Hi,
In the past I have used my passion of flying to visit several war (WW1/WW2) museums/monuments/locations. (ex. St Omer for visiting La Coupole, Goodwood for visiting Portsmouth historic dockyard, Duxford for visiting IWM Duxford, Normandy …).
1)
I would like to visit the tank museum in Wool (South UK), the nearest airfield with car rental or public transport seems to be Bournemouth, but previous threads mention very high handling fees.
- There is a glider airfield used by Dorset Gliding club at about 500 metres from the museum but they only accept gliders and motorgliders. Any pilots from that club on this forum? Would an exemption be possible?
- Any other suggestions from South-UK based pilots for a suitable alternate airfield (with car rental or train/bus transport in the vicinity) that would get me to Wool?
2)
I presume there will be other pilots on this forum who are interested in war history. Can these pilots share their experiences and trip suggestions that are feasible with a GA aircraft (of course more than only UK!).
I looked up the Bournemouth airport website and they have a brand new price list local copy which lists a landing and parking fee
The above are reasonable.
However it also says handling is mandatory for GA and lists two handlers: Bliss and Signature. Obviously Signature will rip you off so I phoned up Bliss and got this:
For a 1400kg TB20, landing and handling is £67.91+VAT incl 4 hrs’ parking. Parking £25+VAT/day thereafter.
Bliss deny the existence of that price list on the airport website and have no idea where it comes from 
This is like the airport always has been IME. There is a handler who hangs out in a hut who tries to grab anybody who lands there. If you are going for maintenance (intenting to taxi to one of the many maintenance companies) they try to grab you also and ask you what exact maintenance you are having done, because they think you are cheating. This policy was confirmed in the phone call today. IF you are actually going to one of the companies, do not call the handler at all and just fly there and on the runway ask for a taxi to the company.
I think EGHH management should make up its mind on who actually runs GA ops there, and shut down any handler who operates a policy that differs to the airport’s. The money should go into the airport’s pocket, not skimmed off by somebody who has a concession to bollock anybody not wearing a yellow jacket “handle” GA. But as I say this has always gone on there. Basically for a day trip you will pay £111 (1400kg case). This appears to have doubled in the past 7 years or so.
Lee on Solent airfield is much much cheaper and fine for a VFR day. I believe they are PPR so just phone them. They are nice; I’ve been there many times.
Bournemouth is a mess of an airport.
How about Compton Abbas if you are happy to land on grass?
Lee on Solent is a long way from Wool.
Anoth good place to visit is Dover Castle particularly the Operation Dynamo exhibits.
- Thanks for the information on Bournemouth, I don’t like unpredictable and expensive landing fee’s so that one is excluded.
- Lee-on-Solent looks a like a very nice airport by the beach but is indeed very far away from Wool.
- Compton Abbas is a good suggestion, only 30min by car to Wool… but.. where to find a car in Compton Abbas?
- Thanks for the tip on Dover Castle, although there is no airport closeby. Maybe I can work something out from Lydd or a nearby farm strip.
Keep the war history related (events, museums, buildings,…) GA destinations coming!
BTW there is a ton of WW2 stuff near Lee on Solent. My mum used to be in a care home in Gosport and before she went totally ga-ga we used to fly in and take her out there. There is a submarine museum, museums with all kinds of armaments, etc. Google will show them, in the area of Gosport.
Keep the war history related (events, museums, buildings,…) GA destinations coming!
With tongue firmly in cheek, for a tank related museum I could suggest renting a plane and flying to Chiriaco Summit – there’s a public (free, non PPR) paved airport on site and given recent low air fares to many possible GA starting points, it appears it might be a relatively straightforward, relatively economical excursion for a European pilot. 
That area (the former Desert Training Center) might be the largest, most prominent WWII site where no battles occurred within thousands of miles. About a million US troops trained there before deploying to European war and most of the current public use airports spread across that area were built within a couple of years, during that period.
JasonC wrote:
Bournemouth is a mess of an airport.
That fee schedule is a mess of a document. It is very difficult to make sense of. I think being handled might be a safer option here! I do find it disturbing that if you have to divert there they will actually charge you extra for the privilege.
Having said that, I don’t think the fees that were quoted to Peter are too outrageous in the scheme of things so long as the service you receive is good. Is it though?
Presumably if you are handled by one of their approved agents you don’t need to pay the security charges?
Back on topic, you could try the Muckleburgh collection in Norfolk. It has its own airstrip which is grass and I think about 700m long.
For anyone interested in the history of tank warfare (from WWI until today) I strongly recommend the
Deutsches Panzermuseum in Munster
It started as a collection of various tank models to teach soldiers of the German Army but has since been opened to the general public and nowadays encompasses a large collection of armoured vehicles from all periods and many different nations.
The next GA airfield to it is a 900 m Gras strip in Hodenhagen EDVH, but it may be easier for foreigners to just fly to Hannover EDDV and use a train from there.
Note: Very important: Munster is not Münster! Umlauts matter! Münster is a university city in North-Rhine Westphalia while Munster (aka Munster (Örtze) is a small garrison town in the Luneburg heath, in Lower Saxony. Münster has an international airport but no tank museum AFAIK
Thanks for the trip suggestions.
May I also suggest this one: Peenemünde (WW2 rocket development site) has an airport at 1km distance.
Peenemunde is indeed worth a visit. The site is good although it has been comprehensively stripped down by the invading forces in 1945. The museum is quite new but is rather bare. In 2013, they did have toilets there but virtually no edible refreshments – I was told this is intentional to keep it from becoming a high profile site.
