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Norton Aerodrome


DaveH

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great find Dave!!!!!!

just browsed thier collection, some great views over sheff from the top of the tower block.

BTW, 3rd or 4th floor up on flats to the left on the picture it looks like someones been greedy and built an extension to one of the flats lol

It appears to be an educational collection at Hallam Ubiversity with limited user rights so once the fine details of copyright and acreditation are sorted out many of their pictures could be used in the "those Gleadless pictures" thread.

Like you said there are some good shots amongst them, including the one of the aerodrome, which I am sure our members would be interested in.

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Guest wayneybabes

It appears to be an educational collection at Hallam Ubiversity with limited user rights so once the fine details of copyright and acreditation are sorted out many of their pictures could be used in the "those Gleadless pictures" thread.

Like you said there are some good shots amongst them, including the one of the aerodrome, which I am sure our members would be interested in.

I keep meaning to ask the lady i sit with on the tram if her flat overlooks the aerodrome like on those pictures and if it does, can she take a photo of it for me

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I keep meaning to ask the lady i sit with on the tram if her flat overlooks the aerodrome like on those pictures and if it does, can she take a photo of it for me

Come to think of it, the wifes auntie Sue lives on the top floor of one of those blocks of flats, - or at least did the last time we went to see her about 11 - 12 years ago. Wonder if she still does? <_<

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Here we go then, this is about as near as I can get to a then and now, not sure of the exact position along Norton Avenue.

Then is Oct. 1971, Now is Jan 2009

Also posted into "Then & Now" discussion topic for eventual consideration for the Showcase.

I have tried to get more pictures of the aerodrome as I drive past it every day.

Unfortunately now that it is "private property" the security around the site is higher than when it was owned by the M.O.D.

What with all that overgrown trees and bramble in the way, and that 8 foot high fine mesh security fencing its practically impossible to get a decent picture.

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Guest midaspeak

Does anyone remember the air shows put on at Norton Aerodrome inte late 50,s early 60,s.

Planes were brought to the shoe on large low loaders and all aerial displays were purely that with no planes landing or takeing off.

My first memory of the air show was being allowed in the kitchen huts to sample Mandarin Oranges a delicasie never experienced before .

To a child of the fifties Norton Air Display was a magical event.

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Does anyone remember the air shows put on at Norton Aerodrome inte late 50,s early 60,s.

Planes were brought to the shoe on large low loaders and all aerial displays were purely that with no planes landing or takeing off.

My first memory of the air show was being allowed in the kitchen huts to sample Mandarin Oranges a delicasie never experienced before .

To a child of the fifties Norton Air Display was a magical event.

Welcome to Sheffield History midaspeak.

I have no memory of shows at Norton personally as it would be a bit before my time but i am sure that other members will have.

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Does anyone remember the air shows put on at Norton Aerodrome inte late 50,s early 60,s.

Planes were brought to the shoe on large low loaders and all aerial displays were purely that with no planes landing or takeing off.

My first memory of the air show was being allowed in the kitchen huts to sample Mandarin Oranges a delicasie never experienced before .

To a child of the fifties Norton Air Display was a magical event.

I wasn't born till 1962, so no memories of it for me.

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I was stationed at RAF Norton from 1959 to 1960. I recently wondered what had happened to the station after I had left and looked on Google. I quickly discovered that entering RAF Norton in the search box brought forth very many entries for RAF Brize Norton, and a few for the other three “Nortons”. One other “Norton” was RAF Norton Disney in Lincolnshire, one was RAF Norton Woodseats and one was RAF Norton.

Information concerning RAF Norton is very slight and I have therefore decided to put together a non-commercial (probably means stapled together) document including as much history as I can gather on the station.

