Viva Brighton Issue #66 August 2018

BRICKS AND MORTAR
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Photos courtesy of the airport museum
First World War. The War brought the Royal
Flying Corps, Number 3 Reserve Squadron to
the airfield, and the fledgling Canadian Air Force.
By 1930 Brighton, Hove and Worthing councils
formed a joint committee to establish Shoreham
as a municipal airport. Work on the Terminal
Building started in November, 1934 and it was
officially opened on the 13th June, 1936.
When the Germans invaded France in 1940,
passenger traffic to and from the airport ceased.
After a short break, the RAF took over the airport
and it became the base for 277 Air Sea Rescue
Squadron. Equipped with Spitfires, Supermarine
Walruses, Defiants and Lysanders, the squadron
was involved in the rescue of nearly 600 airmen
from the Channel during the war.
In 1946 the airfield reverted to civilian use and
in 1951 Fred Miles and his brother George set
up a base on site for aircraft manufacturing and
development work. In 1971 the airfield again
came under joint council control of Brighton,
Hove and Worthing, and passenger services and
general aviation came back to Shoreham.
In 2013 the airport was renamed Brighton City
Airport. With four runways and six helipads, the
airport logs as many as 50,000 flights per year.
Visitors are welcome, especially in the Terminal’s
Hummingbird Café, which serves breakfasts,
lunches and cake. There’s also a small museum,
and guided tours, which are given by very
knowledgeable volunteers.
These days you don’t have to wrap up warm, nor
do you have to be very wealthy, to enjoy what
the airport has to offer. All you need is a sense of
adventure, and the same passion for aviation those
early pioneers had in spades.
John O’Donoghue
Brighton City Airport, The Terminal Building,
Cecil Pashley Way, Shoreham-by-Sea.
flybrighton.com
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