Bembridge Airport

Opened in 1920 on property held by Bembridge Farm, Bembridge Airport was licenced or “approved” by the then Automobile Association the following year, 1921. In 1933, there were three grass strips that could be used for operations, with the longest measuring 2340 feet in length.

In 1934, Spartan Airlines opened up shop on the Isle of Wight, ushering in one of the earliest examples of scheduled aircraft service. Several additional airlines, including Portsmouth Southsea, Isle of Wight Aviation, and Channel Air Ferries, also operated out of Bembridge over the subsequent five years.

It was normal practise to fly to and from cities including Bristol, Shoreham Heston, and others.

The airport was shut down and trenches were dug on the landing strip during World War II to make it impossible to utilise the facility in the event of an invasion.

Unfortunately, the aviation industry had altered by the end of World War II, therefore pre-war passenger services were not reinstated. The Bembridge and Sandown Flying Club started using the field in 1948, and in 1958 they merged with the East Wight Air Charter, which had previously offered charter flights to the mainland but had been tragically disbanded the year before. The summer months also saw regular pleasure flights from a firm called Morgan.

In the 1950s, the airfield served as the base for a number of businesses.

Max Butcher, then only seven years old, remembers the East Wight Air Charter Ltd., a company that offered leisure flights in a tiny fixed-wing light aircraft in the 1950s. As Max Butcher recalls, they provided sightseeing flights over the island to tourists. In the photo below, Max is shown (on the left) with his younger brother in front of what seems to be a De Havilland plane (if you know anything about it, please let us know).

’My recollection is quite vivid taking of from a grass field. I have a picture of my younger brother and me standing beside the airplane. During the flight my mother and brother sat on the bench seat in the back and I was in the right seat in the front with the pilot. I also have the ticket for the flight. Cost 10 shillings- a lot in those days.‘

Bristol Freighter

1952 One of the most out-there routes that Silver City Airways offered was from Bembridge to Southampton, and you could even bring your automobile along for the ride.

The plane in issue was a Bristol Freighter, and it could hold three standard 12-foot-long vehicles. Passengers paid £4 each to ride the 15-mile route, and drivers of cars up to 12 feet in length paid £6.

According to a snippet from Flight magazine from August 1953, the service lasted for almost a year before being relocated to the more lucrative flight route from Southampton to the Channel Islands.

During the summer and on weekends in 1956, a firm called Starways flew passengers from Liverpool to Bembridge in a Dakota plane, from which they were conveyed by coach to their hotels in Sandown and Shanklin.

Additional 1950s operators included:

• East Anglia Flying Services, using Rapide and Dove aircraft
• Don Everall Aviation of Birmingham, using a Rapide
• Air Views of Liverpool using a Rapide

Britten Norman (BN)

Since the Island was a hotbed for hovercraft design ideas in 1959, a new firm named Britten Norman set up shop in a nearby hangar and began investigating hovercraft development under the name Cushioncraft Ltd, a division of its parent company BN. There were a total of six designs developed between 1960 and 1972, with just five going into production.

Cushioncraft Ltd., however, was sold to the British Hovercraft Corporation in 1979 following several financial difficulties as the company’s focus shifted to the creation of a new aircraft.

BN now looked  at developing new fixed-wing aircraft with strong lift capacity and robust landing gear, and in 1963–1964, the world-famous “Islander” was born from these efforts. First showing at Paris Airshow June 1965.

The firm expanded rapidly with the construction of a new hangar in 1967, and the ensuing 50+ years of design work resulted in several aircraft variations, all of which shared the same signature “built like a tank” robustness. 50 years and over 1300 Islanders later, the firm is still going strong thanks to a later purchase by Fairey Aviation and a subsequent name change to Pilatus Britten Norman.

Latterly the Islander became even more famous when its starred in the 007 film Spectre

Back on the airfield itself in 1980 saw the creation of a 1000ft concrete runway being added, giving an all weather strip as well as far better landing surface.

At the end of 2010 Britten Norman handed over the control of the airport to Bembridge airport Ltd.

Due to leasing issues a closure of the airport occurred in January 2011, since then it is now open again as we understand.

PDF – Daily Service

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Dragon_Rapide