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Old November 19th 03, 08:12 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Stuart Johnson Stuart Johnson is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Nov 2003
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Default Stag Lane Aerodrome

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 18:44:57 -0000, "John Rowland"
wrote:

There is a plaque in De Havilland Road stating that the aerodrome used to be
on this site. Which area did it cover, i.e. which roads or parts of roads
are built on its site?


STAG LANE AERODROME, from which the Aerodrome Estate at
Edgware/Queensbury takes its name, was first developed in 1916 by the
London & Provincial Aviation Company who operated a flying school
there. There were no runways, the aircraft landed and took off from
the grass.

After the closure of the School at the end of the war, the
proprietors, Warren & Smiles, turned to making furniture, and then
chocolate.

Failing to prosper with either of these activities, in October 1920
they leased the aerodrome to the then recently founded de Havilland
Aircraft Company. De Havilland moved in to a wooden office building
and proceeded to complete two DH18 aircraft which came, incomplete,
from Airco in the Edgware Road where Geoffrey de Havilland had been
the Chief Designer

Among the many notable events that occurred at Stag Lane was the first
flight of a Tiger Moth in 1931. However, suburbia was approaching and
the aerodrome was officially closed in January 1934 and sold for
development, so it is perhaps appropriate that this booklet should be
published in 1984, describing the Aerodrome site 50 years on.

The last flight out, by Geoffrey de Havilland, took place on 28th July
1934; the original wooden office from Stag Lane survives as the de
Havilland Museum at the company's 'new' airfield at Hatfield.

Extract from the Introduction to Aerodrome Estate Alleyways, published
by the Wembley History Society in 1984.
--
Stuart Johnson in Peterhead, Scotland