Hucknall Airfield
Halifax bomber at Hucknall airfield
Newark Air Museum Archive
Flying Bedstead VTOL test-rig
Newark Air Museum Archive
Meteor FR9 VTOL test-bed now displayed at Newark Air Museum
Newark Air Museum Archive
504 Squadron memorial outside the County Library in Hucknall marketplace
Newark Air Museum Archive
By Howard Heeley
Grid Ref: Sheet 129; SK526470; 5 miles NNW of Nottingham
Opened: 1917
Squadrons: 130 Sqn; 218 Sqn; 504 (County of Nottingham) Auxiliary Sqn; 98 Sqn; 104 Sqn; 25 (Polish) EFTS; 504 (County of Nottingham) Auxiliary Sqn; Nottingham UAS.
Aircraft: DH9; DH4; Horsley; Wallace; Hind, Battle; Blenheim, Gauntlett; Hart; Fury; Hurricane; Tiger Moth; Oxford; Spitfire; Mosquito; assorted Rolls-Royce test-bed airframes.
Nationalities: Commonwealth; Polish
Things of note: Two phases of RAF use 1917 – 1919 & 1928 – 1957. Famous during World War II for the attempted escape attempt by the German fighter pilot Franz von Werra, who tried to steal an aircraft (Rank Film - The One That Got Away). Major development / testing centre for Rolls-Royce, including their successful VTOL (Vertical Take Off & Landing) programme. One of the VTOL test-bed airframes is now displayed at the Newark Air Museum.
Current status: Currently an active airfield for light aircraft with the Merlin Flying Club that sometimes host a publicly accessible fly-in during the summer ; Rolls-Royce still has a presence on site and some original buildings survive and have an industrial use. It is believed that significant sections of the airfield could be lost to a proposed housing development, which is scheduled to take place.
(This information was originally published in the 2011 booklet “Aviation in Nottinghamshire”, which was produced by the Newark Air Museum thanks to a Local Improvement Scheme grant from the Nottinghamshire County Council. Photographs sourced from the Newark Air Museum Archive.)