Survey Data
Reg No
11208027
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Cultural, Historical, Technical
Previous Name
Baldonnel Aerodrome and Military Camp
Original Use
Hangar
In Use As
Hangar
Date
1915 - 1920
Coordinates
303883, 229696
Date Recorded
13/06/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached former flight shed, c.1917, now in use as an aircraft hangar. Yellow brick buttressed corner piers, the eastern incorporating an open platform. Seven bay lean-to brick office ranges to north and south, with uPVC casement windows. Walls and roof re-clad, c.1990, with corrugated metal. Sliding hangar doors to north and south on original cast-iron frames. Internal wall forms brick arcade.Associated memorial to first east-west Atlantic flight and inscribed stone panel inset in ground marking take-off point in 1928.
Appraisal
This, the oldest hangar on the base, retaining significant original fabric, was built as part of the standard pattern of four, as at Belgard Aerodrome. Sited due to the prevailing wind, this hangar was filmed for the movie "Blue Max". It flanks the starting point of the first east-west Transatlantic flight by the then base commander, J Fitzmaurice and Baron E G Hunefeld in a Junkers plane in 1928. It is, therefore, of historical importance for aviation.