• Eastbourne Aviation Co Ltd

Eastbourne Aviation Co was established on 1 December 1911 by Major Bernard Fowler and Victor Yates and immediately advertised flying lessons on Blériot aircraft acquired from the New Forest Aviation School which had ceased trading in late 1911. Fowler had acquired land at Willingdon Levels near Eastbourne and created Langney aerodrome. Eastbourne Aviation Co merged with Frank Hucks Waterplane Co (est. 1912) of Hampstead, London, to form the Eastbourne Aviation Co Ltd, registered on 24 February 1913 with an authorised capital of £15,000. Frank Hucks Waterplane Co contributed three Farman Hydroplanes to the new company to carry out seaplane joy-riding with the result that hangars were erected on the beach. By 1913 the Eastbourne Aviation Co school fleet comprised Farman Hydroplanes, Bristol and Sommer biplanes and Blériot monoplanes and occupied a converted church and eight hangars, six on the airfield and two with a slipway to the beach. The company constructed a number of original designs, notably the EAC Monoplane which was designed by school pupil Herr Gassler and flew extremely successfully in 1913. The same year another pupil, Vincent Fill, built his own Blériot monoplane. The Eastbourne Aviation Co Ltd also built a single seater tractor biplane and an EAC military biplane in 1914. During the First World War the aerodrome was used for the training of Royal Naval Air Service pilots and Eastbourne Aviation Co Ltd was displaced to operate solely from the seaplane base which became the company's registered office from early 1916. There the company continued to build various aircraft types, including the Avro 504 (159), Farman S11 Shorthorn (40) and BE2C (12). It also carried out aircraft repair work. Some work on Avro 504 seaplanes continued after the war when six Avro 504L (float-equipped Avro 504K) were built. The company also resumed seaplane joy-riding and converted two Short 184 to four-seat configuration as G-EALC and G-EAJT. Flying ceased in spring 1921 when the fleet was put up for sale, although the company briefly flirted with the manufacture of motor cars and coach bodies before a receiver was appointed in December 1922. Work ceased in 1924 and the company's assets, other than its buildings, were sold at auction in July. The local council purchased the buildings in early 1926, but the company was not formally wound up until November 1932.