Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome

Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome
IATA: LHB ICAO: none LID: EG74
Summary
Airport type	Private/Unlicensed
Operator	C Walton Ltd
Location	Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire
Elevation AMSL	467 ft / 142 m
Coordinates	52°29′13″N 001°07′50″W / 52.48694°N 1.13056°W / 52.48694; -1.13056Coordinates: 52°29′13″N 001°07′50″W / 52.48694°N 1.13056°W / 52.48694; -1.13056
Website	www.bruntingthorpe.com www.bruntingthorpeevents.com
Map
Bruntingthorpe Location in Leicestershire
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 3,000 9,843 Asphalt 06R/24L 900 2,953 Grass
Sources: Airport website and DAFIF

Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground (IATA: LHB, ICAO: n/a) is a privately owned airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire some 11 miles (18 km) to the south of Central Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942.

The aerodrome was formerly RAF Bruntingthorpe which hosted both the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force during its life.

Vehicles

The site became privately owned by the Chrysler Motor Corporation in 1973, and was then used for high-performance car testing, the testing of other vehicles, and vehicle storage. These activities still take place under the ownership of the Walton family company, the former airfield having been bought from Peugeot-Talbot (Chrysler's successor), in August,1983. Various circuits are available, from 4.2 miles (6.8 km) to 0.9 miles (1.4 km) loop; or the former runway, just under 2 miles (3 km) long.

As well as vehicle testing, Bruntingthorpe offers storage of cars and aircraft, film production facilities, and military/civilian defence testing. Within the airfield is a repair facility for Ferraris and Maseratis. The site benefits from planning consent for Proving and Testing of Vehicles.

Aircraft

Bruntingthorpe houses the Cold War Jets Collection aircraft museum with about thirty-five aircraft from that era.

Vickers VC10 C1K XR808 "Bob" arrived at Bruntingthorpe on 29 July 2013 after retirement from the RAF and has now moved to RAF Cosford to join their museum.

In March 2013, the last RAF Lockheed TriStars were retired into the aerodrome. GJD Services have been keeping the 6 planes under a storage and maintenance programme. They have been bought by AGD Systems Corp and may be available for use by NATO, the RAF and the USAF. GJD Services are maintaining the aircraft in full airworthy condition. The first Tristar will leave Bruntingthorpe at some point in the future. The last VC-10 to fly (ZA147) is currently at Bruntingthorpe. Its future is unknown.