Exeter Airport
Exeter International Airport | |||||||||||
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| File:Exeter International Airport logo.gif | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Exeter and Devon Airport Limited | ||||||||||
| Serves | Exeter | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 102 ft / 31 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 50°44′04″N 003°24′50″W / 50.73444°N 3.41389°W | ||||||||||
| Website | www.exeter-airport.co.uk | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Exeter International Airport (IATA: EXT, ICAO: EGTE) is an airport close to the city of Exeter in the county of Devon, England.
The airport handled 1,024,730 passengers in 2007, the first time over 1 million passengers have used the airport in a single year [1], which represented a 4.3% increase on the 2006 passenger total of 982,804 [2]. The airport offers both scheduled and holiday charter flights within the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada.
On 5 January 2007 a majority share of the airport was sold by Devon County Council to Regional and City Airports Ltd; a consortium comprising construction firm Balfour Beatty and London City Airport.
Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P759) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.
History
The airfield had originated as a grass field for club flying before being constructed in 1937 and formerly opened on 30 July 1938 as Exeter Airport at a cost of about £20,000.
Wartime use
With the advent of World War II the landing area was increased to around 3,000 ft north to south and 4,500 ft east to west in the early months of the war. An asphalt perimeter track and several hardstands for aircraft parking followed and in 1941 hard-surfaced runways were put down. These were 4,350 ft aligned 13-31, 4,070 ft aligned 08-26 and 2,700 ft at 02-20.
In 1942, the 08-26 runway was extended in length to 6,000 ft in a general upgrading. In the early years, the airfield had gained 19 small, fighter-type pan hardstandings and 14 double pens. Nine concrete loops were added on the northern side of the air-field early in 1944. Hangars, gathered over the years, were one Hinaida, six Over Blisters and four Extra Over Blisters.
During World War II RAF Exeter was important RAF Fighter Command airfield during the Battle of Britain, with some two dozen different RAF fighter squadrons being stationed there for varying periods through 1944, and just about all the operational fighter types of those years had been present.
RAF Exeter was also used by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Ninth Air Force as a D-Day troop transport base with Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports dropping paratroops near Carentan to land on the Normandy Beachhead. It was also known as USAAF Station 463.
Battle of Britain
RAF Exeter was home to the following Squadrons of No 10 Group during the Battle of Britain:
- No 213 Squadron from 18 June 1940
- No 87 Squadron from 5 July 1940
- No 601 Squadron from 7 September 1940
Despite extensive efforts at camouflage, including painting the runways, Exeter attracted the Luftwaffe on a number of occasions during the early years of the conflict and a few of the administrative and technical buildings were destroyed.
USAAF use
Exeter met the requirement of basing USAAF troop carrier groups close to where units of the 101st Airborne Division were located and within reasonable range of the expected area of operations.
440th troop carrier group
The 440th Troop Carrier Group arrived on 15 April 1944 with over 70 C-47/C-53 Skytrain aircraft. There was insufficient hardstandings to accommodate all the aircraft so many had to be parked on the turf, some areas being supported by tarmac.
The 440th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 50th Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command.
The group dropped paratroops near Carentan in the early hours of 6 June and the following day delivered parapacks containing fuel and ammunition to the same area. Accurate flak accounted for three C-47s on D-Day and a further three were lost on the resupply mission, one of the latter in a freak accident when struck by bombs accidentally released from a P-47 Thunderbolt.
As soon as satisfactory landing grounds were available in the Normandy beachhead, the 440th shuttled C-47s to and from France, often evacuating wounded.
As with the other groups of the 50th Troop Carrier Wing, the 440th sent three squadrons, the 95th, 96th, and 97th TCSs. to Italy on 17/18 July, where they operated from Ombronc airfield hauling supplies to Rome before taking part in the airborne invasion of southern France, Operation "Dragoon", on 18 August. The 98th TCS returned to Exeter on 23 August 1944 and the following day the other squadrons returned from the Mediterranean.
The 98th TCS remained at Exeter until 7 August when it began operating from RAF Ramsbury. Three days later it dropped parapacks to a US infantry battalion that had become encircled at Marlain when the German Army attempted to launch a counter-offensive.
On 11 September the headquarters of the 440th TCG was established at the group's new base al Reims, France (ALG A-62D), and the last of the air echelon left Exeter two days later. Nevertheless. the airfield was still used by the USAAF Ninth Air Force for the air evacuation of wounded and a station complement squadron remained until November.
Postwar use
Walruses of an RAF air-sea rescue flight were the next tenants and these were joined by a glider training unit early in 1945.
Post-war, Exeter was reclaimed by Fighter Command and a French Supermarine Spitfire squadron, No. 329, which came and stayed until November 1945. Meteors and Mosquitos made a brief appearance the following spring.
No. 691 Squadron's target-towing Vultee A-31 Vengeances, which had been present for more than a year, proved to be the last RAF flying unit of the Second World War period based at Exeter.
When No. 691 Squadron departed in the summer of 1946, the station was made available for civil use, being officially transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 1 January 1947 although there was still some reserve RAF activity until the 1950s.
Scheduled services to the Channel Islands began in 1952 and charter flights to various locations followed. A new terminal building was opened in the early 1980s and various other improvements, including a runway extension, were carried out over following years to establish Exeter as an important airport in the West Country.
Services
The majority of flights at the airport are operated by low-cost airline Flybe, which has its headquarters in Exeter. The airline also has four maintenance hangars at the airport, the newest built in 2005 and 2006, which are equipped to service Bombardier Q400, Embraer ERJ-195, Embraer ERJ-145 and BAe 146 aircraft, which from the major part of the airline's fleet.
Holiday charter airlines also operate from the airport, with First Choice Airways having a permanent base at Exeter since 2007. Air Transat offer transatlantic scheduled flights to Toronto operating once a week during the summer season.
Further route expansion at the airport is limited by the relatively small apron size, with only 11 aircraft parking stands [citation needed]. The airport has proposed an apron expansion which will mean the removal of the grass apron area, which would provide an additional seven parking stands [citation needed].
Airlines and destinations
Scheduled services
- Air Transat
- Toronto-Pearson [seasonal]
- Flybe
- Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Avignon, Bergerac, Belfast-City, Brest, Brussels, Chambery [seasonal], Dublin, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva [seasonal], Glasgow-International, Guernsey, Inverness, Jersey, Leeds/Bradford, Málaga, Manchester, Newcastle, Nice, Norwich [ends 22 September], Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rennes, Salzburg [seasonal]
- Isles of Scilly Skybus
- Isles of Scilly
Charter services
- Air Malta (Malta)
- Austrian Arrows (Innsbruck)
- BH Air (Bourgas)
- Eurocypria Airlines (Larnaca)
- First Choice Airways (Arrecife, Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Funchal, Ibiza, Larnaca, Mahon, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rhodes, Tenerife-South)
- Flybe (Verona)
- Onur Air (Bodrum, Dalaman)
- Spanair (Palma de Mallorca)
- SunExpress (Antalya)
Cargo services
- BAC Express Airlines (Ad hoc Flights, London Stansted)
- Jet2.com (East Midlands)
- Titan Airways (London-Stansted)
General aviation
The airport has a large general aviation community and is regularly used as a staging point for longer flights across South West England.[citation needed]
See also
- List of RAF stations
- USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II
- 101st Airborne Division
- 440th Airlift Wing
Notes
References
- Freeman, Roger A. (1978) Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now. After the Battle ISBN 0-900913-09-6
- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- ArmyAirForces.com 440th Troop Carrier Group http://www.armyairforces.com/dbgroups.asp?Group=52
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