To clear up one point first, RAF Norton (just beyond Gleadless and reaching as far as Lightwood Lane) was not an airfield and it had no runway. There were annual air shows in the 1950s/60s but all the fixed wing aircraft participating simply flew over. I do remember, however, that helicopters landed on the station during the shows. RAF Norton Woodseats, about which I know very little (except that it keeps confusing the RAF Norton story!) was, I believe, further out into Derbyshire and it was an airfield. However, it was closed (I believe) before I arrived at RAF Norton and therefore I don’t believe I even heard of it at the time.

I am busy gathering information from various sources and you will see soon, if it hasn’t appeared already, in the Sheffield Daily Star’s Diary column, an article concerning the beginning of my project. I hope to maybe hear from other people their memories of the station.

I would be grateful if those who have posted photos on this forum would be kind enough to give me authority to use them. Obviously I will acknowledge the source and will send each contributor a copy of the finished item. This will undoubtedly take me several (many?) months and I will try not to drop off the perch before it is finished!!.

I am tempted to avoid the question of the gate guardian aircraft but to do so would leave a gap in my document so I will see what I can find out.

Meanwhile I would be very grateful for any other information which readers of this entry might have unearthed since they last contributed. My e-mail site for this project is

nortonfacts@googlemail.com. I am particularly keen to obtain a copy of the RAF Norton site plan which, until quite recently, was posted on the internet by the Gleadless Historical Society. However, just as I want it, it has disappeared just as the society itself appears to have disappeared from the internet. If anyone has a copy or can run it down for me I would be most grateful.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Derek Read

I have today received in the post a copy of Derek Read's book "Royal Air Force Norton 1943 - 1965" for the encouragement I have given him in its production and for permissioon to use my photograph shown in post ~1 of this thread, - even though ultimately he didn't actually use it.

Derek Read is our member "nortonfacts" but he informs me he has great difficulty in getting on to the site due to technical problems he has therefore asked me to inform all interested members that

The book "Royal Air Force Norton 1943 - 1965" has been written and printed it is 30 pages long and is illustrated with photographs, a plan of the site and other items.

A copy of the book is available for perusal at the Local Studies Library within Sheffield City Central Library.

It is a non-commercial document and is not for sale.

Copyright 2010 Derek Read

All rights reserved

Not for sale or resale.

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Guest harmston

Daveh have just found this article, have been searching for any ex norton staff for quiet a long time and was told about D READS book last week in our fellowship mess night . I will get on to L / studies to see this book. My interest is ex r.a.f. 54 to57 and was stationed at norton employed in officers mess acting senior barman for about 2 1/2 yrs Ihave put a few stories on the ex pats thread if you or D.READ are interested i will let you have them

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Daveh have just found this article, have been searching for any ex norton staff for quiet a long time and was told about D READS book last week in our fellowship mess night . I will get on to L / studies to see this book. My interest is ex r.a.f. 54 to57 and was stationed at norton employed in officers mess acting senior barman for about 2 1/2 yrs Ihave put a few stories on the ex pats thread if you or D.READ are interested i will let you have them

D. Read, aka "nortonfacts" on this site has not posted for a while and is having trouble accessing our site at present. I have his email address and can contact him for you.

Nortonfacts wrote the book and I am sure that he would be very interested in any information from ex RAF staff who served at this base.

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Daveh have just found this article, have been searching for any ex norton staff for quiet a long time and was told about D READS book last week in our fellowship mess night . I will get on to L / studies to see this book. My interest is ex r.a.f. 54 to57 and was stationed at norton employed in officers mess acting senior barman for about 2 1/2 yrs Ihave put a few stories on the ex pats thread if you or D.READ are interested i will let you have them

Harmston,

New members cannot use the Personal Messaging (PM) system until they have made a nominal number of posts and nortonfacts is having trouble accessing the site.

For security reasons it is not a good idea to put personal data on a public forum website.

If you wish to contact me privately or to be put in touch with nortonfacts please contact us by email at sheffieldhistory@gmail.com

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Guest derek read

I have recently completed an illustrated book on the subject "RAF Norton 1943 - 1965". A hard copy can be seen in the Local Studies Library of Sheffield City Library. However, I have a pdf copy and am willing to send this to anyone interested. There is no charge.

