Often we are too quick to use expressions like ’steeped in history’. but when it comes to describing our trial flying lessons out of Gloucestershire airport it really is steeped in the stuff!

A view of Staverton airport in the 1960s with the Smith Industries planes lined up

Flying started in 1931 in a field adjacent to the actual airport and the Westgate Motor Company opened a de Havilland Moth dealership and used the airfield to conduct demo flights of these legendary biplanes.

Commercial ventures ground to an abrupt halt with the onset of the Second World War and Staverton, as the airfield was by then known, became an RAF training base and not insignificantly, Sir Alan Cobham developed his in-flight fuelling protocol at the airfield.

Post war, Staverton again embraced commerical flying activity and Smiths Industries flew their test bed aircraft such as the Vickers Varsity and Hawker Siddeley 748. There were also various scheduled flights set up from Staverton.

Take a trial flying lesson in a modern light aircraft at the historic Gloucestershire Airport

Eventually in 1990 the airport changed its name from Staverton airfield to Gloucestershire Airport.

Today, the airport enjoys a reputation as a busy business and recreational airport. With around 90,000 flight movements each year and with the chance to spot a wide variety of planes, from Tiger Moths to the Dassault Falcon, Gloucestershire Airport really is an historic airport to take a trial flying lesson!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 11:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.