London Biggin Hill Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | London Borough of Bromley | ||||||||||
| Operator | Biggin Hill Airport Limited | ||||||||||
| Location | Biggin Hill, London, England | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 599 ft / 183 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°19′51″N000°01′57″E / 51.33083°N 0.03250°E /51.33083; 0.03250 | ||||||||||
| Website | bigginhillairport | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  EGKB Location in Greater London Show map of Greater London EGKB EGKB (England) Show map of England EGKB EGKB (Europe) Show map of Europe | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2018) | |||||||||||
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| Sources: UKAIP atNATS[1] Statistics from theUK Civil Aviation Authority[2] | |||||||||||
London Biggin Hill Airport (IATA:BQH,ICAO:EGKB) is an operationalgeneral aviation and minorcommercialairport servingBiggin Hill in theLondon Borough of Bromley, located 12 NM (22 km; 14 mi) south-southeast ofCentral London. It specialises ingeneral aviation, handling a spectrum of traffic fromprivate aviation to largebusiness jets. It currently has no scheduledairline service,[3][4] as flights using the airport are not regularly permitted to carry fare-paying passengers.
The airport was formerly aRoyal Air Force stationRAF Biggin Hill, and a small enclave on the airport still retains that designation. Biggin Hill is best known for its role during theBattle of Britain in theSecond World War, when it served as one of the principalfighter bases protecting London andSouth East England from attack byGermanLuftwaffebombers. Over the course of the war, fighters based at Biggin Hill claimed 1,400 enemy aircraft, at the cost of the lives of 453 Biggin Hill based aircrew.[5][6]
The airport has aCAA Ordinary Licence (Number P804) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licencee (Regional Airports Limited).
The airfield was originally opened by theRoyal Flying Corps (RFC) during theFirst World War. Koonowla House was requisitioned by theWar Office in 1916 for the RFC to conductwireless experiments. Then on 13 February 1917 the RFC transferred there (from their long-time HQ atRAF Joyce Green, atLong Reach nearDartford), and established it as part of the London Air Defence Area, using the adjacent Cudham Lodge estate, which contained a huge undivided field ideal for aircraft.[7] The same yearLord Stanhope's Aperfield Court and grounds, some 2 miles (3.2 km) from the station, were requisitioned for use as a radio transmitter and fighter ground control station.[8] The station was responsible for defending the capital against attacks byZeppelins andGotha bombers. To this end, 141 Squadron of the RFC was based at Biggin Hill and equipped withBristol Fighters.[9]
Shortly after the war, on 7 January 1919, around 700 RAF technical staff mutinied.[10] Their grievances included poor food and living conditions, with one complaint being that they only had eight washbasins between them.[11][12] The mutiny was ended by the intervention of sympathetic officers.[11]
Apperfield Court was demolished in 1920 and the aerodrome extended onto its grounds.[8] Between the wars, the airfield was used by a number of experimental units, working on instrument design, ground-based anti-aircraft defences, and night flying. The base was closed between 1929 and 1932, during which period reconstruction work took place including the building of new hangars.[9]
During the Second World War the airfield was one of the commanding bases forNo. 11 Group RAF,RAF Fighter Command during theBattle of Britain, with bothSupermarine Spitfires andHawker Hurricanes from a variety of squadrons being based there. The squadrons based at Biggin Hill claimed to have destroyed 1,400 enemy aircraft, at the cost of the lives of 453 Biggin Hill-based aircrew. Due to its importance to the defence of London, the airfield itself became a target. Between August 1940 and January 1941, the airfield was attacked twelve times, the worst of which wrecked workshops, stores, barracks,WAAF quarters and a hangar, killing 39 people on the ground.[6][9]
During the war Biggin Hill was also used byRAF Balloon Command.[13]
After the war, Biggin Hill was briefly used byRAF Transport Command, and then became a base for both regular and reserve fighter squadrons, flying Spitfires,Meteors andHunters. A fatal incident involving the loss of three Meteors on 18 June 1951 (see incidents and accidents below) caused the station's continued use by the military to be called into question. However, in 1958 Biggin Hill ceased to be an operational RAF station, becoming the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre for the RAF. Due to the impending closure of the nearbyoriginal London Airport at Croydon, from 1956 much of the civilian light aviation from Croydon relocated to Biggin Hill and it became a joint civilian and military airport. Croydon closed completely in 1959, at which time Biggin Hill became a mainly civilian airport with only occasional military flying taking place.[9]
The following units were at Biggin Hill at some time:[14]
Towards the end of 1963, theOrpington Urban District Council (within whose boundaries the airfield lay) was approached by theBoard of Trade as to whether the Council would purchase (effectively from the RAF) Biggin Hill airfield. In 1964, on formation of theLondon Borough of Bromley, which absorbed Orpington, the offer to purchase was open to the new borough. Protracted negotiations were held with the Board of Trade and later theDepartment of Trade and Industry. At a special meeting on 15 June 1972 the Council decided to purchase the airport by a recorded vote of 41 to 9. The purchase was eventually completed in 1974.RAF Biggin Hill was awarded theFreedom of the Borough of Bromley on 5 October 1980.
