Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Wycombe Air Park, also known as Booker Airfield, is a busy general aviation aerodrome at Booker in Buckinghamshire, some 2.4 nautical miles south-west of High Wycombe. Operated by Airways Aero Associations under the trading name Booker Aviation, it handles over 90,000 movements a year, many of them training circuits, making it one of the more active light-aviation fields in the London area. Its wartime origins as RAF Booker and its long postwar civilian life give it a strong claim on any simulator pilot's itinerary.
Wycombe Air Park sits at Booker, Buckinghamshire, close to High Wycombe and Marlow, and is run today by Airways Aero Associations Limited trading as Booker Aviation. It holds a CAA Ordinary Licence permitting public transport flights and flying instruction, and it is a genuinely busy general aviation hub, recording more than 90,000 movements annually, a large proportion of which are training circuits. For a simulator pilot the field offers a mix of fixed-wing and helicopter traffic, a gliding operation, and a strong wartime and postwar aviation history, all set within easy reach of London airspace.
The aerodrome is located in the village of Booker, Buckinghamshire, about 2.4 nautical miles south-west of High Wycombe and close to Marlow.
Wycombe Air Park has three physical runway pairs. Runway 17/35 is 2,643 feet, grass, and lit. Runway 06/24 is 2,399 feet, hard-surfaced, and lit. Runway 06R/24L is 2,357 feet, grass, and lit. The field has no ILS approach.
Wycombe ground works on 121.77 MHz and Wycombe tower on 126.55 MHz, providing air-ground and control services to aircraft using the air park.
A significant share of the aerodrome's movements are training circuits flown over the surrounding area, and this repetitive circuit activity has long been a source of noise complaints from local parish councils and residents, prompting formal review processes including a government inquiry in the late 1980s and renewed calls for regulatory intervention in 2009 and 2010. Pilots should expect a busy circuit environment typical of a training-intensive general aviation field and be mindful of noise sensitivities in the local area.
The airfield opened in 1941 as RAF Booker and was used primarily for training during the Second World War, remaining a military establishment until 1963-1965. By 1955 the site's four wartime grass runways had been supplemented by a 90-foot-wide pierced steel planking hard runway, and RAF Bomber Command's Communications Flight was based there before military use ended. The site began operating privately as Wycombe Air Park from 1965 and celebrated its fiftieth year of civilian operation on 25 April 2015. The films Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and Aces High were filmed at the airfield. The lease on the site, held by Wycombe District Council and later Buckinghamshire Council, has been renewed by Airways Aero Associations for fifty years from 2014, with the AAA shareholding sold to Heli Air in early 2014 and over £500,000 subsequently invested in the airfield, which has gone on to host events such as Aero Expo and the Elite London show.
Wycombe Air Park is operated by Airways Aero Associations, trading as Booker Aviation, which provides air-ground control services, aerodrome firefighting, flight training, aircraft maintenance and sales, and pilot medical examinations. Heli Air Limited is based on the airfield as the primary helicopter flight training school, charter operator and helicopter maintenance provider, and is the Robinson Helicopter sales distributor for the UK. British European Aviation, the exclusive Piper Aircraft dealer for the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, Spain and Portugal, is also based there. Booker Gliding Club operates seven days a week through the season with a fleet of gliders and tow planes, though the future shape of gliding operations at the site is subject to ongoing planning discussions with the council. The airfield continues to be a significant training centre, with flying instruction, aircraft engineering and avionics support all available on site.
