What am I looking at?
Juhu Aerodrome (ICAO: VAJJ) is located in Juhu, an upmarket residential suburb of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
The quick answer
Juhu Aerodrome (ICAO: VAJJ) is located in Juhu, an upmarket residential suburb of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is served primarily by general aviation aircraft and helicopters. It was founded in 1928 as one of India's first civil aviation airport, 4 years after the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) was opened
How it came to be
In 1932, JRD Tata landed at the Juhu Aerodrome, inaugurating India's first scheduled commercial mail service. Juhu served as the city's primary airport during and up to World War II. In 1948, commercial operations were moved to the much larger RAF Santa Cruz (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport; CSMIA) which was built 2 km (1.2 mi) east of Juhu aerodrome during the war.
The detail most people miss
Today, the aerodrome handles all helicopter operations out of Mumbai. It also hosts the Bombay Flying Club and several executive and light aircraft and gliders. In 2010, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which runs the airport, proposed to extend the runway 08/26 into the sea to allow larger aircraft to land, however permission for this was denied by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. With the New Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules of 2011 permitting roads on stilts, the Airports Authority of India announced in January 2012 that it would once again pursue its plan of extending the runway at Juhu Aerodrome into the sea.
Why it still matters
The aerodrome started off as an unpaved airfield in 1928, when it took over the role of Bombay's primary airfield from the Kalyan Airstrip which was built in the early 1920s. It was used by the then newly established Bombay Flying Club for teaching, joy-rides, and air travel. The activities of the club were limited by the fact that the aerodrome at Juhu was not suitable during the monsoon. Much progress had been made in the layout of the ground of the aerodrome by 1932, although the ground was still not fit for use during that year's monsoon. J. R. D. Tata, the father of civil aviation in India, made his maiden voyage to Juhu Airport from Drigh Road Airstrip in Karachi, via Ahmedabad, on 15 October 1932 carrying mail in a Puss Moth aircraft.
Look closer
The Tata Airmail Service, as it was called, continued on to Pune, Bellary, and Madras. This was the birth of Air India, which, in 1932, was based here out of a hut with a palm-thatched roof and had 1 pilot and 2 apprentice mechanics with 2-piston-engined aircraft, a Puss Moth and a Leopard Moth. Two bitumen runways - one aligned East - West, and the others North-Northwest - South-Southeast, were laid in 1936. During the monsoons, operations had to be shifted to Poona due to water logging. A third runway was planned for construction in 1939 but this never occurred. It served as the city's airport up to and during World War II.