They cost Imperial Airways £140,000 to build in 1948, but these tragic-looking and surprisingly watery relics of the “golden age of air travel” are all that remain of Southampton’s heritage as an early airport.
The arrow-straight estuary called Southampton Water is well-protected from the swells and waves of the English Channel, which made this unusually calm and sheltered six-mile long tidal stretch ideal for the taxi, take off, and landing of flying boats. For a time, regular services departed Southampton Water on far-flung intercontinental voyages.
Nearby
Sites
| Name | Since | Distance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyndhurst War Memorial | 2020 | 11.9km | site_ao | ||
Bramble Bank Cricket Pitch  | 2020 | 18.1km | site_ao | ||
| Lepe D-Day guided tour en | 12.8km | site_izi | |||
| Bolton’s Bench | 2020 | 11.8km | site_ao | ||
| The Rufus Stone | 2020 | 15km | site_ao | ||
| The Grave of Thomas Thetcher | 2020 | 19.5km | site_ao | ||
| Ruins of Holyrood Church | 2019 | 0.5km | site_ao | ||
| The Wool House | 2019 | 0.3km | site_ao | ||
| The Portuguese Fireplace: An Unlikely War Memorial | 2017 | 15.7km | site_ao | ||
| Hythe Pier Railway | 2018 | 2.7km | site_ao | ||
| The Medieval Wall of Southampton | 2018 | 0.9km | site_ao | ||
| Wyndham Court | 1962 | 1.6km | site_brutalism |
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