AMAB: Air Ministry Aerodrome Board
AMLB: Air Ministry Lands Branch
AMWD: Air Ministry Works Directorate
Paul, thanks as I could only be sure of the first two letters.
I've also heard of the terms used of ' Combat Airfields ' , ' Bomber Stations ' & ' Fighter Aerodromes ' and the total numbers against dates appear the be in the following ranges and have assumed that they are all concrete runway types only ?
1945 CA = 95 to 180 where BS were = 95 to 105 and FA were 55 to 65 and the closest that I could tie them to were that their aircraft flew over hostile territory.
Apparently the maximum airfield hand over numbers had happened in 1942 and I have attempted to allocate the total numbers of people involved in the construction trades to support John's claim of a total work force allocated to air field construction at its peak were in excess of 100,000 of the 400,000 available at the time in the four nations.
I've been told that it is highly unlikely an accurate number can be allocated to an actual date due to either destroyed or conflicting records.
Another source of airfields at The National Archives at Kew was AIR 20/7260 - a consolidated list of airfield lands from 1946. This included a lot of names that were not familiar to me (posted elsewhere?) and may have been included in some lists perhaps because they were requisitioned but not used. Two random examples were:
Lower Reeding (Beeding?) - noted as de-reqn'd and grass Ludbororugh - noted as de-reqn'd and grass
If some lists included requisitioned land and the compiler/researcher didn't know if it was used or not this may cause and inflated number. Similar problems may occur with dual names appearing separately in different lists. A similar problem afflicted my range investigations and proximity didn't always mean it was one site with two names. Ministry officials also got confused and minutes and memos often contain requests for clarification of names or locations. Some official lists still contain incorrect lat/longs and even counties.
In some respects I hope we never have a complete list because it would be good to discover a new airfield. I am still "discovering" new ranges and the numbers are getting pretty close to the number of airfields!
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Peter's post #3 on definitions is key in attempting to understand how these numbers were compiled. ( I'm sure there is another thread on this subject ? )
I've been told that an aviation magazine issued a decade or so back produced a pull out map that listed over 800 air fields but I don't remember seeing it ~ If it exists then some one on the forum must have a copy ?
That was Flypast magazine. I've still got my pull-out map section....somewhere which as you've said lists over 800 airfields. I'll see if I can find it later.
The Merseyside Aviation Society (MAS) produced an excellent booklet in the early 1970s (my airfield bible for a long while) and later versions came with an excellent map. My copy is buried in the loft so I can't count the airfields. In any event they included civil ones, both pre and post war.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
The Merseyside Aviation Society (MAS) produced an excellent booklet in the early 1970s (my airfield bible for a long while) and later versions came with an excellent map. My copy is buried in the loft so I can't count the airfields. In any event they included civil ones, both pre and post war.
My well thumbed 1974 edition "British Isles Airfield Guide" by MAS has a total of 1044 of which 272 listed as operational aerodromes and a further 772 disused aerodromes.
My map of WW II airfields courtesy of Flypast magazine. No 800 is listed just south easterly from Cambridge, sadly there is no index. Can't see any higher number. I'm sure that I have another map like this ? but a green copy with a listing, again from Flypast. I'll have another look
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which as you've said lists over 800 airfields. I'll see if I can find it later.
