Brough Aerodrome

Brough Aerodrome (ICAO: EGNB) is located at Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

For other uses, see Brough.

Brough Aerodrome
Summary
Airport typePrivate
OperatorBAE Systems
LocationBrough, East Riding of Yorkshire
Elevation AMSL12 ft / 4 m
Coordinates53°43′11″N 000°33′59″W
Map
EGNB
Location in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 1,054 3,458 Asphalt
06/24 631 2,070 Grass
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

History

The site was first used in 1916[3] by the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company during the First World War for the testing of seaplanes.

Brough played its part in preparing fighter pilots for the Battle of Britain. Yorkshire members of The Few – including local Spitfire pilot Ronald Berry and, for a short spell, high-scoring fighter ace James "Ginger" Lacey – honed their flying skills whilst at the Brough Flying Training School on Blackburn B-2 biplanes.

In 1949, the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company changed its name to Blackburn & General Aircraft Limited and built a number of aircraft at Brough, including the Blackburn Beverley transport aircraft and the Blackburn Buccaneer maritime strike aircraft.

Between 1949 and 1957, the perimeter track of the Aerodrome was used as a race track, known famously as the venue of Stirling Moss's first win. The track went under the name of Brough Circuit.

In the 1960s, the company became part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation and the site continued with the production of the Buccaneer.

The company became part of British Aerospace and later BAE Systems and the site continues to build and support military aircraft. Until the end of production, BAE Harrier jump jets were built at Brough. The airfield closed in the early 1990s after the daily shuttle flights to BAe Warton ended due to cost-cutting. Continuing to this day, variants of the BAe Hawk are built at Brough.

On 7 September 2007, however, the company announced that it intended to fly all future Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft[4] from Brough to Warton at a rate of two per month. It is unsure whether the airfield will become fully operational. On 28 January 2008, flying resumed with the take-off of a demonstration version of the Hawk.[5] At the end of April 2009, an F-35 Lightning II static test airframe arrived at Brough Aerodrome. It was the first such aircraft to be delivered to the UK.[6]

A £2.5 billion deal to provide Typhoons and Hawks to Oman extended Brough's work backlog to 2016, with hopes of further lucrative export deals to come.[7]

The following units were here at some point:[8]

  • No. 4 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF
  • No. 4 Elementary Flying Training School RAF
  • No. 4 Reserve Flying School RAF
  • No. 48 Maintenance Unit RAF
  • Hull University Air Squadron

References
  1. Airport information for EGNB at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  2. Airport information for EGNB at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  3. Yorkshire Airfields in the 2nd World War  - p296 - Patrick Otter - Countryside Books - 1998 - ISBN 978 1 85306 542 2
  4. "The Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer". BAe Systems. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2008.
  5. "Flights resumed at aircraft base". BBC News Online. BBC. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  6. "Joint Strike Fighter Arrives in UK". Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  7. "Brough jobs fight goes on as BAE secures Oman deal". Hull Daily Mail. 22 December 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  8. "Brough". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
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