On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 12:24:10 +0100, Graeme Wall
Post by Graeme WallPost by Theo MarkettosPost by d***@yahoo.co.ukAre you sure about that? There was a time when in deference to
Eastleigh feeling it had been invaded the station was known as
Southampton(Eastleigh) Airport but I don't think there has been a time
when the present station hasn't had Southampton in the name.
Did that period overlap with operations of flying boats from Southampton?
That could have caused confusion between the two 'airports'.
The Atlantic Park station which was the first station at the location
and served the refugee camp seems to have closed quietly after that
camp was disbanded and the Airfield becoming a owned by what was then
still the Town of Southampton and becoming a civil airport, as such it
did not have a station till the present one was opened in 1966 so
while the Flying Boats were in service there was no overlap.
Post by Graeme WallThere wasn't a formal "airport" for the flying boats, they operated
initially from a pontoon at Hythe and then later from Marchwood. In
1938 they started operating from a pontoon at Berth 107 (later moved to
108) in the New Docks. It would have been feasible for a rail
connection to have been established after the move to the new docks, by
attaching and detaching a coach from the Waterloo expresses but I don't
know if that was, in fact, done.
With a building dedicated to them at both the New docks and the BOAC
terminal building that was built back in the Old Docks post WW2 I
would think that things were little more formal than just the early
pontoons especially at the latter.
Pre WW2 I'm not sure what berth they were using but the short lived
dedicated trains for the Flying boats left from Victoria not Waterloo.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-first-imperial-airways-rail-special-leaving-a-specially-news-photo/57066785
This WWW page is about the postwar terminal which also had a short
life life due to development of land planes.
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/southampton_flying_boat_terminal/index.shtml
The walkways were still up when you moved to Soton Graeme between the
brick piers that in times past were the mooring points for a floating
dock.
Post by Graeme WallIn 1943 a plan was drawn up for a combined sea and land plane airport
with it's own rail connection to be built between the mouths of the
Hamble and Meon rivers.
Re: another thread, there were also post war proposals to build a water
runway to the north of Heathrow.
There was also a proposal to replace Southampton and Bournemouth
airports with a large regional at Ampfield near Romsey which could
have had a station on the Romsey C/Ford line.
G.Harman