Shanghai's First Airport, gone but not forgotten
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- Опубліковано 2 тра 2024
- Join me as I visit some of the remains of Longhua Airport in Shanghai, in a brief video next to the Huangpu river, also incorporating 2024's coffee lifestyle festival on the West Bund.
Shanghai Longhua Airport (ICAO: ZSSL), then called Shanghai Lunghwa Airport, was a converted general aviation airport and PLAAF airfield located south of downtown Shanghai, China, on the bank of the Huangpu River. It opened in the early 1920s and served as the city's airport until the 1950s when Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport opened. Thereafter, it was one of two general aviation airports serving Shanghai and also served as an emergency landing site for police, fire and rescue operations southwest of the city. The airport was eventually closed at 1966, and the airport grounds were slowly built over though a period of between 1993 and 2016.
The site began airfield operations in late 1922 under the Beiyang government.
In the early 1930s, the main, semi circular Art Deco terminal was built, along with the main ATC tower on the top of the main terminal, which still exists today, making it the last structure still remaining on what was once the airport.
In the 1930s-1940s, during its golden age, the airport was known as the most popular airport for amphibious aircraft and the biggest airport of the Far East at the time.
After the Battle of Shanghai, Imperial Japanese Airways operated services from Longhua to Fukuoka and Taipei during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Additionally, the tarmac was expanded to accommodate at least 100 aircraft (before 1937, only 10 airplanes could be parked at the tarmac), 2 gravel runways were added, making Longhua Airport one of China's first airport with more than one runway built.
After the end of World War II, basic equipment such as power supply, radar, and communication systems were renovated and improved. Hence, the airport became a hub for China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), as well as a famous stopover for many international airlines flying to Hong Kong, China, or Japan. Northwest Orient Airlines began service to Longhua in 1947, stopping there en-route from the United States and Japan to the Philippines, and flew this route until suspending service in 1949. Hong Kong Airways began scheduled service to Hong Kong in 1948.
The People's Liberation Army took over the facility in 1949 following the Kuomintang Civil War, and maintained it as a civil airport until 1966 when all remaining passenger services were moved to Hongqiao.
#china #shanghai #aviation
so much greenery.
Wonderful, wonderful video! Well done as always showing interesting things about Shanghai's history! A couple points to add:
* While you are correct that civilian flights moved from Longhua Airport to Hongqiao Airport in 1966, the airport didn't actually close. It was still used for general aviation and training flights. The runway wasn't decommissioned until 2008 to accommodate construction of the Longyao Road tunnel which passes under the center of the runway.
* The airport terminal (constructed in 1945) was until recently occupied by a restaurant and seedy KTV. The leaseholders were forced out in 2017 (interesting news about it online), and is under renovation by the Shanghai Municipal Government to become the West Bank Library.
* For anyone wanting to find it, the former runway is now known as Yunjin Road (云锦路).
Thanks again for the hard work on your videos!
Thanks Peter !
another epic!
Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the journey, clean city.
The air feels much healthier than when I lived in Shanghai back in 2010!
It's much better than the bad old days, same story in Guangzhou. I never saw blue sky as a kid, but seems like they get quite a lot of it these days from what I'm seeing on UA-cam.
Remind me of wandering Xuhui riverside with my friends and family. Thanks for your video about my hometown!
Amazing history lesson as always with a bit of a expo, love how much green this place have, so many small parks and beautifull tree lines, impressive as always, also, willian was too cute at the end kkkk.
I'am a shanghainese,I like this kind of video,Plese keep update this channel~thx
I dudit know about this airport... holy
This place I never been to ,thanks for sharing.
oh wow, you are on fire! another great video. by the way: the shanghai heliport is directly behind the TANK museum that you passed.
Yes, and thanks for that, apparently it was set up for the world expo in 2010 and now still open for emergency services. I’m thinking to do a more detailed Longhua Airport video in future matching old photos and will mention the helipad then.
@@timmytumbler oh, I do see traffic there from time to time, perhaps 2-3 helicopters on that recent weekday I was there. might want to chat with them.
I genuinely got nervous a few times when you were biking and filming and talking all at the same time! 😬
Hahaha SAME!!!! Tim are you alright?!?!
OMG. Do you know if there are any remnants of the airport in Yangpu? I've been around there but cannot find anything anymore.
Imagine being able to fly right into the Shanghai by the bund! Haha I don't imagine the residents would enjoy the jet sounds though.
very informative and a part of the city I didn't know much about. There is a general aviation airport somewhere in south Shanghai, is that far from here?
You are probably thinking of Longhua Airport, which was a general aviation airport in the south of Shanghai until 2008.