Newtownards Airport, about 1955
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Newtownards Airport, about 1955 by Dr P E G Clements, my late uncle for whom I was Executor as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Newtownards Airport, about 1955
Image: © Dr P E G Clements, my late uncle for whom I was Executor Taken: Unknown
Silver City Airlines opened a service from Castle Kennedy (Stranraer) to Newtownards for Belfast in April 1955. I believe my relatives were pioneer users, paying £7 for the car and £2.50 each for 4 passengers, single fares. The Bristol freighters took up to 3 cars and were authorised to make up to 12 journeys in each direction every day. It seems they never reached that target on a regular basis, and the service ceased in 1957. Most advertising seems to have been aimed at the Glasgow area. The drive from England took so long that the saving of an hour or so over the sea ferry was probably not worth the extra fare - unless air ferry flights were frequent. It seems they weren't. Positioning of this shot is approximate. Three buildings are present in the background, but none are identifiable today. Four tourists had arrived from England with much luggage for a caravan touring holiday lashed to the roof rack of the Humber Hawk and were being greeted by Ulster cousins.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
54.585315
Longitude
-5.684082