The Cunningham Holiday Camp
Note: This map is only my very rough estimate as to the location of the airstrip. If anybody could kindly confirm this or offer a more exact position, this advice will be most welcome.
THE CUNNINGHAM HOLIDAY CAMP: Civil Landing Ground
Operated by: The Cunningham Holiday Camp
Location: In/near Douglas on and SVictoria Road
Period of operation: 1930s only?
Runway: Max. landing run: 320 grass of
NOTES: It appears that The Cunningham Holiday Camp, set up here in 1902, (the first camp was set up in 1894), was possibly one of the first of its kind in the UK? Certainly well ahead of the later Butlins and Pontins establishments as a concept except that prior to WW1 it was for single men only who lived eight to a tent, of which there were some 1500. The consumption of alcohol was banned however.
During WW1 the canny Cunninghams used PoWs to greatly enhance the facilites, presumably at minimal cost. Always forward thinking, perhaps this can be illustrated by the opening of ‘The Cunningham Camp Escalator’ in 1919 which was basically a chair-lift to take holidaymakers at the Camp to the beachfront in Douglas. I also believe it was the only holiday camp in the UK to have a dedicated Landing Ground on the premises?
MINIMAL FACILITIES
The facilities for aviators were fairly minimal as no fuel or hangarage was available. But, it was an AA (Automobile Association) approved Landing Ground. Fuel was available from the Athol Motor Garage and a taxi service available, on site from Happy Days Motors.
What I think is also interesting is that visitors by air were not required to stay at the Camp and local hotels were listed which seems to indicate that the Camp management probably viewed the arrival by ‘toffs’ as being an added occasional attraction?
I wonder, does anybody now know how many movements this Landing Ground had? If any? It must of course be borne in mind, especially in more isolated parts of the UK, that the appearance of an aeroplane, and especially getting close to one and the pilot, was still a major novelty attraction in the 1930s.
And for that matter it still is today. It is claimed that for many years in recent times, that air-show attendance numbers far exceed those at football grounds in the UK.
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