History
In 1927 a group of local businessmen raised £6,000 through public subscription to start a flying club at Filton Aerodrome. By 1929 the club had become a success and it was decided that a farm located in Whitchurch near Bristol would be developed into an airport. In 1930, Prince George, son of King George V opened Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport — becoming the third such airport in the United Kingdom. Passenger numbers grew from 935 in 1930 to over 4,000 in 1939.
During World War II, Bristol's Whitchurch Airport was the only civil airport still in operation in the UK, meaning all flights usually bound for London were terminated in Bristol. The newly formed British Overseas Airways Corporation was transferred to Whitchurch from Croydon and Gatwick Airports. They operated on routes to Lisbon, Portugal and to some other neutral nations.
Read more about this topic: Bristol Airport
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“Like their personal lives, women’s history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.”
—Elizabeth Janeway (b. 1913)