The Unofficial Plymouth City Airport Website

Plymouth City Airport History 1825-2003

Aviation in Plymouth dates back to 1825 when two famous balloonists arrived to a crowd of 50,000 In 1919 the first crossing of the North Atlantic was completed with an arrival on the Barbican from New York.

The site was a Polo field until 1923 when a Birmingham/Manchester/Belfast route was tried but failed, and a Croydon link was tried from a small strip by the waterfront to carry mail that had arrived by ships from the Atlantic. Surrey Flying Services were then set up as the route was a success and Roborough was to be the new airfield, using Avro 504 G-EBHM from 1925. They owned the airport until they ceased services in 1936. The idea over meeting ships was later followed by the British American Air Services which meet Cruiseliners at Plymouth docks. The Surrey Services pilot who made the first services later formed the Sir Alan Cobham`s flying circus, drawing in great crowds. In 1929 the Plymouth and District Aero Club was formed

On September 24 1930, The Plymouth Civic Weeks Aviation Day was held at the city, an event which brought Amy Johnson with aviation rides. -The Plymouth Civic Aerodrome was opened when the Prince of Wales flew in in 1931 in G-ABEG, a Westland Wessex prototype. The airfield then had the original Control built on top of the airwork hanger. Imperial Airways flew in by HP42 Helena G-AAGX. -In 1933 Imperial Airways began flights to Cardiff, Torquay(Haldon) and Birmingham from 1933 forming Railway Air Services , adding Teignmouth and Liverpool to its routes and using Imperial Airways` Wessex airliners.

International Airlines began a Croydon/Portsmouth Southampton route using ST 4`s in 1933. Westcountry Air Services used a DH Dragon and Fox Moths until 1934 linking with Croydon, Southampton and Haldon. In 1935 they named the dragon G-ADDJ the city of Plymouth. They also began a Nottingham/Cardiff/Birmingham/Newton Abbot route. Jersey Airlines also tried air services to Jersey from 1936 until 1937 when they routed to Exeter instead. They used aircraft such as the Dragon G-ACNJ. They returned to Plymouth in 1961. In 1936 Railway Air Services added Bristol Whitchurch, Weston Super-Mare to the Plymouth Schedules and Western Airways began Cardiff/Croydon/Exeter flights. Air Despatch routed from Croydon, Portsmouth, Haldon and Plymouth Great Western and Southern added the Scilly Isles and London in 1938. Railway Air Services and Channel Air Ferries shared the Bristol/Cardiff route from 1938 and the the later also flew to the Scillies On May 28 1938 the Empire air Day was held. In December 1938 Great western and Southern both took over Channel Air Ferries Olley Air Services also operated routes.

The Whitney Straight Corporation leased the Airport from 1936 to 1939 The RAF took over the airfield in 1939. Nearby RAF Mount Batton took control of the airfield. The George Hotel, a public house that today overlooks the airfield (having an aviation theme inside) was use as the Officer's mess and Nissan huts were built around it. In 1946, a Boeing B17c A-N 523WP-D was attacked by fighters and its engine caught fire and crashed near the airfield. Harrowbear nearby was the airfield that could take larger aircraft, but it was further away from Plymouth and the docks. A Sea Otter was based as a rescue aircraft that could land on ships. Gladiator biplanes were used in The Battle of Britain The airfields air shows were a major attraction every year after the war, attracting various types such as the RAF Beverley, Sea Devon and masses of military types both landing and those performing in displays overhead. This event lasted until 1970 when the Hoe and Plymouth Sound was to be the air show base.

The 1954 Plymouth and District Aero Club operated pleasure flights, much as the present flying school does today. They operated the Chipmunk, Gemini, Autocrat among their fleet. They became the Plymouth Aero Club 1946ltd and shared aircraft with Weston-Super Mare. Western Airways undertook training from 1952.

In 1960, an airfield at Yelverton could have become the new airport, but the Harowbeer Airport Bill was defeated and Roborough was to remain the city's airport. Dan-Air tried a route to Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Newcastle for a short time using Doves, Rapides, and also a Gatwick route until they ended services in 1965, as did British United Other operators in the sixties were Metropolitan Air Services and Morton Air Services. Before a radio was set up on 122.6(the present frequency until recently) the aircraft obtained direction finding by tuning into the BBC transmitter which was 2 miles away! A seventeen year old girl found the airfield in bad weather after being lost over Bodmin in 1975.

