A brief history of Rochester Airport; Part 1 (1932-1940)
By John Townsend
As a retired employee of BAE Systems (and formerly GEC Avionics) at Rochester, I have been interested in the history and development of Rochester Airport.
Living in Kent, people often drive up the A2 at Bluebell Hill and occasionally see a light aircraft taking off or landing to the northeast. However, this small airport with its grass runways has an interesting past, and one that is closely tied to the British war effort throughout the 1940s.
Rochester Airport is on land between Rochester Maidstone Road and Chatham Maidstone road. Before Rochester airport was ever planned, the land was woodland and fields; at the northern end, the Great Delce Wood to the north and Woolmans Wood to the south. Toward the Rochester-Maidstone roadside was Slippers Hearne wood, and on the Chatham-Maidstone Road, Westfield Wood. A large field was set out in the middle of these four wooded areas.
By 1879 the outer defensive forts protecting Chatham Dockyard were under construction. Nicknamed Palmerston Forts, they included Fort Borstal, Fort Bridgewood,
Fort Horsted and Fort Luton. Between these forts, a 2-feet narrow gauge railway set into a ditch between Fort Bridge wood and Fort Horsted passed through the location of the current BAE
Systems factory, formerly the former Shorts aircraft factory, toward the north end of the existing airport.
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Fig 1: 1871 OS map showing surrounding area with overlay of modern runway projection Bottom
Fig 2: Scylla ADJJ under construction at Shorts
In 1932 Rochester City Council announced an interest in setting up an airport. It proposed to spend £30,000 on the scheme to acquire and develop land between Rochester Maidstone Road and Chatham Maidstone Road. In September 1933 a Mr Auger, the owner of 105 acres of land, was offered £10,000 for the site. Additional land was obtained following an exchanging of 15 acres with the Ebenezer sports club.
Soon after, Short Brothers approached Rochester City Council about leasing the airfield. At a meeting of Rochester City Council in November 1933, it was recommended the Short Brothers be given the lease for the 120 acres on condition the land was used as an airport for public landing and flying rights. It was not until September 1934 that the Air Ministry gave the go-ahead to establish an airport. Rochester City Council employed men to clear flints from the field’s surface and create three grassed runways.
Before hangars were erected at the Rochester Airport site, Shorts Brothers began constructing the 4-engine Scylla ADJJ aircraft for
Imperial Airways. During the winter of 1933/1934 this was the first aircraft to take off on the airfield.
In 1934 Rochester City Council gave Pobjoy Airmotors Limited a lease to build an aircraft engine factory on a 3-acre site on the airfield’s northwest side. Pobjoys made engines for several of the Shorts fighting boats.
The first air service from Rochester started on 9 June 1934 with an hourly ferry service to Southend airfield between 0900 hours and 1900 hours daily. The service was run by Shorts using a Shorts Scion and Flying Service of Southend in a de Havilland Fox Moth aircraft. The fare was 8 shillings single, and 12 shillings return, and it took approximately 12 minutes. The Shorts Scion could carry up to six passengers, and the de Havilland Fox moth could carry four.
As aviation grew more popular in the public eye, the airfield lease permitted two air displays a year. In 1934 Alan Cobham National Aviation Display Tour came to Rochester Airport on 25 August 1934 and proved popular.
In 1937 the Air Ministry approached Shorts with a proposal about managing a flying school at the airport to train RAF volunteer reservists. Shortly afterwards, Number 23 Elementary Reserve Flying Training Schools was formed on 1 April 1938. The flying school
Top, left
Fig 3: The first aircraft to take off from Rochester Airfield – it could carry 39 passages, but only two were built Top, right
Fig 4: A photo looking southeast of Rochester airfield 1934 with first hanger and Pobjoy works
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Fig 5: Shorts Scion used for the service to Southend
The original hanger was enlarged, a further administration block added to accommodate the increased number of personnel on the ground (Royal Aeronautical Society 2009).
By 1938, Shorts began designing a four-engine bomber at Rochester to the Air Ministry specification B12/36, given the name ‘Stirling’.
The first Stirling flight was on 14 December 1939. The Stirling proved to be a success for the Shorts Rochester facility, and in early 1941, the Stirling entered squadron service. As a bomber, the Stirling was popular with pilots due to its ability to out-turn enemy night fighters and handling characteristics. The Stirling had a relatively brief operational career as a bomber before being relegated to second-line duties from late
1943 due to the availability of the more capable Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster. However,
Next Issue, we will look in more detail at Rochester Airport’s role during Work War 2 and its civilian development after that.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Fig 1 – map data courtesy of Google and KCC
Figs 2 to 8 – courtesy of Royal Aeronautical Society, A Brief History of Rochester Airport (2009)
References
Brooks, R., Kent Airfields in the Second World War (1998)
MacDougall, P., Shorts Brothers the Rochester Years (2019)
Royal Aeronautical Society, A Brief History of Rochester Airport (2009)
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Fig 6: Training School hanger 3 in 1938
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Fig 7: The first airmen trained at Rochester in 1939
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Fig 8: Shorts Stirling prototype taking off from southern end of the airport in 1939
