• Portsmouth Aviation

In 1928 Capt. R M B Ward and A B Forsyth formed Inland Flying Services at Maylands aerodrome near Romford, Essex, as a joy-riding and aircraft maintenance business. The business was incorporated on 6 April 1929, but negotiations for a three-year lease with the owner of the land were unsuccessful and, instead, the founders moved to Apse Manor Farm near Shanklin, Isle of Wight, and changed the name of the company to Wight Aviation on 16 April 1930. The original joy-riding was with a couple of Avro 504Ks, but these were disposed of in 1930 and replaced by a DH Moth and later a Klemm L.27 and Spartan three-seater. Mainstay of the business was flying tuition, joyriding and the occasional charter; the Isle of Wight Flying Club was also formed as an adjunct to the business. In 1931-2 the company was recapitalised and taken over by Lionel Balfour and Francis Luxmoore and entered into a lease of Portsmouth aerodrome with the intentions of operating a shuttle service across the Solent to attract a proportion of the 2.5 million visitors that made the crossing annually. In March 1932 82 acres of land were also obtained for a dedicated aerodrome at Barnsley Farm, along the main coast road just outside the popular resort of Ryde; the airport opened in June with Portsmouth/Hillsea airport opening the following month.

On 11 May 1932 the company again changed its name to Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation and, at a cost of around £3,000, obtained a three-engine Westland Wessex which commenced services between Ryde and Portsmouth on 27 June 1932, at a frequency of four return flights daily. From July a through coach air service became available from London’s Victoria station to Ryde in association with Solent Coaches, while towards the end of August a daily ‘Round the Island’ sightseeing flight was begun at under £2 a trip. Joy-riding was not neglected and Wight’s inherited fleet of three light aircraft found many willing takers both on the island and the mainland at 5s a head, while ‘ferry’ passengers finding the published timetable unsuitable could arrange an aircraft at their convenience for the 15-minute hop for just 15s one-way.

To cope with increased traffic, the prototype Monospar ST-4 was purchased and backed up with a Puss Moth, owned by one of the directors; both aircraft were employed on a new route to Shoreham, opened on 5 September 1932. The first year’s results exceeded all expectations with a total of 15,418 passengers carried on all services, including pleasure flights. Demand continued to increase during the following year, necessitating yet more aircraft and two DH Fox Moths were obtained to help fulfill the season’s six-daily ferry returns, one extended to Shanklin, three times daily Shoreham trips and a new on-request stop at Bembridge. During the peak summer period between June and September scheduled passenger traffic doubled to 6,827 passengers, while the quieter winter months saw charters to Aintree for the Grand National and a scheduled service run to Goodwood on race days.

In 1934 Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation renegotiated its earlier agreement with Portsmouth City Council, gaining rights to operate air services for 21 years on payment of ten per cent of gross receipts. The Monospar was replaced by a DH Dragon, which first appeared on the new London (Heston) route on 18 May 1933, taking over from the Wessex that had earlier inaugurated proceedings at the beginning of the month. But competition loomed in April 1933 when Spartan Airlines, backed by the considerable resources of Whitehall Securities and the Southern Railway Co, began a flying a parallel service between London, Cowes and Bembridge, though in response, the lower operating costs of the Dragon allowed Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation to reduce fares.

An ambiguous statement by the Post Office, led Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation to believe that it could carry mail between Portsmouth and Ryde, thus on 3 February 1934 the airline began carrying letters under its own ‘Island Air Express’ cachet. In fact, this was actually illegal, but nevertheless the odd letter was still being carried as late as December of that year. Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation also brought London evening newspapers to the island by air. For the 1934 season a new route to Bournemouth (Christchurch) was opened with connections to Western Airways for Cardiff, Bristol and beyond. On the back of almost 40,000 passengers uplifted in 1934, Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation enlarged its fleet with the acquisition of three Airspeed Couriers, an Envoy and a second Wessex, the new arrivals allowing the opening of routes from Southampton (including Paris via Portsmouth) and separate direct flights to Shanklin from Portsmouth.

Agreements were also concluded with Provincial Airways and Cobham Air Routes to enable passengers from Croydon airport to interchange at Portsmouth. At this stage the powerful Southern Railway (and its partner Spartan) became concerned about the low fares offered by Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation and, flexing its considerable muscle, informed all travel agents that if they dealt with the airline they would be prohibited from doing business with the four main railway companies. Faced with this fait accompli, Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation had little option but to terminate its own London route and agreed not to reintroduce such a service in the future.

Over the next couple of years, the pattern of operations continued largely unchanged, although various aircraft came and went, including several more Monospars. Passenger traffic on the main ferry route alone, flying to 25 flights per day in each direction, hit over 33,000. Various ground radio aids were introduced and the main island airport at Ryde underwent major modernisation with the inclusion of a control tower, waiting room and a licensed restaurant. In 1938 Railway Air Services started a Bournemouth-Ryde-Shoreham service and in order to avoid wasteful duplication both companies co-operated over this route, sharing revenues and operations, with the added advantage that passengers could benefit from an interchangeability of tickets with the surface steamer and rail services. The run was largely flown by an RAS DH-84, which was maintained and overhauled by Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation.

When the rearmament process began in 1938, the War Office determined that army anti-aircraft gunners needed more practice and so contracted with various airlines to provide suitable facilities. One of the beneficiaries of this lucrative business was Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation, which used both Couriers and Monospars from Southampton on this intensive flying activity. The final new pre-war route linking Portsmouth with Sandown’s Lea aerodrome (replacing Shanklin) was opened in 1938, by the end of which year over 200,000 passengers had been carried without injury. The Air Navigation Act came into effect on 1 November 1938, requiring all airlines to be in possession of an appropriate Air Ministry licence and Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation was formally awarded its existing routes between Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Ryde and Sandown. During peak periods in the final year before the Second World War, Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation was operating over 30 return services a day across the Solent, albeit with reduced passenger numbers as the threat of war loomed. After all commercial flying to the island ceased in September 1939, the airline based itself at Portsmouth as a civilian repair organisation and over 5,000 damaged aircraft passed through its hands. In February 1943 the name of the airline was changed to Portsmouth Aviation.

After the Second World War the company began diverse charter work using Dragon Rapides, Airspeed Consuls and Percival Proctors, but this only lasted until 1947, when they entered the field of aircraft design and manufacture. This diversification resulted in the Portsmouth Aerocar light transport aircraft, with which the company planned to restart air links with the Isle of Wight. Exhibited at the 1948-9 Farnborough Air Shows, the innovative design attracted much interest and a number of firm orders, but the austere early post-war economic climate was not conducive to production and only one prototype was built. Portsmouth Aviation remains in business today as an engineering company providing solutions from design conceptualisation to production.