Бовингдон әуежайының тарихы және қазіргі жағдайы

Former RAF and later civilian airfield

Royal Air Force Bovingdon or more simply RAF Bovingdon is a former Royal Air Force station located near the village of Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, England, about 2.5 mile (4 km) south west of Hemel Hempstead and 2.5 mile (4 km) south east of Berkhamsted. During the Second World War, the airfield was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force. It was assigned USAAF designation Station 112, station code "BV", later changed to "BZ".

Bovingdon was built in 1941–42 as a standard Class A RAF bomber airfield. The main NE/SW runway was long and the two secondary runways were each long. Over 30 dispersal hardstandings were built. On 15 June 1942, No. 7 Group, RAF Bomber Command took up residence at Bovingdon. Operational missions were flown in June and July by the RAF until the field was turned over to the USAAF in August.

In 1968, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced that Bovingdon would be closed for budgetary reasons, and in 1972 the airfield was shut down, although from World War II to present day, the runway, 650m long × 49m wide, on Berry Farm has continuously been used for light aircraft activities. Berry Farm is owned separately by the Webb family and is unconnected to the part of the original airfield where the land has been used for various other uses, including the market. In 2012 Dacorum Borough Council confirmed that the Berry Farm stretch of runway 08/26 remains a legally active airfield for light aircraft operation. In the early 1980s, flying returned to the airfield, first with hang glider tow launching (using a truck mounted pay out winch) and then microlight aircraft, mainly of the 'Trike/hang glider' type. Some local residents complained on the grounds of noise and danger. After a local inquiry, the Ombudsman narrowly decided against allowing flying to continue. At that time the combined control tower and fire tender garage were in 'reasonable structural condition' but deliberately damaged a few years later by earthmoving equipment, thereafter making restoration highly unlikely. The remains of the control tower were demolished in August 2010. An area of the former technical site was transferred to HM Prison Service for use as a prison, called 'The Mount' which opened in 1987. The airfield site still houses a VOR navigational beacon, code BNN. The airspace above the airfield and nearby Chesham is known as the Bovingdon stack and is a holding area for aircraft approaching Heathrow Airport, to the south. Aircraft are requested to join the hold, typically at an altitude of 7000–16000 feet, and then to fly a 'race track' pattern around the Bovingdon VOR beacon, separated at vertical intervals of 1000 feet from other aircraft. Each aircraft is then instructed to descend to a lower available altitude as the lowest aircraft leaves the hold to make its final approach to Heathrow. At busy times there may be up to 10 aircraft holding at the available 1000 foot separations between 7000 feet and 16000 feet, and these may be seen circling overhead on a clear day. The remainder of the airfield site was used for a regular Saturday market and there was also a permanent circuit for banger racing which closed in September 2008. The main runway and taxiways are still intact though in a poor state of repair, but are also used for other events such as autojumbles and classic car shows. Alongside a runway is a Delta Force Paintballing facility. The ruins of the control tower also remain. It was reported in September 2021 that new studios would be added to the Airfield and that Bovingdon Market would be closing down due to the new studios. It was confirmed on the Bovingdon Market Facebook page in March 2022 that the market would be ceasing trading on the site after 40 years of trading due to television works taking over the airfield with 3 new studios, new offices and a backlot being added to the site. The final day of trading for Bovingdon Market was 29 August 2022.

ITV Studios Bovingdon (also known as Bovingdon Airfield Studios) is a television studio complex operated by ITV Studios. The first studios opened in January 2018. ITV Bovingdon currently has one full sized studio which was purpose built for Dancing on Ice. A number of other productions are also filmed at ITV Studios Bovingdon including Michael McIntyre's The Wheel and The Masked Singer. In September 2021, it was announced that ITV Studio Bovingdon had submitted plans to expand the studio capacity by building three new permanent studios, new office spaces, a backlot for temporary studios and sets. The plans were granted in 2022 this will take the number of studios at ITV Bovingdon to 4 once completed along with a backlot. It was reported in August 2022 that ITV Bovingdon's new backlot will become home of the new Big Brother UK house which will return to ITV in 2023. Future development will include four additional studios and seven backlot areas. The studios also have 13 workshop buildings.

In the 1960s, Bovingdon was used in the production of four World War II films, The War Lover (1962); 633 Squadron (1964) Battle of Britain (1969) and Mosquito Squadron (1969). Although flying ceased at the airfield in 1969, it was also used to film parts of the flying car scenes in the James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun starring Roger Moore, when the palm trees fold down as it takes off. In 1977, parts of the Golden Gate Bridge sequence from Superman were filmed on one of the runways. In 1978, some flying scenes for the film Hanover Street The site was also used in the 2016 Star Wars film Rogue One, representing the planet Scarif. On television, it served as the location for at least one black and white episode of The Avengers "The Hour That Never Was", starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg featuring Gerald Harper and Roy Kinnear, as well as the 1980 Blake's 7 episode The Harvest of Kairos as the surface of the planet Kairos. An airstrip at the airfield is also reputed to have been used in the opening credits of the 1967 television series The Prisoner in which Patrick McGoohan is seen driving a Lotus Super Seven car past the camera at speed. The control tower and airfield was the filming location for the 1981 movie Silver Dream Racer starring David Essex and Beau Bridges. In the movie, the montage scene before the final race shows Essex and Christina Raines training for the forthcoming grand prix. It has continued to be used in various TV shows up to the present day. The airfield has also been used in the production of the film Bohemian Rhapsody, as the production crew were required to recreate the 1985 Live Aid set.