In May 1992 theDepartment of Transport issued a direction to the Council under s.13 of theAirports Act 1986. The effect of this direction, which affected airports generating turnover of £1 million or more (Biggin Hill just scraped into this limit), was to require the Council to set up a new company for the purpose of operating the airport as an independent commercial undertaking. To comply with the direction would have required the transfer of all the assets and liabilities to the company with a consequential loss of council control over airport activities. In the circumstances, the council decided that the granting of a 125-yearlease would enable more control to be retained than an outright disposal of the freehold or by a transfer to a local authority company with an uncertain future. In May 1994, the airport was leased to Biggin Hill Airport Limited ("BHAL"), now a subsidiary of Regional Airports Limited,[38] for 125 years.[39]
Meanwhile, the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre moved toRAF Cranwell in 1992, marking the end of active RAF involvement.[9]
In 2001, the London Borough of Bromley asfreeholder of the airport succeeded in an action in theCourt of Appeal. The court ruling prohibits the airport operators from allowing tickets to be sold for flights into and out of the airport, thus preventing its use for scheduled or holidaycharter flights, but allowing business aviation and corporate shuttles.[40]
In May 2017 runway 29/11 was permanently withdrawn from use.[41]
The airport is located on a hilltop, just to the east of theBromley toWesterham road (A233) and about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of the town ofBiggin Hill in theLondon Borough of Bromley. It is in a rural area to the south-east of Greater London, outside of theGreater London Built-up Area. The small village ofLeaves Green lies adjacent to the north-western perimeter of the airport.[42]
The airport has one runway (03/21, so close to northeast by north/southwest by west) 1,820 metres in length, making it usable by aircraft up toBoeing 737/Airbus A320 size, and it has anInstrument Landing System for runway 21 (when runway 03 is in use, a visual 'circle to land' procedure is required). Radarair traffic control (ATC) services are provided by Thames Radar at theLondon Terminal Control Centre, while procedural approach andVFR ATC services are provided by the airport itself.[43][44][45]
Despite the ban on scheduled services, Biggin Hill is used by a large number of business flights bybusiness jets and similar sized aircraft. The airport has a passenger terminal, located on the A233 road just south of Leaves Green, which provides facilities for such flights, including departure lounges, a licensed café bar, andcustoms andimmigration facilities.[46]
The current RAF Biggin Hill is a small enclave on the western boundary of the airport to the south of the passenger terminal, and contains the headquarters of 2427 Squadron of theAir Training Corps. Next to this isSt George's Chapel of Remembrance. This brick built chapel was erected in 1951, to replace an earlier chapel destroyed by fire, and now serves as a memorial to all the aircrew who died flying from the Biggin Hill Sector. It is surrounded by a garden of remembrance and hasgate guardians in the form of full-sized replicas of a Hurricane and a Spitfire, representing the aircraft that flew from the former airfield during the Battle of Britain. The replicas replaced genuine aircraft that formerly served as the guardians.[9][47][48]Air Marshal Hugh Dowding laid the foundation stone. The chapel was taken out of the RAF's control in 2015,[49] and is now owned by Biggin Hill Memorial Museum Trust.
Besides the passenger terminal and RAF enclave, other former RAF buildings still exist in the 'North Camp' to the west of the main runway, including the Sergeant's Mess of 1932, the Airmen's Institute of circa 1926, the former Station Headquarters building of 1931 and severalbarrack blocks. The buildings, which are Grade IIlisted, are in a redbrickneo-Georgian style typical of military airfields of the interwar period. They have been vacant since the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre closed in 1992, and were added toEnglish Heritage's list of buildings at risk in 2006.[6]
The 'South Camp', situated to the south of runway 11/29, was transferred to civil usage in the 1950s and now consists of a utilitarian collection of hangars and sheds, together with a modern office park. It now contains many aviation related businesses, flying clubs and flying schools. Many private light aircraft are based on the airport.
From 1963, Biggin Hill airport was the venue of theBiggin Hill International Air Fair, an annual airshow that usually took place towards the end of June. On 5 July 2010 Biggin Hill Airport Ltd cancelled the 25-year contract with Air Displays International (the Air Fair organisers) without warning, a few weeks after the 2010 event, during which the Air Fair had attracted record breaking crowds.
Construction on a new state-of-the-art hangar alongside the Passenger Terminal commenced in October 2010. Excavations of the site uncovered underground war-time fuel tanks and associated pump rooms; these were re-covered during the same building works. Construction was planned to finish late in Spring 2011.
Biggin Hill is the location of one of the four "stacks" for aircraft landing atHeathrow Airport, and is used by aircraft approaching from the south east. It uses aVOR navigational beacon with the identifier "BIG". Noise from aircraft using this stack is often wrongly attributed to aircraft using Biggin Hill Airport.
Three model aircraft clubs operate within a three-mile radius of Biggin Hill Airport. One site operates within its Aerodrome Traffic Zone (2.5 NM (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) radius)[50]
For 60 years (to 2016) anAir Scout centre has been located on the grounds of the airport. The centre allowed young people aged between 7 and 18 to take part in aviation activities with their scout groups. In 2016, Biggin Hill Airport Limited, which has historically claimed to support young people coming into aviation, rescinded its sub-lease to the Scout Aviation Centre in order to make way for new car parking spaces, giving them until 30 September 2016 to vacate their home of some 60 years.[51]
The airfield still retains its history by the continued restoration projects running at the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar. IntotheBlue experience days, a UK company within the airfield allows members of the public to fly alongside a Mk9 Spitfire in a 1950s Harvard. Projects like this hold a timely reminder to how important the airport was during the Second World War.
Commercial service to the airport has previously been rejected. An application by the airport to allow such flights around the time of the2012 London Olympics was rejected by Bromley Council in March 2011.[52] Under the terms of its lease, no scheduled or fare-paying passenger services are permitted to operate to or from the airport.Air Alderney announced it planned to launch charter services between the airport andAlderney.
The airport features briefly in the 2006 filmThe Da Vinci Code, as a landing site for the main characters travelling to London.[62]
Media related toLondon Biggin Hill Airport at Wikimedia Commons
