Adam Trimingham tells us all about the history of Shoreham Airport

For more than a hundred years, planes have been taking off and landing at Shoreham, the oldest airport in Britain.

It was created in 1909 only six years after the Wright Brothers’ historic flight in America by a lawyer appropriately named George Wingfield.

The first recorded aviator there was H H Piffard who flew a plane of his own design which reached an altitude of 30 feet.

Shortly afterwards in 1910, Horatio Barber flew into the record books by completing a commercial flight taking a consignment of lamps from Shoreham to Wish Park in Hove – a real light aircraft, Another early Shoreham aviator Graham Gilmour attracted large crowds in 1911 who saw his Bristol biplane take off from Hove Lawns. A few weeks late Oscar Morison made a similar journey.

The Pashley brothers, Herbert, Eric md Cecil, were major figures at Shoreham who built many planes there. They also set up a flying school.

Sadly Herbert and Eric were killed within three months of each other when in action during the First World War. But Cecil lived until 1969, teaching scores of people how to fly and building more planes.

Shoreham Airport soon became a leisure centre with a clubhouse, restaurant, tennis court and a croquet lawn.

Edward and Alice Colquhoun, who have written a new history of the airport, say it was a hub of social activity.

A popular figure at Shoreham was Sir Alan Cobham whose flying circus brought the thrill of flying to millions of ordinary people. He lived long enough to see aviation as a mainstream means of transport before his death in 1979.

Not all the pioneers were men. Amy Johnson became a national hero in 1930 when she flew alone to Australia. She was given a civic reception later that year after visiting Shoreham. She died in 1941, crashing into the Thames estuary. Her body was never discovered.

The airport received a major boost in the 1930s when the new Art Deco style terminus was built and local councils took an interest in the expansion. The terminal is often used in films depicting pre-war flying.

Councils continued to own it for several decades but seldom managed to make much money from what should have been a profitable enterprise.

After the Second World War, expansion continued until today there are several hundred jobs reliant on the airport.

A major step forward was the construction of a hard runway which enabled Shoreham to be used for flying all the year round.

But restrictions caused by nearby roads and housing meant that it could not be used by modern jet aircraft and it remains a centre for small aircraft.

Proof of its popularity is shown each year when the late summer air show is held there and Shoreham is also a base during the Eastbourne show.

Magnificent Men and Women in Their Flying Machines is a pictorial history of aviation at Shoreham by Edward and Alice Colquhoun, It costs £8.99 and is available at Bookworms in Shoreham High Street.