PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Plymouth's airport is located at Roborough, about 5 miles north of Plymouth on the A386 road to Tavistock. The National Grid Reference is SX 502 602. In the autumn of 1923 the Ministry of Civil Aviation rented a former polo field at Roborough on a month's trial for an experimental passenger and parcels service to Birmingham, Manchester and Belfast with daily flights using an Avro 504K (G-EBHM) of the Surrey Flying Services. The pilots were Captain (later Sir) Alan Cobham and Mr Hubert Broad.
Plymouth airport circa 1930 The project failed but interest in flying generally grew and in 1929 the Plymouth and District Aero Club was formed. Plymouth City Council saw the opportunities this airfield offered but they did not act fast enough and in 1929 the Air Ministry stepped in and acquired or rented the site for use in important air co-operation exercises to be carried out between the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and the Army. Royal Engineers from the Plymouth Garrison were sent out each day by lorry and turned the polo field and two fields adjoining in to an aerodrome. The polo ground, which bordered the Plymouth to Tavistock road, was nearly 700 yards long and 300 yards wide. The two smaller fields lay to the east, alongside the road from the George Hotel to Plym Bridge. About 300 yards of the high bank and hedge that divided the polo ground from the fields was demolished and replaced by a temporary wire fence that could be removed when the RAF wanted to use the site. The hedge between the two small fields was also removed. A number of trees at the north-western edge had to be removed and the telegraph wires that ran alongside the main road were re-laid underground to give clear access. The work was completed on Thursday June 6th 1929. The Air Ministry made it clear that the site was only required for a couple of days each week during June, July and August 1929 and they had no intention of making it a permanent RAF airfield. After considering possible sites for an aerodrome at Staddon Heights -- the favourite, apparently -- Chelson Meadow, Staddiscombe, Roborough Down and the land below Ernesettle Camp at St Budeaux, the Council eventually bought the 110 acre site at Roborough for £20,478. It did, after all, have the support of Sir Alan Cobham. The site was way outside the City boundary at that time, which was at Hartley. It was licensed as an aerodrome in the following year. The official opening ceremony was carried out by HRH the Prince of Wales on July 15th 1931. Bad weather prevented the Royal party from landing at the aerodrome and a flight from there to the Isles of Scilly was also cancelled. Instead, and unusually, the aerodrome was declared open from inside the Council Chamber in the Municipal Offices in the centre of Plymouth, where His Royal Highness was presented with a silver model of his moth flying machine as a souvenir of the occasion.
The hanger and control tower, circa 1931 The main hanger, with its unusual control-room perched on top, was built in 1931. The aerodrome was used by the Great Western Railway Air Service from April 11th until September 30th 1933; Railway Air Services from May 7th 1934 until September 10th 1938 and the Great Western & Southern Air Service from May 1939 until the outbreak of the Second World War when civil flying ceased for the duration. Provincial Airways Ltd also used it from Monday March 4th 1935 for a service via Southampton, Leicester and Nottingham to Hull. A Boy Scout troop in Plymouth was the first to form an Air Scouts patrol. The troop was the 30th Plymouth, based in Regent Street. They were first and foremost Scouts but had introduced aviation to their hobby and endeavoured to put this to good use by performing simple duties and ground work at local aerodromes. Their Scoutmaster was Mr G P S Hill, who was assisted by Mr A T Davey. District Commissioner Mr V R Winnicott stated in January 1937 that favourable reports had come from Roborough and as a result a corner of the airport had been set aside for the flying of model aeroplanes. Mr Whitney Straight and Flight Lieutenant Knowlden both supported this new activity. The site was transferred to the Air Ministry on May 1st 1942. A silver coloured de Havilland Heron of the Queen's Flight landed at Plymouth Airport on Friday May 25th 1956, bringing HRH the Princess Alexandra to the City to lay the foundation stone of the new parish church for Crownhill. During the day she also visited the Margaret Macmillan Nursery School and the Royal Naval Hospital. The Princess was accompanied on the flight by her Mother, the Duchess of Kent, who was making a private visit to Sir John and Lady Carew Pole at Antony House, Torpoint, Cornwall. Fortunes after hostilities ceased in 1945 have been somewhat mixed. Many small airlines came and went, including Mayflower Services, whose service ceased when they suffered a crash. New hangars have been built, a tarmac runway laid and Brymon Airways come and gone: they established Roborough as a civilian airport.
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