Hay Mills Rotor Station

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Hay Mills Rotor Station
Hay Mills Rotor Station - 1951.jpg
The helidrome in 1951, with a Westland-Sikorsky S51 on one of the two landing pads. The River Cole is visible, top left.
Summary
Airport typeHelidrome
OperatorBritish European Airways
ServesBirmingham
LocationHay Mills
Opened1 June 1951 (1951-06-01)
Closed15 January 1954 (1954-01-15)
Passenger services ceased9 April 1952
Coordinates52°28′06″N 1°49′52″W / 52.468278°N 1.831014°W / 52.468278; -1.831014Coordinates: 52°28′06″N 1°49′52″W / 52.468278°N 1.831014°W / 52.468278; -1.831014
BEA's S-51, G-AJHW, seen at an unspecified location in 1953

Hay Mills Rotor Station (or Rotorstation) was a helidrome in the Hay Mills district of southern Birmingham, England, which was operational from 1951 to 1954.

Location[]

The choice of a suburban location away from the city centre was influenced by the fact that single-engine helicopters available at the time were not allowed to fly over built-up areas, in case of engine failure.[1][2] The site, using part of a recreation ground,[1] was bounded by Coventry Road (the A45), Heybarnes Road, Hob Moor Road and the River Cole, and lay approximately equidistant between Birmingham city centre and Birmingham Airport.

Operations[]

The helidrome had two asphalt landing pads and a wooden terminal building.[3] It hosted services operated by British European Airways (BEA), which flew to Northolt Aerodrome, London, where there were onward connections to London Heathrow.[4] At the time of opening, there were three flights a day to London, operated by Westland-Sikorsky S51 helicopters,[4] registrations G-AJHW and G-AJOV.[5] Flight time to Northolt was 70 minutes.[4]

A Bristol 171 Sycamore, G-AMWH, was used from 13 July 1953.[5]

Notable flights[]

A "proving flight", flown by Captain J.G. Thielmann and carrying the aeronautical correspondent of The Times, took place on 19 May 1951.[1] Inaugural flights took place on 1 June,[3] and (according to advance news coverage) were scheduled to carry "Lord Pakenham, Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr , the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Douglas of Kirtleside, chairman of B.E.A., Lady Douglas, Mr. Peter Masefield, Chief Executive, B.E.A., and Sir , of the Ministry of Civil Aviation", who were to be entertained to lunch by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, .[1] The service opened to the public on 4 June.[3]

One of the service's early users was the Member of Parliament for Kidderminster, Gerald Nabarro.[3]

Closure[]

Passenger services ceased to operate on 9 April 1952,[3] with a freight-only operation continuing until 15 January 1954.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Aeronautical Correspondent (21 May 1951). "Helicopter To Birmingham". The Times. No. 52006. p. 4.
  2. ^ Dodge, Martin; Brook, Richard (2014). "Dreams of helicopter travel in the 1950s and Liverpool's undeveloped plans for a city centre heliport". Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 163: 111-125.
  3. ^ a b c d e "B.E.A. Decade..." Flight. 3 August 1956. p. 192.
  4. ^ a b c "Aviation News". Flight. 8 June 1951. p. 683.
  5. ^ a b c Anderson, Ian (2014). "4.14.1". Heathrow: From Tents to Terminal 5. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445633893.

External links[]

  • An alternative image to that shown above, with Hob Moor Road crossing the River Cole in the distance.
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