To obtain a copy please send an e-mail to me at nortonfacts@gmail.com

This is the e-mail site I mainly used when researching the book and, from now on, I shall only look at it from time to time. Therefore the further away from today's date (16th July 2010) that you request a copy the longer you may have to wait for it to arrive.

I repeat, there is no charge for this pdf.

Derek Read

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I have recently completed an illustrated book on the subject "RAF Norton 1943 - 1965". A hard copy can be seen in the Local Studies Library of Sheffield City Library. However, I have a pdf copy and am willing to send this to anyone interested. There is no charge.

To obtain a copy please send an e-mail to me at nortonfacts@gmail.com

This is the e-mail site I mainly used when researching the book and, from now on, I shall only look at it from time to time. Therefore the further away from today's date (16th July 2010) that you request a copy the longer you may have to wait for it to arrive.

I repeat, there is no charge for this pdf.

Derek Read

That is very good of you Derek,

and on behalf of Sheffield History and it's members,

thank you for your offer.

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It's great to welcome you back onto the site Derek.

For those who don't know, and for the purpose of following this topic on Norton Aerodrome

Derek Read was previously known as NortonFacts

Derek has experienced some difficulties over quite a long period of time in gaining access back onto the site as NortonFacts and so has re-registered with his own name.

Note that all previous posts in the name of "NortonFacts" are in fact made by Derek.

Finally,

Although Derek has sent me a personal copy of his book for giving him a little help and encouragement with it, it is very generous of him to make the book available, free of charge, to all our members in pdf format.

I would like to say thank you to Derek both from me and on behalf of our members.

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Guest derek read

I am afraid that I am not well versed in the operation of SheffieldnHistory so I will add two more facts here which might be of general help:

1. To find the site of RAF Norton go to Google maps, find Gleadless, then go to streets and you can travel South on Norton Avenue (as I did last week). On the left hand side of the road you will find the Main entrance to RAF Norton. It is now firmly closed with concrete blocks discouraging entrance! Further along is the central gate. At the end, where you can "turn left" on Google Street is Lightwood Lane. A further gate was here for access to the Officers' Mess. Travel down Lightwood Lane as far as Google goes and you can see the tops of the Officers' Married Quarters behind the trees (which weren't there in 1960).

2. Looking left on Google into a side road as I "entered" Lightwood Lane I saw some modern buildings which are referred to in earlier comments on this site. These have been built after station closed. This is (approximately) where the Officers@ Mess was and that was built of wood.

I have now completed a book - RAF Norton 1943 - 1965. It can be seen in the Local Stidies Library of Sheffield City Library. However, I will send a pdf copy to anyone interested. There is no charge. Please contact me on nortonfacts@gmail.com if you would like to receive a copy. Please note that this is the site on which I carried our my research and I shall only look at it occasionally. Therefore, the further away from today's date

(19th July 2010) you ask for a copy the longer it may take to arrive on your computer.

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if it is any help, I learned to drive up there in 1975 when it was Lightwood driving centre. At the time I was at Abbeydale Grange 6th form and it was all organised by the school. We went up as a group for about 4 weeks and each got about 10 minutes behind the wheel each session. Because it was a school organised event, we didn't have to have licenses or insurance (many of us were still a few months shy of our 17th birthdays at the time), it was all covered by Sheffield Education dept and was basically an introduction to driving to get us all interested.

I recall they had a skid pan up there as well and the instructor wouldn't let us have a go on it........can't think why! :rolleyes:

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if it is any help, I learned to drive up there in 1975 when it was Lightwood driving centre. At the time I was at Abbeydale Grange 6th form and it was all organised by the school. We went up as a group for about 4 weeks and each got about 10 minutes behind the wheel each session. Because it was a school organised event, we didn't have to have licenses or insurance (many of us were still a few months shy of our 17th birthdays at the time), it was all covered by Sheffield Education dept and was basically an introduction to driving to get us all interested.

