Ipswich Airport

Ipswich Airport once stood on 59 hectares of Ravens Wood on the edge of Ipswich. The land was bought by the town council in 1929 and the first flights began the next year. Prince Edward opened the airport in June 1930 and called it one of the finest in the country. Straight Corporation took over in 1936 and built a new terminal designed by Hening and Chitty. The terminal was finished in May 1938 and listed as a historic building in 1996. The airport ran scheduled flights to Southend, Jersey, Amsterdam and Manchester after the war. It housed flying clubs, parachuting groups and engineering workshops throughout its life. No 37 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School trained pilots here in 1939. Channel Airways and Suckling Airways used the runways before the airfield closed in 1996. Today the site is Ravenswood housing estate. The old terminal still stands, partly rebuilt as a community centre and flats. The exterior keeps some of its original shape. Ravens Wood itself has been reshaped by houses, yet the Grade II listed building remains a reminder of the airport’s past.