Qualla: Sywell Aerodrome

Sywell Aerodrome: Introduction

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Brookie assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0. The Aviator Hotel at Sywell Aerodrome was built in 1934 as the Northamptonshire Aero Club clubhouse, and on a summer evening with the sun catching its curved white facade and the chrome-and-leather lounge gleaming behind glass, it looks exactly like what it is: a 1930s monument to flying as a glamorous occupation. Outside, on the grass strips that opened in 1928, a yellow Tiger Moth taxis past a hangar where Air Leasing Ltd quietly restores Spitfires and Mustangs to flying condition. The aerodrome's ICAO code is EGBK. Its runway lights are modest, its tower frequency is 122.705 MHz, and on most weekends a microlight student is making her first solo circuit while a Cirrus owner does the run-up checks for a hop to Le Touquet. Sywell is small, well-loved, and weighted down with a history bigger than the field looks.

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Image: No machine-readable author provided. Brookie assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sywell Aerodrome: RAF Sywell and the Wellingtons

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew McLaren, CC BY-SA 2.0. When war came in 1939 the aerodrome became RAF Sywell, a training airfield where No. 6 Elementary Flying Training School and other units taught new pilots on de Havilland Tiger Moths. Among the men who soloed here were Pierre Clostermann, the French Free Air Force ace who would w...

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Image: Andrew McLaren | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sywell Aerodrome: The fight over a hard runway

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot, Public domain. For most of its history Sywell operated on grass alone, which is romantic in dry weather and impossible in winter when the strips waterlog. In 1999 the management applied for permission to build a concrete all-weather runway. Two campaign groups formed in opposition: STARE (Stop ...

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Image: Daderot | Public domain

Sywell Aerodrome: The hangars and what they hold

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit James Allan, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sywell now hosts something like 138 businesses on its industrial park, but the ones that stop visitors in the viewing area are the aviation tenants. Air Leasing Ltd moved in during January 2016 and now occupies three hangars, one of them locally nicknamed Graceland for the Spitfi...

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Image: James Allan | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sywell Aerodrome: Pistons, props, and the racing Jetstream

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sywell hosts a thick calendar of events. The 'Pistons and Props' classic motor and aviation show in September pulls thousands; the Light Aircraft Association Rally found a home here from 2009 onwards after stints at Cranfield and Kemble. The Sywell Airshow was a major bi-ennial c...

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Image: Calreyn88 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sywell Aerodrome: How it feels to arrive

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Colin Craig, CC BY-SA 2.0. Calling Sywell on 122.705 inbound, you are answered by an AFIS officer rather than air traffic control, the difference being that he gives you traffic information rather than orders. Prior permission is required for non-based aircraft, which means a phone call before you set out....

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Image: Colin Craig | CC BY-SA 2.0