I recall they had a skid pan up there as well and the instructor wouldn't let us have a go on it........can't think why! :rolleyes:

Yes it was a driving instruction place for quite a while, well into the 1980's

Many schools did this sort of thing, not to teach kids how to drive but more to do with road and traffic safety issues and the Highway Code. Our own school in Derbyshire used to do something similar on the school bus park with mopeds donated by a local motorcycle dealer keen to promote road safety to teenage lads he was about to sell their first bike.

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I have today received in the post a copy of Derek Read's book "Royal Air Force Norton 1943 - 1965" for the encouragement I have given him in its production and for permissioon to use my photograph shown in post ~1 of this thread, - even though ultimately he didn't actually use it.

Derek Read is our member "nortonfacts" but he informs me he has great difficulty in getting on to the site due to technical problems he has therefore asked me to inform all interested members that

The book "Royal Air Force Norton 1943 - 1965" has been written and printed it is 30 pages long and is illustrated with photographs, a plan of the site and other items.

A copy of the book is available for perusal at the Local Studies Library within Sheffield City Central Library.

It is a non-commercial document and is not for sale.

Copyright 2010 Derek Read

All rights reserved

Not for sale or resale.

There is a copy of this book on EBAY

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Royal-Air-Force-Norton-Sheffield-1943-1965-book-/370443200135?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item564022a687

finishes 09:59 19/10/10

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So given it's not for sale or resale, and the seller can't say who published it, so where did this come from? And at £10 when it was distributed free?

My first thoughts are that it could have been amongst the contents of a house clearance,

'junkarama' are local and reputable ebay sellers.

And I would say that if 'junkarama' were contacted about the re-print copyright and NOT for sale issue, the would probably remove the book.

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My first thoughts are that it could have been amongst the contents of a house clearance,

'junkarama' are local and reputable ebay sellers.

And I would say that if 'junkarama' were contacted about the re-print copyright and NOT for sale issue, the would probably remove the book.

junkarama, seem to sell a lot of stuff from local publishers, books, prints, cards etc. A lot of their stuff seems to re-occur, they must get stuff in bulk from them.

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My first thoughts are that it could have been amongst the contents of a house clearance,

'junkarama' are local and reputable ebay sellers.

And I would say that if 'junkarama' were contacted about the re-print copyright and NOT for sale issue, the would probably remove the book.

Does nortonfacts (Derek Read) know that a copy of his book is up for sale on eBay?

Perhaps he should be the one to decide what to do in this instance.

There are very few copies of this book in existance (I have one as a gift from nortonfacts for assistance I gave with the book. It is still safely on my bookshelf) so it shouldn't be too difficult for him to trace where this copy may have come from.

..and he did clearly state that the book was NOT FOR SALE OR RESALE

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Does nortonfacts (Derek Read) know that a copy of his book is up for sale on eBay?

Perhaps he should be the one to decide what to do in this instance.

There are very few copies of this book in existance (I have one as a gift from nortonfacts for assistance I gave with the book. It is still safely on my bookshelf) so it shouldn't be too difficult for him to trace where this copy may have come from.

..and he did clearly state that the book was NOT FOR SALE OR RESALE

Dave

I believe you have his email addy, what about contacting him, as you have had previous contact he may appreciate the contact.

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My first thoughts are that it could have been amongst the contents of a house clearance,

'junkarama' are local and reputable ebay sellers.

And I would say that if 'junkarama' were contacted about the re-print copyright and NOT for sale issue, the would probably remove the book.

"Junkarama" :unsure:

What did the old City councillor Irvine Patnick used to call his junk shop?

Was it just called "Patnicks" or was it called also called "Junkerama"?

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Guest plain talker

"Junkarama" :unsure:

What did the old City councillor Irvine Patnick used to call his junk shop?

Was it just called "Patnicks" or was it called also called "Junkerama"?

Wasn't it called "Patnick's Junkerama?

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