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I know this has been covered previously, but I thought I’d pay a visit myself on a lovely early spring afternoon. Fans of disused airbases will know that most of these places are huge, and are spread out over a very wide area. Llandow is no exception. I’ve included a link here to illustrate. As can be seen, some of the aprons stretch as far as the villages of Frampton to the south and Aberthaw, to the east!
A bit of history: RAF Llandow opened in 1940 as a maintenance and storage base, hence the sprawling taxiways and parking aprons. A training flight consisting of Spitfires was based here along with some transport flights. Other aircraft which operated from here included the Mosquito, Avro Anson, Auster and later, the de Havilland Vampire jet. The base was closed in 1957. Today, various small industrial estates are dotted around the sprawling airbase, the businesses having occupied some of the hangars. There’s even a small touring caravan site and a section of one of the runways is now part of a main road.
Two local rumours; apparently there was a taxiway which linked Llandow to nearby RAF St Athan which is now overgrown with foliage, but it may have been just a country lane or farm track. The other is that after the war, hundreds of surplus/obsolete aircraft particularly Lancasters and Spitfires, were dismantled, scrapped and simply buried in the fields in the immediate and surrounding area around the base.
Photos:
Sections of the runways:
Some outlying buildings:
More hangars:
Interiors:
Paint peelage:
Bonus sunset shot!
That's it. As ever, there's more on my Flickr here and thanks for having a look.
A bit of history: RAF Llandow opened in 1940 as a maintenance and storage base, hence the sprawling taxiways and parking aprons. A training flight consisting of Spitfires was based here along with some transport flights. Other aircraft which operated from here included the Mosquito, Avro Anson, Auster and later, the de Havilland Vampire jet. The base was closed in 1957. Today, various small industrial estates are dotted around the sprawling airbase, the businesses having occupied some of the hangars. There’s even a small touring caravan site and a section of one of the runways is now part of a main road.
Two local rumours; apparently there was a taxiway which linked Llandow to nearby RAF St Athan which is now overgrown with foliage, but it may have been just a country lane or farm track. The other is that after the war, hundreds of surplus/obsolete aircraft particularly Lancasters and Spitfires, were dismantled, scrapped and simply buried in the fields in the immediate and surrounding area around the base.
Photos:
Sections of the runways:
Some outlying buildings:
More hangars:
Interiors:
Paint peelage:
Bonus sunset shot!
That's it. As ever, there's more on my Flickr here and thanks for having a look.