Belfast City Airport Was Opened By Neville Chamberlain On The 16th March 1938 And Has Been Part Of Sydenham East Belfast Northern Ireland Ever Since V

I have heard the debates that are on going regarding George Best Belfast City Airport thinking has there never been an airport there before, yes of course there was only it was known as Shorts the First true aviation company in the world,and was a a manufacturer of the flying boats during the 1920s and the 1930s {Wikipedia} in 1936 the air ministry builds a new aircraft factory in Belfast for Short & Harland 50% owned by Short Brothers. In 1943 the Government takes over management and merges,Short Brothers with Short and Harland to form Short Brothers and Harland Ltd. In 1947 all war time factories closed and operations concentrated in Belfast{Kens Aviation.com}. In 1948 the company offices followed and Shorts became a Belfast Company in its entirety.

I have lived in Sydenham since I was a boy of 5 year old I can always remember the airport there, only in those days it was a lot different than it is today I remember that you could get to the aircraft yard on the other side of Sydenham Station, there was always a police presence at the entrance I can remember that the police man who was on the gate at that time lived in Palmerston Park Sydenham. I always went to Victoria Park to climb the bank to watch the planes land and take off, in those days it was Fighter Jets the roar from the engines was out of this world, I can remember as a boy lying in bed trying to get to sleep when they used to test the engines.

Sydenham in those days was a lot different than it is now there was more noise you had Harland and Wolff on one side hammering in the rivets, and Short and Harland on the other side testing their engines I can remember when Shorts built the MV Belfast it was the biggest aircraft I had ever seen land at Sydenham airport, every one used to talk about it when it took off and landed they always felt it was going to land on their houses. I think the best plane I ever saw was the vertical take off it was something else,When it started up you knew all about it the roar from its engines was ear-splitting but that was all part of living in Sydenham.

When aviation is part and parcel of Sydenham history how can you change it, when you think of Short Brothers as part of our history would you want to change it, when you look at what the Short brothers had achieved before coming to Northern Ireland they were world renown in 1897 brothers Eustace(1875-1932)and Oswald (1883-1970) began their collective aviation career as self-learned pilots of the coal-gas balloon.

Then in 1908 brother Horace (1872-1917)joined Eustace and Oswald in the family business and the three officially adopted the company name of Short Brothers. Following these developments the newly formed company began production in the town of Leysdon on the Isle of Sheppey where the Short Brothers became the first aircraft builders in the world.[The Pioneers:An Anthology][Http://WWW.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/short.html ] they adopted Belfast as their own with Sir Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff how could we not want to be part of this great Shipbuilding and Aviation History.

We look at the George Best Belfast City Airport today ok its changed its name but it has been there since 1938, it has served Belfast for many years as Shorts employed thousands of our citizens giving jobs to many families in the Sydenham area. It supported our country in the 2nd World War and still today provides jobs to the citizens of Belfast. Once more we should look to our history in industry and be proud that we have been part of it, be proud to know we had the biggest shipyard in the world thanks to Sir Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff and one of the biggest air plane manufacturing in the world Short Brothers and Harland.

Thanks to Oswald Short, Horace Short, Eustace Short, Sir Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff, not forgetting the Belfast Ropeworks the largest in the world thanks to William Smiles and Gustav Wolff who should be commemorated. We will not see their like ever again. Our province is only six counties we have achieved a lot and are known world wide for our great industries. In 1989 Bombardier took over Shorts and are still employing our citizens in the aviation industry. Bombardier, George Best Belfast Airport only the Names have changed its our history since 1938