Hall Caine Airport Plaque

Hall Caine Airport Plaque

Wed, 08 Jul 2009

A lost airport of the Isle of Man has now been marked with a memorial plaque. Hall Caine Airport, which operated for just four years outside of Ramsey, closed seventy years ago in 1939 and this week the Manx Heritage Foundation marked the entrance to the grass airfield with a memorial plaque. The idea for the plaque was put to the Foundation by Michael MHK David Cannan who was keen that knowledge of this aerodrome should not fade from public memory. Situated at Close Lake, a short drive west of Ramsey on the Jurby Road, Hall Caine Airport was popular with many travelling to Liverpool, Blackpool (where landings were on the beach), Glasgow, Belfast and Carlisle. At the time, Ronaldsway Airport was privately owned, and Hall Caine was being thought of as a new national aerodrome for the Island. When it opened in 1935, the first flight was met by a civic reception committee including the Mayor of Douglas and the Chairman and Town Clerk of Ramsey. On the aeroplane was a celebrity. George Formby was visiting the Island to watch the Mannin Moar motor races and to make plans for the shooting of his latest film No Limit. When the war started in 1939, Hall Caine was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force and it never returned to civilian use, although the company running it was only finally wound up in 1971. There is nothing to see on the site today, only a large grass field. There is no trace of the hangar or the small wooden hut which acted as offices and a passenger terminal, though the GPO pole, which acted as a flagpole for the airport, is still there at the entrance.

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