engine checks prior to departure from Shoreham's 26 grass runway
Taken from the original River Bank line from a time when Shoreham was an all-grass field
Those yellow and white marker boards deliniate the airfield boundary and what looks a flock of Gulls - some Black-backed - out to the right
Prominent in the distance are both a long-gone electricity pylon and the silver-painted WWII Gunnery training dome
That whole area is now completely changed with a new roundabout on the A27 (where that JCB is) which services the Airport, Ricardo Engineering, Lancing College and Coombes plus the new-build housing estate situated just to the west of the Airport
As to the circular gunnery dome, it originally it was painted matt black and housed a central dummy 'gun turret' manned by the trainee gunners who 'fired' on aircraft images projected onto the internal domed 'sky'.
Following this WWII use and it's associated adjacent RAF Nissan Hut encampment, it was turned over to the newly formed Air Training Corps where Shoreham's 1440 Squadron occupied the site in the 1950's
The Dome became a classroom with a Link-Trainer installed instead of the 'gun turret'
A decade on, the ATC moved into a new site in Shoreham town and the camp was left largely derelict with the Dome used by the Airport as storage
A fire almost sealed it's fate but due to it's rarity it became a lisited building. Painted in a gaudy green and brown camouflage it gradually fell into disuse but since the revamp of the whole area it has been incorporated into a visitor 'trail' which includes a nature reserve as a buffer between the airfield and the new housing
For decades the Airport suffered with flooding, rendering it almost unuseable for weeks on end so in the 80's an 'all-weather' strip was constructed on the 21/03 aspect which mostly solved the issue though it is currently proposed to be strengthened and widened under a plan put forward by the current owners
Scanned Kodak 35mm Transparency
Hard times
Both a Net Flicks offering and going back in time sees Cessna C.172 G-AVKF doing engine checks prior to departure from Shoreham's 26 grass runway
Taken from the original River Bank line from a time when Shoreham was an all-grass field
Those yellow and white marker boards deliniate the airfield boundary and what looks a flock of Gulls - some Black-backed - out to the right
Prominent in the distance are both a long-gone electricity pylon and the silver-painted WWII Gunnery training dome
That whole area is now completely changed with a new roundabout on the A27 (where that JCB is) which services the Airport, Ricardo Engineering, Lancing College and Coombes plus the new-build housing estate situated just to the west of the Airport
As to the circular gunnery dome, it originally it was painted matt black and housed a central dummy 'gun turret' manned by the trainee gunners who 'fired' on aircraft images projected onto the internal domed 'sky'.
Following this WWII use and it's associated adjacent RAF Nissan Hut encampment, it was turned over to the newly formed Air Training Corps where Shoreham's 1440 Squadron occupied the site in the 1950's
The Dome became a classroom with a Link-Trainer installed instead of the 'gun turret'
A decade on, the ATC moved into a new site in Shoreham town and the camp was left largely derelict with the Dome used by the Airport as storage
A fire almost sealed it's fate but due to it's rarity it became a lisited building. Painted in a gaudy green and brown camouflage it gradually fell into disuse but since the revamp of the whole area it has been incorporated into a visitor 'trail' which includes a nature reserve as a buffer between the airfield and the new housing
For decades the Airport suffered with flooding, rendering it almost unuseable for weeks on end so in the 80's an 'all-weather' strip was constructed on the 21/03 aspect which mostly solved the issue though it is currently proposed to be strengthened and widened under a plan put forward by the current owners
Scanned Kodak 35mm Transparency