Brooklands EGLB

[Jan Olieslagers]

On www.ourairports.com , someone posted "The airfield opens on certain occasions so is definitely not ‘closed’ but needs special permission." Looking at satellite imagery, I find this hard to imagine: there is no marked runway, and no surface that could serve except perhaps part of the car race track.

If the a/d is active occasionally, what kind of occasion would that be?
What part would serve as a runway?
Is the ICAO code EGLB still valid?

[SimonPaddo]

Last time I saw activity it was the grass strip between the Mercedes Benz World track and the offices to the East. I think conditions have to be pretty much perfect. Planes were Tigermoths or similar on a pre-arranged event.

[Saab Dastard]

Jan,

There's a grass strip running roughly N-S between Mercedes-Benz World to the West and the River Wey to the east that is used as a runway - more recently the N-S tarmac strip in MB World (that used to be the main runway) has also been used. There are annual fly-in events with historic aircraft - google is your friend, as is youtube.

[Bergerie1]

And here is some proof!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlQ5JxeF4kQ

[Jan Olieslagers]

Thanks for responses, all clear now. The "proof" is a bit mysterious, though :)

Edit: I have now added the runway to openstreetmap, cfr. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1292819449
Did I understand the location all right?

Also, may I be allowed to repeat my question about the ICAO code: is it still valid? It seems unlikely to me, save as a "location indicator" in GEN 2.4

[Saab Dastard]

Jan,

You've got the grass runway correct, but the tarmac to the west of the MB World track (line of original hard runway) is also used.

AFAIK, the ICAO code is still valid.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Thanks again!

[MrAverage]

There was a fly in last year on what's left of the main runway. (I watched a video somewhere on the twaternet) However, all the visiting a/c had to park at the northern end of the tarmac, thereby making if effectively even shorter and, in the event of brake failure or a long landing, a safety concern. In my humble opinion. I flew in in 1992, before MB did their thing, when off runway parking was still possible. MB, AFAIK, were supposed to make the grass strip available but never did.

[Jhieminga]

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1200x800/brooklands_strip_69a2d8b4e24360a39568108f9b3dfd4ef05987e0.jp g
I don't know the ins and outs of the grass runway situation, but this is a photo from a 2023 fly-in. As mentioned, this uses part of the M-B track that is located where the original runway (the north end) used to be. It provides a pretty decent strip with enough clearance at both ends, judging from what I saw and from talking to someone who flew in there. The grass strip is more restricted.
Here is a view from one of the participants:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhgcpHQ8eY

[Jhieminga]

MB, AFAIK, were supposed to make the grass strip available but never did.
The grass strip has been used for fly-ins in the past, I have been to at least one aviation day at the museum that used it. It is also where the Vimy replica landed in 2009.