Compton Abbas airfield 13.9.08

Compton Abbas is one of the most beautiful airfields I've visited in the UK, perched high up on top of the hills just south of Shaftesbury. Viewing is easy with good public access and good cafe too.


DH 82A Tiger Moth G-AOIL c/n 83673 is based at Compton Abbas. It is painted in its old Royal Navy colour schem as XL716 and flies air experience flights and was busy on this sunny day with several passengers. The aircraft was built during World War 2 in 1940 by Morris Motors and was delivered to the RAF as T7363. It was registerd onto the civil register in August 1956 as G-AOIL. However just two months later it was sold to the Royal Navy and became XL716.


Eventually the aircraft was withdrawn by the Royal Navy and reverted to the civil registration G-AOIL. By December 2007 this aircraft had flown over 2930 hours.


Another vintage aircraft at Compton is Aeronca 7AC Champion G-ATHK in a lovely red colour scheme.




This aircraft is c/n 7AC-971 and was built in 1946 by Aeronca in the USA and registered as N82339. It was imported into the UK and first registered as G-ATHK in 1965. By December 2006 this aircraft had flown over 7395 flying hours.