During the age of biplanes, aerodromes, airfields and airports were intimate places where family and their friends could view the passengers boarding while standing beside the plane. Today their signature features are formality, impersonality and huge scale, the very antithesis of the personal touch. This impersonality is exacerbated by the hub-and-spoke approach of air flight today.

Without radar, navigational aids such as ILS or concrete runways, these aerodromes served these fragile midget planes.

Main picture: Avro Anson F1 1143 based at 42 Air School

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