Britain's longest aircraft runway ?

[Vieste]

3,200 metres

[Eric Mc]

I knew it was fairly long.

[tbid]

Wethersfield was a landing site at one point before it closed down due to the proximity of stanstead.

[john2443]

Heathrow 3901m according to Wiki.

[Johnnytheboy]

NASA said:

Tamanrassett, Algeria

Well I never, I've been there.

They'd be in some trouble if they needed to get anything to/from it by road - it's a very, very long way from anywhere!

[Eric Mc]

As I said, the chances of a Shuttle mission making use of any of these designated emetrgency sites were very, very small.

Back in 1972, NASA thought they would make 2,000 Shuttle flights. In the end, they carried out just over 130.

[MagicalTrevor]

tvrolet said:

Machrihanish was sold last month for £1...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...

oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).

Edited by tvrolet on Wednesday 6th June 15:39

I was going to say the same thing, one of the few runways long enough to land a shuttle or the USAF long range bombers

[Pork]

Sgt Bilko said:

It would take a while to shift all the cars stored there.

Slightly O/T, but what are all those doing there? Are they all one make? That must take some organisation!

[anonymous-user]

I was always told that Greenham airbase (just up the road from me) was one of the longest in Europe, and an emergency shuttle landing strip. Until they dug it up anyway. Was that all nonsense then?

[Dr Jekyll]

Mr E said:

My friend learnt to fly at Manston. Apparently, you could manage quite a few touch and gos down that runway in a Piper Warrior....

I knew someone who did his first solo land away at Manston after learning at Elstree, got a bit confused by the runway size and flared at about 200 feet.

[stemll]

The main runway at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Bedford (where the Palmer Autodrome is now) was 10500ft and 300ft wide. Closed in, I think, 1997 but the runway is still there.

[p4pedro]

little bit of info here http://www.ukaccs.info/profiles.htm

[tuffer]

Boscombe may be long but its far from flat and the approach is a bit dodgy (at least it looks it to me), big hill right in front of it.

[Celtic Dragon]

Mildenhall has to be up there too, they landed Air Force One on it!

[Pesty]

What about RAF finingly now robin hood airport?

They used to have Vulcans take off from there. I seem to recal it was a long one.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Finningley was typical of a V Force Station (it had been the Vulcan OCU), being originally some 9000ft. Others would be: Scampton, Waddington, Marham (before they shortened it), Cottesmore, Wittering, and Gaydon (before BL got their hands on it).

In response to an earlier comment about St. Mawgan, this was 9000ft before they cut the ends off and was originally a MEDA (Military Emergency Diversion Airfield), then later an MDA (Military Diversion Airfield).

WRT to Swansea, RW 04/22 is less than 4500ft so I doubt very much Concorde would have held it as a Div especially when you've got Cardiff (at 7800ft) nearby!

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

tuffer said:

Boscombe may be long but its far from flat and the approach is a bit dodgy (at least it looks it to me), big hill right in front of it.

I've never had an issue landing at Boscombe.

[Sgt Bilko]

Pork said:

Sgt Bilko said:

It would take a while to shift all the cars stored there.

Slightly O/T, but what are all those doing there? Are they all one make? That must take some organisation!

Waiting for buyers. Your new car "off the line" isn't always "off the line". It's been sat rusting quietly on an airfield for a few months waiting for someone to purchase it. It takes a month to dig it out and clean it up again. Last i saw there were a few makes and models. Vauxhall IIRC was the main one but i was a few years ago i was there. If there are any Thames Valley Police on here (Response drivers/Dog units/Firearms or Public Order officers) they may be able to advise better.

[Pugland53]

rohrl said:

Not the shuttle, but Fairwood airport on Gower, near Swansea, used to be a divert for Concorde as it's not far off the New York route.

As I understand it the runway is long enough that Concorde could have landed but to take off again would have required quite a bit of resurfacing and a road closure.

I'm surprised by this, having been to Fairwood a few times it certainly isn't very long, around 4000ft I think. Cardiff is not far away and Concorde has been there several times, surely that would have been more appropriate.

Edited to say I've been beaten to it!

[Sgt Bilko]

Runway lengths have little sway when the airfield crash category rating has changed. I'm not sure of the terms used, but unless it's an "o crud, the wings fallen off my very large a/c" they have to use best attempts at landing at a location which has a rating for that a/c. Useless when the airfield fire service comprises a 4x6 and a Mark 11. You need to be packing some heavy duty gear for large a/c or those carrying lots of passengers. Think a shed load of Carmichael MFVs plus support units for starters.