Mayflower Air Services were based from 1961 using Dragon Rapides to the scilly Isles until an accident in 1965 at the Scillies when Scilonian Air Services took over the route, a name used by the new Skybus.

Airwork began the Britannia Royal Naval College Air Experience Flight in 1961. Nine Tiger Moths were used until 1966 when Chipmunks began flights-lasting for 25 years, until the German built Grobs were selected by Shorts under a similar Naval contract. Airwork operated the airport up to 1975 when Brymon took over the post.

Brymon Aviation begin in 1972, flying to Newquay/Scillies and Newquay/Jersey using G-AXXJ, the Islander, which also flew a service to Morlaix. In 1975 the runway 06/24 was covered in tarmac-previously it had been all grass. New routes followed to Cardiff, Cherbourg, Cork and Gatwick via Exeter in 1977 The last Islander left the fleet in 1979, when Twin Otters were left to continue the flights(the first being G-BDHC)until the Dash-7`s were introduced in 1981. London City Airport was set up by the Brymon-Plymouth team and had a similar length runway that would only be able to take Dash-7 aircraft with its` 799m runway, opened by the Queen in 1987. The length being similar to the now small 752m runway at Plymouth today. In 1992 they increased the runway length to 1,199m to take BAE 146 aircraft. This was four years after Plymouth had increased its runway to 1,170m. This makes it possible for 146`s to land, but the only one used is the Royal Squadron BAE 146 which regularly visits but has few passengers and is the smallest, 100 variant. It is so quiet that few seem to notice its presence! Brymon did at one time operate a Plymouth-London City service, at one time in 80`s bringing Dash-7`s in Air France livery as well as when the came in for repairs. The first Landing at the London Docks was by a Brymon Dash-7 which landed on a small pre-prepared landing area in between a Plymouth-Heathrow service. The first landing at London City Airport was the Plymouth to London City service which left Plymouth at 0630 in 1987. The developments at Plymouth in 1987 to build a new runway and dramatically rebuild the terminal areas was the basis for the London Stolport (city airport) which was the second of Brymon's Cityclass airports. The same firm built both the new Plymouth airport and London airports. Brymon had to service all the new Brymon routes at London City, which saw Dash 7's arrive daily for maintenance.

Plymouth did at one time have three runways, in 1976, the site of runway 13/31 was lined 14/32 and was a short grass strip. This had part tarmac added in 1986 until it was realigned 13/31 in 1988. The third runway existed up to 1970 and was aligned 01/19

The mid 1990's saw the introduction of new airline operators to Plymouth. The Isles of Scilly Skybus began operations using Islanders and Twin Otters on a thrice-weekly service to St Mary's. Air South West, having moved from Newquay (they were originally known as Newquay Air) and then to Exeter, decided to concentrate services in Plymouth. The airline obtained a second Embraer Bandeirante aircraft and flew twice daily services to Dublin and a daily service to Cork, competing with Brymon Airways. They also introduced a Plymouth to Manchester service but the airline soon ended all operations. A new airline, Celtic Airways, planned to commence a daily Cork-Plymouth-Brussels service. Brymon Airways, under the British Airways brand, moved their London operation to Gatwick, having previously operated to Heathrow, and increased daily flights from Plymouth from four to five times daily on weekdays by introducing an extra link with Bristol. The new century saw the introduction of daily direct flights to Cork and a Edinburgh-Bristol-Plymouth-Jersey-Paris service. During the summer months, up to three flights a day were operated on Saturdays to Jersey and one flight was operated to Guernsey.

By January 2003, it was announced that British Airways CitiExpress (the new name for Brymon Airways) planned to pass the operation of their Dash 8 fleet to a new or existing airline. Prior to this, BA axed all Plymouth flights to Jersey, Guernsey, Cork, Dublin, reduced its Gatwick operation to four times daily and reduced its flights to Bristol. The airline has kept its four times daily Gatwick-Plymouth-Newquay flights and a daily service to Bristol. The daily Plymouth-Exeter-East Midlands mail flight was also axed towards the end of the 1990's. Some hope of a reprise of services came when Air Wales immediately reinstated the Plymouth to Cork service, the day after BA axed the route. The airline also commenced a Plymouth to Dublin service and plans to introduce 50 seat aircraft in the future.

with thanks to the various sources used to compiling this information, available on request. Please e-mail me any further information you have on the airport. Index