by MIKE KING, former chairman of Leigh Town Council, gives a very personal view

THE flurry of words written and spoken about the plan to ‘develop’ the airfield at Rochford seem to have almost completely overlooked the reason for its existence and its occasional ups and downs.

Way back in 1910, two Leigh residents designed an aircraft that was recorded as having been tested – unsuccessfully – at Rochford. A company that came to be central to British aircraft development – Handley Page – was also said to have used a site in Rochford for their flying around this time.

In 1916, the Royal Flying Corps established an airfield on the site known now as London Southend Airport, although then it was known as Eastwood Airfield. What’s in a name?

Between the wars the airfield was often used for air pageants and in 1933 Southend Council bought the site, which became the first municipal-owned aerodrome in the country.

There were also short-lived scheduled services to Norwich and Gravesend at this time.

The airfield was central to the defence of Britain during and after the Battle of Britain and many famous aircraft types and pilots flew from there.

After the war, the council again resumed responsibility for the airfield and that is where I became involved, albeit as a schoolboy.

Half the site was reserved for the Air Training Corps who undertook gliding training, while the other half operated club and commercial aircraft.

The chair of the committee, Coun Bentley and the airport manager, Bernard Collins agreed that the model aircraft club I had formed – Belfairs Model Aero Club – should cohabit with the ATC, and this we did without problems.

Indeed, a number of model aircraft contests were held on the site and we even had a Nissen hut on the western boundary for our own use. One of my gliders flew across the Thames and landed at an airport on the Isle of Sheppey!

Two local entrepreneurs, Jack Jones and Freddie Laker, realised the potential of the site for easy access to the Continent and this started a golden age for the airport. If you went by car in those days to France, your car was craned onto the sea ferry, the whole exercise was long-winded and expensive.

Enter the Bristol Freighter that could take cars on board through its hinged nose, and take you direct to France and Belgium.

These aircraft were slow, and the short distance from Southend to Ostend and other airfields in France and Belgium made Southend the ideal site for their operation. Four-engined ex-bombers were used for the Berlin Airlift in 1948, flown by local crews including my brother, while two aero-modellers and the ATC still occupied half the site.

Later, it all started going wrong. Roll-on, roll-off ferries were undercutting the air ferries and even a Southend modification of a four-engined aircraft to carry more cars – the Carvair – couldn’t stem the tide.

Faster passenger aircraft arrived and the close proximity of Southend to the Continent became less relevant. Jack Jones’s Channel Airways services to the Midlands lasted for a very short time and even services to the Channel Islands soon ceased.

As a Southend councillor I was vice chairman of the airport committee and it was obvious when our excellent airport manager, Bernard Collins left – he was called ‘the commandant of the airport’ – shades of the Luftwaffe! that the airport was in difficulties.

So what of the future? I believe that the new owners have a mountain to climb to establish Southend as a passenger airport.

Just look at the facts. Compare Southend as it is now with London City Airport in the Docklands as it is now.

Southend has no scheduled services; London City airport has 36 including those to Milan, Geneva, Copenhagen and New York operated by 15 airline companies including British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa and Alitalia.

Southend’s EXISTING runway is 1610m.

London City’s runway is only 1508m.

Southend has night flights available.

London City is CLOSED from 22.00 to 06.30hrs Monday to Friday and from 12.30pm on Saturday to 12.30pm on Sunday.

London City is booming, even with extreme restrictions on times available and is going for expansion from 80,000 flights per year to 120,000.

The plain and simple fact is that Southend Airport is an ideal stepping off point for slow aircraft wanting to go to the Continent – like Bristol Freighters – but faster aircraft take less than five minutes to travel the space from London City to Southend.

And, of course, Southend is a peninsula and no amount of improved rail services will make up for this.

Commercially, the proposal by the new owners makes very little sense. Only by offering very low landing charges will they attract scheduled services, and they would be the ‘fag-end’ of airlines with ‘fag-end’ aircraft.

What of the other reasons for the proposal? Stobarts are not in the airline or airport business – they are in logistics. This is the in-name for freight transport.

Southend is unlikely to attract large freight, because this operation is centred on Stansted and these aircraft will need a much longer runway than under the current proposal.

No, it would probably be urgent and/or high value freight, moved along the A127 in fleets of vans. I understand there is a restriction involved on the number of freight flights and, of course, there is a limitation on night flights.

Again, look at the history of London City Airport. They gave a firm undertaking to Newham Council that they would never have jet aircraft operating at the airport. Some years later they were not doing too well and went back to Newham and the restriction was removed, I can see a similar situation at Southend, with the limitation on freight flights and night flying being removed if, as I suspect, it proves difficult to attract scheduled passenger operators.

Many ancillary airport-related employment opportunities already exist at the airport.

Every help should be given to those genuinely aircraft-related businesses to expand. These include companies that repaint aircraft.

Surely, too, we should encourage executive flights. A good VIP aircraft waiting area to speed undercover transfer from plane to car would be a good idea.

Both fixed wing and helicopters are frequently used by private owners. These should be encouraged – as should the air taxi services that are currently doing very well.

I hope that Southend Airport does well and continues to be a feature of our town. I think that Stobarts were talked into providing a nice medium-sized airfield that someone presumed to rename London Southend Airport – and they should soon realise that it was a dream that cannot be realised.

We who live here, and particularly those on Southend Council, who have been seduced by the dream, do not want to wake up to the nightmare that it could be.