The choice of a suburban location away from the city centre was influenced by the fact that single-engine helicopters available at the time were not allowed to fly over built-up areas, in case of engine failure.

The helidrome had two asphalt landing pads and a wooden terminal building.

[4] At the time of opening, there were three flights a day to London, operated by Westland-Sikorsky S51 helicopters,[4] registrations G-AJHW and G-AJOV.

[1] Inaugural flights took place on 1 June,[3] and (according to advance news coverage) were scheduled to carry "Lord Pakenham, Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Frank Berwick, the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Douglas of Kirtleside, chairman of B.E.A., Lady Douglas, Mr. Peter Masefield, Chief Executive, B.E.A., and Sir George Cribbett, of the Ministry of Civil Aviation", who were to be entertained to lunch by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Ralph Yates.

[3] One of the service's early users was the Member of Parliament for Kidderminster, Gerald Nabarro.