RAF Eastchurch - Early Civilian Aviation

Early Civilian Aviation

The members of the Aero Club of Great Britain established their first flying ground near Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in 1909. One of the Club's members, Francis McClean, acquired Stonepits Farm, on the marshes across from Leysdown, converting the land into an airfield for members of the Aero Club. A club house was established nearby at the Mussell Manor (now known as Muswell Manor).

It was at this ground that John Moore-Brabazon (later Lord Brabazon of Tara) made a flight of 500 yards in his Voisin biplane The Bird of Passage. This is officially recognised as the first flight by a British pilot in Britain. Later in 1909, Moore-Brabazon piloted the first live cargo flight by fixed-wing aircraft. In order to prove the pigs can fly he attached a waste-paper basket to a wing strut of his aircraft and airlifted one small pig inside the basket. Later Moore-Brabazon, Professor Huntington, Charles Rolls and Cecil Grace all visited and used the flying club's services. Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville came to the Isle of Sheppey to visit the new flying grounds of the Aero Club.

Also in early 1909, the Short Brothers established an aircraft factory at Shellbeach on Isle of Sheppey. This was the first aircraft factory in the British Isles and the first factory in the world for the series production of aircraft. It built aircraft designed by the Wright brothers. In May 1909 the Wright Brothers, accompanied by Charles Rolls and Professor Huntington, visited Sheppy, inspecting the airfield before moving on to the Short Brothers' factory. The group then took lunch at the Aero Club house at Mussell Manor and there was considerable discussion regarding the possibility of establishing a flying school in Sheppey.

In 1910 both the airfield and the aircraft factory were relocated to larger quarters at Eastchurch, 2.5 miles (4 km) or so away, where the Short-Dunne 5, designed by John W. Dunne, was built and became the first tailless aircraft to fly. In 1911 they built the world's first successful twin-engine aircraft, the S.39 or Triple Twin. At this time seaplanes had to be taken by barge to Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey to be launched and tested.