White Waltham

White Waltham lies 2 NM south-west of Maidenhead, three miles from the M4 (J8/9) and six from the M40 (J4), about 35 miles by road from central London. The airfield is run by the West London Aero Club, operates VFR only and is strictly PPR; it opens at 08:00 every day and closes in the evening depending on the season and daylight. Set in around 200 acres, it has four grass runways — the longest, 07L/25R, is 1,116 × 45 m — and runway 03/21 is currently closed for major resurfacing. Avgas 100LL, UL91 and Jet A-1 are available.

Its history is remarkable. The de Havilland family bought the land in 1928 and opened the de Havilland School of Flying here in 1935. In 1940 the airfield became headquarters of the Air Transport Auxiliary, whose pilots delivered aircraft to and from RAF stations — some 309,000 aircraft movements during the war — and it was later home to Fairey Aviation.

Today the West London Aero Club trains pilots for the PPL and further ratings on a fleet of eleven Piper Warriors, two Piper Arrows, two Super Cubs and a Tiger Moth, and offers flights in a Chipmunk, Pitts Special, Extra 330 and Harvard. Alongside the club there is a large community of privately owned aircraft, with hangarage and parking on site and a friendly, historic clubhouse.

We work to the airfield's procedures for contractors and arrange access with the operator before each job. There are no facilities at the aircraft on a grass field, so we bring our own water container and generator, and our exterior wash is waterless. Warriors, Arrows and privately owned tourers all have an instant online price; larger or unusual types are quoted after a short on-site inspection.