FLYING ON THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY
Whilst Laffan’s Plain (Farnborough) and Brooklands are well known for their early connections with British Aviation, the enormous contribution made on the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent, is generally forgotten.
Having improved their Flyer during 1904 and 5, the Wright brothers ceased flying and set about trying to sell their invention to governments around the world, with surprisingly little success. In 1908 Wilbur Wright took the Flyer to France, demonstrating it at Le Mans on August 8th, where it became evident that it was far superior to
anything then flying in Europe. CS Rolls, who had been trying for the past couple of years to persuade the Wrights to make him their UK agent, finally managed to conclude a deal which would allow him to build Flyers under licence in the UK, and in February 1909 he sent the Short brothers, who up to that point had been building gas balloons, to France to make sketches and technical notes, as no blueprints existed. The Wrights were contracted to supply the engines, French built versions of the Wright Dayton engine.
Meanwhile, Griffith Brewer, a partner of Rolls, was tasked with finding a suitable site for a factory and aerodrome, and chose Shellness, near Leysdown, on the Isle of Sheppey, where he bought land adjacent to Muswell Manor.
By early 1909 a number of buildings were erected, and the Aero Club of Great Britain, established in 1901, decided to make the site its centre of operations. Club member Claude Moore Brabazon arrived with the first aeroplane, a French built Voisin, and became the first Briton to fly a powered aircraft on home soil when he made three flights during the weekend of April 29th – May 2nd, the
farthest being 1500 ft (American Sam Cody had become the first person to fly a powered aircraft in the UK on October 16th 1908 at Laffan’s Plain).
Production of Short Wright Flyers commenced early in 1909 and very soon there was an 80 strong workforce at the factory. The Wright brothers visited for the first time on May 5th, and
were impressed with the airfield and the quality of Shorts’ work. However, by the end of the year it had been decided that Shellness was too susceptible to water logging, and operations were moved a mile or two up the road to Eastchurch, a site that was to become the hub of British Aviation for the next four years.
In 1910 King Edward VII allowed the Aero Club to become the Royal Aero Club, a title it holds to this day, and activity at the airfield intensified. CS Rolls became the first person to make a double crossing of the Channel in June (though sadly he was killed in July when his aircraft suffered an in flight structural failure at a flying event in Bournemouth). And Tom Sopwith won the £4,000 Baron de Forest prize for the longest flight into Europe by a British pilot when he flew 177 miles non stop to Thirlemont in Belgium in 3 ½ hours.
Early aviation had a number of wealthy benefactors, one such being American publishing millionaire James Gordon Bennett, who ran an air race at Rheims in 1909. The race was won by American, Glen Curtis, so in 1910 the Gordon Bennett Air Race was held at Long Island, New York, where Englishman Claude Graham-White took the honours. On 1st July 1911 this now
prestigious international event was held at Eastchurch, and many thousands of spectators came to watch the action. The winner was American Charles Weymann, who completed the 25 3.76 mile laps at an average speed of 78.77 mph in his Nieuport.
After a frustratingly long period of disinterest in aviation, the government finally agreed in 1910 to allow four naval officers to learn to fly at Eastchurch, thus becoming the first ever British military pilots. Shorts meanwhile were developing their own machines, and the naval presence influenced their decision to become involved in seaplanes, in December 1911 naval pilot Arthur Longmore took off in a Short S34 fitted with flotation gear and successfully landed on the River Medway near Sheerness, and in January 1912 Lt. Charles Samson took off from staging on board HMS Africa in Sheerness harbour, and landed at nearby Grain. Many other early experiments were carried out at Eastchurch, including mounting guns on aircraft, dripping torpedoes, and air to ground communication.
In 1912 the Royal Navy Air Service was born at Eastchurch and the field was taken over by the Admiralty at the outbreak of WW1. Shorts had by this time moved to a new site on the banks of the 
Medway in Rochester, where there was easier water access for their seaplanes and space to expand. As an aside, a corner of the Rochester factory later housed Pobjoy Airmotors, which made the diminutive geared radial engines in the 1930’s and 40’s. When Shorts moved to Belfast, the factory became part of the Lucas group, and CAV Ltd. built diesel injection equipment there until the eighties, when it was demolished for housing.
The Eastchurch Squadron served with distinction during WW1, including taking part in the first ever strategic bombing raids in December 1914, the targets being the Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf and Cologne.
Between the wars the site continued as an RAF training field, and remained active during WW2. In 1947 it closed and became Standford Hill open prison. Subsequently two other prisons, Elmely and Swaleside, have been opened on or close to the site.
Today there is just one private airstrip on the island, operated by PFA member and Luscombe owner Mike Loxton. It is within half a mile of the old Eastchurch airfield, and Mike’s in-laws live in the old man
or house in which Eustace Short resided when the Short factory was on the island.
Muswell Manor, on the old Leysdown site where the “Founding fathers” photograph was taken in 1909, is now a caravan park club and bar. There is also a stained glass window in Eastchurch church which commemorates CS Rolls and Cecil Grace, who was lost in the Channel whilst attempting the Forest Prize in Dec. 1910.
In 1955 a commemorative wall was built opposite the church, which depicts the men and machines of those halcyon days. In 2005 it was decided to re-dedicate the wall, and a number of local PFA pilots were invited to stage a flypast to start the ceremony.
Considering the importance of Sheppey to British aviation, the current level of celebration is pretty understated. The Flying Start project presents an opportunity to finally recognise the Isle of Sheppey’s aviation heritage.
By Brian Hope
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