Sunderland flying sites
Note: This map only gives the general position of Sunderland town within the UK.
SUNDERLAND see also NISSAN HELIPORT
SUNDERLAND see also ROKER CLIFF PARK
SUNDERLAND see USWORTH
SUNDERLAND: Seaplane Alighting Area
Location: Still to be determined as it could have been on the River Wear or on the sea just E of the mouth of the Wear
NOTES: Shown on Admiralty chart 1627 in the 1930s. If anybody can kindly offer advice on this it will be much appreciated.
SUNDERLAND: Temporary aerodrome (s)?
NOTES: Sunderland is listed as the 37th venue for the 1929 Sir Alan Cobham's Municipal Aerodrome Campaign. Starting in May this Tour ended in October with one hundred and seven venues being visited. Mostly in England but with two in Wales and eight in Scotland. After leaving Scotland with a display in AYR, SUNDERLAND was the first venue back in England, the next being SCARBOROUGH.
The aircraft Cobham used for this 'Tour' was the DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, named 'Youth of Britain'. The schedule he set himself was astonishing, see STIRLING for more information.
The location for the 1929 visit has now been traced to HYLTON aerodrome, listed as USWORTH.
On the 31st July 1933 Sir Alan Cobham’s No.2 Tour displayed in/near Sunderland. As no mention of this display happening at USWORTH is mentioned in the history I’ve learnt so far, presumably they used another location? The same comments apply to Cobham’s 1934 Tour when the displayed in/near Sunderland on the 27th May.
It was a common occurence in the 1920s and 30s that the 'Flying Circus' operators quite often made deals with local farmers to use a suitable field, rather than use a nearby 'official' aerodrome. However, what is not generally appreciated today is that, even for just one day, these fields had to be licensed as aerodromes.
Indeed, in the early days a couple of men from the Ministry would inspect the site to determine its suitability, and often issued various limitations. Later on, the most respected operators became, as it were, 'self-licensing'. But, nevertheless, these sites still remained as licensed aerodromes.
David Young
This comment was written on: 2017-04-03 21:08:46Hi there, very interesting stuff on your website. I came across it because my son is flying into RAF Honington with his Griffin helicopter squadron from Shawbury, and I wanted to find out more about it. Anyway, I moved on to see what you have in my local area (Tyne and Wear) and was interested to see you have a question about a temporary aerodrome in Sunderland, I can't help much, but I grew up beside a field that curiously had an old rusty hanger on it, quite small and used for many years as a barn. I never found out anything about it and it was knocked down about 20 years ago, but to describe its location look at the field between Briar Lea (post code DH4 4PT) and Birkdale Drive to the southeast. At the eastern end of the field is a small rectangular community centre and the barn/hanger was just behind it where Birkdale drive is now. Maybe is was a private hanger for the owners of the adjacent farm, I don't know. but as an aviation fan I would love to know if my childhood playground in the 1960s was actually a flying base of some kind. South of the site used to be the Lambton cokeworks, which included railways and chimneys and is now being reclaimed/regenerated, but I wonder if the opening of the cokeworks forced the closure of the airfield? Just a guess. If you do find anything out I would be very pleased to hear from you. Thanks and best regards, David Young.
Reply from Dick Flute:
Dear David, Many thanks indeed. I shall keep your 'Comment' posted and hopefully somebody can kindly offer some advice. Best regards, Dick
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