page_title: RAF Eastchurch
section_title: Early civilian aviation
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Eastchurch / Early civilian aviation
caption_attribution_description: English: Muswell Manor This caravan site is the scene of the original home of the Royal Aero Club. On the flying field here in 1909 J.T.C Moore-Brabazon made the first flight in a heavier than air machine by a Briton in Britain, the aircraft unfortunately was French this initial flight was 500 yards. It is also the site of the worlds first ever aircraft production line constructing Wright Fliers under licence (the facility was soon moved to Eastchurch). See http://www.royalaeroclub.org/history.htm for more information.
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Eastchurch or more simply RAF Eastchurch is a former Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the first decade of the 20th century when it was used as an airfield by members of the Royal Aero Club. The area saw the first flight by a British pilot in Britain.
  In 1910 it was operated by the Royal Navy as a training aerodrome and it was known as the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch. In the 1910s the airfield was designated Royal Naval Air Station Eastchurch. With the amalgamation of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps on 1 April 1918, the station was transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force and was re-designated Royal Air Force Eastchurch, or RAF Eastchurch for short.
context_section_description: The members of the Aero Club of Great Britain established their first flying ground near Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in 1909. One of the Club's members, Francis McClean, acquired Stonepits Farm, on the marshes across from Leysdown, converting the land into an airfield for members of the Aero Club.  A club house was established nearby at the  Mussell Manor (now known as Muswell Manor).
  At the same time the Short Brothers established an aircraft factory at Shellbeach on Isle of Sheppey. This was the first aircraft factory in the British Isles and the first factory in the world for the series production of aircraft, these being license-built copies of the Wright A biplane.
  It was here that John Moore-Brabazon (later Lord Brabazon of Tara) made a flight of 500 yards in his Voisin biplane The Bird of Passage, officially recognised as the first flight by a British pilot in Britain.  Later in 1909, Moore-Brabazon piloted the first live cargo flight by fixed-wing aircraft.  In order to disprove the adage that pigs can't fly he attached a waste-paper basket to a wing strut of his aircraft and airlifted one small pig inside the basket. Later Moore-Brabazon, Professor Huntington, Charles Rolls and Cecil Grace all used the flying club's services. 
  In May 1909 the Wright Brothers visited Sheppey and inspected the airfield before moving on to visit the Short Brothers' factory. They then took lunch at Mussell Manor with members of the Aero Club and there was considerable discussion regarding the possibility of establishing a flying school in Sheppey.
  In 1910 both the airfield and the aircraft factory were relocated to larger quarters at Eastchurch, about 2.5 miles (4 km) away, where the Short-Dunne 5, designed by John W. Dunne, was built and became the first tailless aircraft to fly. In 1911 Shorts built one of the first successful twin-engine aircraft, the S.39 or Triple Twin.  At this time seaplanes had to be taken by barge to Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey to be launched and tested.
caption: Mussell Manor – the birthplace and cradle of British aviation
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