Stonehenge Aerodrome

1928 image of Stonehenge with the remains of the aerodrome site in the background

Stonehenge Aerodrome or Stonehenge Airfield was a short-lived military airfield of the Royal Flying Corps on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, in use from 1917 to 1921. It was built around 300 metres (980 ft) south-west of Stonehenge on the site of existing cottages, and spanned both sides of the New Direct Road turnpike (later designated as the A303).[1] The base was opened in November 1917, construction having started earlier in that year, as part of the scaling up of military flying capability for World War I. The aerodrome was not complete when the war ended, but construction continued past the end of the war.[2]

The airfield closed in 1921, and was fully demolished by the early 1930s as part of a concerted effort to restore the natural landscape around Stonehenge.

  1. ^ Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) (1979). Stonehenge and its environs: monuments and land use. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-85224-379-4.
  2. ^ Barber, Martyn (2015). Stonehenge Aerodrome and the Stonehenge landscape. English Heritage.