Southampton Airport (Parkway)

Southampton Airport (Parkway) Station has always been inextricably linked with Southampton Airport – just 99 steps away. The first aviator to really use this location was Eric Moon, and he was something of a local hero. His early flights were made in a very simple monoplane called ‘Moonbeam 2’. The growing importance of aviation led to the fields of what was once North Stoneham Farm being developed as a military airfield and base during WWI. After the end of the war, civil aviation gradually expanded, and in 1929 ‘Atlantic Park Hostel Halt’ on the railway line opened to serve ‘Atlantic Park’ as it had become known. In the 1930s commercial flights from the airstrip started in earnest. The railway halt was then renamed ‘Southampton Airport Halt’.

The world famous WWII Spitfire fighter aircraft was developed and built locally by the Supermarine company and first flown from the airfield in 1936. During the war years, the airport was known as ‘HMS Raven’, and played its part in pilot training and aircraft testing.

Up until the 1960s the airfield was just a grass runway, but a concrete runway was constructed in 1965. In 1986, the rail station was renamed ‘Southampton Parkway’ and was subsequently named ‘Southampton Airport (Parkway)’ in the 1990s. The opening of the nearby M27 motorway offered good road links to the already excellent rail connections, and the present station building opened in 1997.

In June 2004, over forty vintage Gordon Keeble cars paraded around the Airport to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Hampshire’s only supercar. The sports cars were made on site between 1964 and 1966 in the same hanger used to build the Spitfire. There is a commemorative plaque just inside the entrance to the Airport’s short-stay car park.