Former RAF Aerodrome Norton Woodseats

[RidalRighton]

Regarding RAF Norton.

I was brought up at Gleadless & used that hourly circular bus to visit my Grandparents at Sandygate/Lodgemoor. As my Dad had been in the RAF/WW2 we would gaze at the airfield/camp with his stories of flying.

In the 50s then living at Carterknowle (& still catching that circular bus), I became friends with a new girl who came to my school, Grange Grammar. Her Father Len Clark was an officer at RAF Norton & the family lived on camp. Our two families became friends & I was often invited to stay as we were able to safely run riot or use the facilities for free eg tennis courts.

Len retired early & took a job for Walker & Hall, which moved the whole family to Manchester & sadly we all lost touch.

[SHYTOT]

I think the the Norton Aerodrome goes back much further that WWII. A lot of time has gone by - I'm 75 now, but I remember my dad talking to me about it being an aerodrome in the 1920's . My dad was a pilot in WWI. He started out in the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) which then became the RAF. Like a lot of you said, it was only used for barage balloons in WWII though.

 

There seems to be some confusion regarding this thread.

 

The derelict site up at lightwood was not an airfield or aerodrome. It was a WW2 barrage balloon station and the hangars were used to store the inflated balloons when not in use.

The was an airfield at Norton in the 1920s. That airfield is long gone as has the army camp that was along side it where the Painted Fabrics building now stands.

The airfield was known as Coal Aston Airfield and in the period after WW1 several Vickers Vimy bombers landed there..

Edited January 27, 2013 by SHYTOT

[Doctor Drew]

I vividly remember catching the 59 bus with my dad late one evening after visiting my sister who lived on the Herdings estate. I'm guessing around 1981/82 (the year not the time!) and seeing one of the hangars in flames. The thing was a real towering inferno and made a big impression on me. I was gutted when the bus came and we had to go.

[jackanne]

Norton ballon barage as it was first known as was never coal aston airfield,coal aston is about 3 miles from norton and that is where coal aston airfield was and i believe still is.

[henrypond]

Norton ballon barage as it was first known as was never coal aston airfield,coal aston is about 3 miles from norton and that is where coal aston airfield was and i believe still is.

 

Coal Aston Aerodrome was a large airfield and maintenance depot, covering the area between meadowhead and jordanthorpe. http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/coal-aston-i-greenhill-sheffield and http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw020382. There are also views on picturesheffield showing the extent, it was large enough to have an internal works railway. Nothing to do with the Coal Aston airfield - the grass strip at Apperknowle.

[FatFrank1]

I was in the ATC CADETS at Norton i left before it closed.

[RidalRighton]

There seems to be some confusion regarding this thread.

 

The derelict site up at lightwood was not an airfield or aerodrome. It was a WW2 barrage balloon station and the hangars were used to store the inflated balloons when not in use.

The was an airfield at Norton in the 1920s. That airfield is long gone as has the army camp that was along side it where the Painted Fabrics building now stands.

The airfield was known as Coal Aston Airfield and in the period after WW1 several Vickers Vimy bombers landed there..

 

I did not dream up RAF Norton between Gleadless & Norton. I know nothing before & only remember my visits to my school friend there in late50/early60s. Her father was a Flight Lieutenant.They lived on the base in a nice house amongst camp quarters & we were able to use facilities like tennis courts etc.

Coal Aston did not exists then.

[SHYTOT]

I did not dream up RAF Norton between Gleadless & Norton. I know nothing before & only remember my visits to my school friend there in late50/early60s. Her father was a Flight Lieutenant.They lived on the base in a nice house amongst camp quarters & we were able to use facilities like tennis courts etc.

Coal Aston did not exists then.

 

You clearly did dream it up as no planes ever landed at Lightwood and the area where the earlier airfield at Norton existed was covered with housing in the 1930s.

The map in the attacment shows that even lightowwod was still farmland in the 1930s and only opened as a balloon station during WW2.

 

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=53.41927727416949&lon=-1.4062929153442383&gz=15&oz=8&gt=6

 

Regarding Coal Aston not existing in the 1950s. That is quite preposterous. The map attached is from the 19th century as are many of the buildings in the village including the pubs that are still open for business.

 

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=4802

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Coal Aston like this:

 

COAL-ASTON, or Cold-Aston, a township in Dronfield parish, Derby; ¾ of a mile NE of Dronfield. Real property, £4, 135; of which £2, 012 arc in mines. Pop., 547. Houses, 107. There are chapels for Wesleyans and U. Free Methodists.

[derek read]

A few years ago I completed a booklet entitled RAF Air Force Norton 1943 - 1965 (there never was an RAF Norton Woodseats). Although no hard copies of the booklet are now available I will happily send a pdf copy to anyone who wishes to have one. Just e-mail me at

nortonfacts@gmail.com and I will send you the pdf (no charge).

[abbeyedges]

Last Saturday I was speaking to a lady from Ireland. She told me her late father moved to Sheffield, sometime around WW2 and was involved in the building of aerodromes. My only recollection of aerodromes in Sheffield was those around Norton. Does anyone have any information about the companies who built these aerodromes? I believe the lady's father's surname was Gray. Many thanks.