Ipswich Airport was an

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

on the outskirts of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was known as RAF Nacton when No. 3619 Fighter Control Unit of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force were based there.

History

The site of Ravens Wood was purchased by the Ipswich Corporation in 1929 with the intention of creating a municipal airport for Ipswich, with construction starting in the following year. The airport was officially opened by Prince Edward on 26 June 1930, who described the facility as "one of the finest in the country". In February 1936 the airfield was taken over by the

Straight Corporation The Straight Corporation Ltd was a significant operator of British airlines, airports and flying clubs from 1935 until the mid 1970s. Its major unit, Western Airways, expanded to become an important parts manufacturer, a maintenance, repair and ...

. They formed Ipswich Airport Ltd to manage it and took over Ipswich Aero Club which was already established at the airfield. The corporation's architects, Henning and Chitty, designed a new terminal building which was opened on 9 May 1938, with an official opening ceremony on 9 July. The building was Grade 2 listed in 1996; having been described as "very rare and early example of this type of construction". Southern Airways, another Straight company, operated routes to Clacton and to

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

and

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

, with a request stop at

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

, mainly using

Short Scion The Short S.16 Scion and Scion II were 1930s United Kingdom, British two-engine, cantilever monoplanes built by Short Brothers and (under licence) by Pobjoy Airmotors, Pobjoy Airmotors and Aircraft Ltd. in Rochester, Kent between 1933 and 1937 ...

aircraft. In 1938 the Aero Club expanded its training role by taking part in the Civil Air Guard scheme, and on 3 July 1939 No. 37 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training school (E&RFTS) was set up here. Straight Corporation established an engine workshop in 1939, which worked for their own fleet and also took on outside work. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the airport offered scheduled flights to Southend and

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Channel Airways Channel Airways was a private airline formed in the United Kingdom in 1946 as East Anglian Flying Services. The newly formed airline initially operated aerial joy rides with a single, three-seater aircraft from an airstrip on the Kent coast. S ...

and later to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

by Suckling Airways. A number of chartered flights were operated by

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

firm, Hawk Air.

From its earliest days, the airport was home to a wide variety of privately owned and

flying club A flying club or aero club is a non-profit organization, not-for-profit, member-run organization that provides its members with affordable access to aircraft. Many clubs also provide flight training, flight planning facilities, pilot supplies and ...

operated aircraft. Aircraft maintenance services were provided in the 1930-built hangar by a succession of based aviation engineering firms. In the 1980s it was home to a thriving parachuting club.

Military

The following units were posted here at some point:

Closure

The council, who owned the site, commissioned a development report in 1990 for the site. On the basis of its findings which determined better use of the site for development the Council decided to close the airfield in 1993. This announcement signalled the start of the campaigns to keep the airport operating as such, and it was thought the airport had been saved when the council allowed businesses to stay in operation with rolling leases, and projects to upgrade the air traffic control systems in September 1996. The airfield was delicensed and ceased to be registered by the Civil Aviation Authority on 31 December 1996. Not through lack of use, nor through public pressure; following the announcement of intention to close by Ipswich Borough Council in late September 1996, there were petitions to keep the site as an operating airport, this culminated with a

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

which started on 1 January 1997; the last aircraft left over a year later in January 1998 The site has since been redeveloped as the Ravenswood housing estate; the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

terminal building was partly demolished to facilitate its conversion into a community centre and flats by Ashwell Property Group. Externally, the building retains some resemblance to the original building.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * John Myerscough, "Airport Provision in the Inter-War Years", ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 20 (1985) pp. 41–70

External links

Ipswich Airport Association

{{Defunct airports in the United Kingdom Defunct airports in England Grade II listed buildings in Ipswich Airports established in 1930 Airports disestablished in 1998 1930 establishments in England 1998 disestablishments in England Transport in Ipswich Grade II listed airports Airports in the East of England History of Ipswich