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Aerodrome

An aerodrome or airdrome is a location from


which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they
involve air cargo, passengers, or neither. Aerodromes include small general
aviation airfields, large commercial airports, and military airbases. The term
airport may imply a certain stature (having satisfied certain certification
criteria or regulatory requirements) that an aerodrome may not have
achieved. That is to say, all airports are aerodromes, but not all aerodromes
are airports. Usage of the term 'aerodrome' remains more common in the UK
and Commonwealth nations, and is conversely almost unknown in American
English.
A water aerodrome is an area of open water used regularly
by seaplanes or amphibious aircraft for landing and taking off.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) an
aerodrome is "A defined area on land or water (including any buildings,
installations, and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for
the arrival, departure, and surface movement of aircraft.

History
In the early days of aviation, when there were no paved runways and all
landing fields were grass, a typical airfield might permit takeoffs and
landings in only a couple of directions, much like today's airports, whereas an
aerodrome was distinguished, by virtue of its much greater size, by its ability
to handle landings and take offs in any direction. The ability to always take
off and land directly into the wind, regardless of the wind's direction, was an
important advantage in the earliest days of aviation when an airplane's
performance in a crosswind takeoff or landing might be poor or even
dangerous. The development of differential braking in aircraft, improved
aircraft performance, utilization of paved runways, and the fact that a
circular aerodrome required much more space than did the "L" or triangle

shaped airfield, eventually made the early aerodromes obsolete. The city of
the first aerodrome in the world is a French commune named Viry-Chatillon.
The unimproved airfield remains a phenomenon in military aspects.
The DHC-4 Caribou served in the U.S. military in Vietnam (designated as the
CV-2), landing on rough, unimproved airfields where the C-130 workhorse
could not operate. Earlier, the Ju-52 and Fieseler Storch could do the same,
one example of the latter taking off from theFhrerbunker whilst completely
surrounded by Russian troops.

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