Airfield Review :: Beccles EGSM

A delightful little airfield in Suffolk with a good reputation for food, helicopters and parachuting. Air/Ground radio, friendly atmosphere, and on this visit, my shortest runway to date. The runway is normally a tarmac and grass mixture, around 450m of concrete with a 150m grass extension, but on the day we went the grass section was closed. Tarmac only. Less than 500m of it, apparently. That was the airfield's own answer when I rang to ask, by the way. "It is less than 500m." Very helpful. Thanks for that.

Please Note I Visited in February 2023. Some details may have changed since, check before flying.

What is a Beccles?

So Beccles is a delightful little airfield in Suffolk with a very good reputation for food. It also has the odd helicopters and extensive parachuting, but as a pilot you have to cope with these things - you cannot have everything as they say.  It also was my shortest runway to date. The runway is normally a tarmac and grass mixture, around 450m of concrete with a 150m grass extension, but on the day we went the grass section was a little muddy and closed - I should be used to that!. When I rang to ask how long was the tarmac, as the AIP wasn't clear the answer was - "Well it is less than 500m." That certainly helped.

The Route

The route out was Elstree, a quick overhead transit at Stapleford, then down to the M25 and follow it round to the Dartford crossing. Jack reckoned following the motorway counted as proper navigation. IFR, he called it. I Follow Roads. Keep it on your left and you can't go wrong. That's how they did it in the olden days, apparently, before someone had the bright idea of drawing a chart. From the bridge it was down the Thames past Southend, lovely shot of the pier - It's a mile long!!, then over the SS Richard Montgomery. That's the infamous wreck still holding around 1,400 tons of munitions, which makes it one of the most dangerous wrecks in the world and the one that's going to go bang at some point while everyone denies all knowledge.

Then north up the coast past Felixstowe and over Bentwaters and Rendlesham Forest, Britain's most famous UFO incident, or possibly the Orford Ness lighthouse, depending who you ask. Somewhere up there we also had to route around a secret installation, the kind they'd really rather I didn't fly over. Or into. It's Sizewell nuclear power station, but we'll pretend it's a secret. The full UFOs and exploding ships tour. As you do.

Jack was in his element. Once you're north of the Thames and tracking up the East Anglian coast, you're flying over what used to be 8th Air Force country. WW2 airbases everywhere. Bentwaters, Woodbridge, more dotted up and down the coast and inland. Most of them now disused, broken up, turned into industrial estates or solar farms. A few still active in some form. Jack pointed them out one after another. I nodded politely, fumbled half my radio calls, and tried to fly the plane. When I got twitchy about changing frequency too early, I got a "patience, Padawan" for my trouble.

The radio gods were kind. Southend were generous. Years back Southend was just an ATZ and you could run up the Thames without talking to anyone, but these days it's controlled airspace with a danger area all over the place, and they were happy to let us route through rather than making us pick our way around the edge. Wattisham were chatty west of Felixstowe, then it was over to Beccles Radio. They put us on runway 27, left hand, surface wind 300 at 9, and the best news of the day, no parachuting. Spotted the airfield off to the left, a big green field with a row of white buildings in front.

The Landing

The landing? "That looks very short" was the running commentary from Jack on approach. Aim for the numbers, three stages of flap, 65 knots, brake like you mean it. Landed nicely, plenty of runway left, no need to test the brakes in anger, but it definitely concentrates the mind.

Food

We parked KK on the ramp and walked over for lunch, which is the real reason anyone flies to Beccles. The café is Club Virage, right on the airfield with a clean view of the runway. Very busy when we arrived, but they squeezed us into one of the little pods, which is the most Beccles thing about Beccles. And the pods aren't just quirky seating. You can book one and stay the night. Fly in, eat well, sleep over, fly home. Quirky, well done, full of pilots. No bacon roll this time. my second favourite airfield classic Ham, Egg and Chips, and it was very, very good, with a serious amount of farmer style ham doorstops. I'd love to show you, but I forgot to film a single bite of it, which is exactly what happens when you're still buzzing about surviving your first ultra short field landing.

Worth noting: Beccles itself is one of those WW2 airbases. Built in 1942 for the USAAF, who never quite got round to using it, then handed to Coastal Command for air-sea rescue. So Jack's tour of the disused American bases ended at one that very nearly was. He liked that.

Departure off 27 was a classic short field technique departure. 40 knots came up easy, plenty of runway still ahead, and we were away. The trip back to Elstree was, frankly, uneventful. Boring, even. The worst of it was the sun in our eyes. Which is why none of it made the video.

Worth the trip? Absolutely. Short enough to keep you on your toes, friendly enough that nobody minded a couple of southerners turning up, the food is genuinely good, and they've put proper thought into the place. It loses a point only because the closed grass turned a short field into a properly short field, and that's on the day, not on Beccles. Four out of five, and honestly knocking on the door of a five. I'd go back. In fact I want to take Caz, who's convinced this whole corner of the coast is Lowestoft, holiday proms and kiss-me-quick hats. It isn't, and I'd like the chance to prove it. Next time I'll also remember to film the lunch.

For more info: becclesaerodrome.co.uk