Up in the Air 1932

You just cannot help but admire the accumulative efforts of the peoples of Hull and Grimsby to try to bring these two great Port and Trawling centres closer together in terms of means of and time spent travelling between them. 

I have written in recent weeks on the Paddle Steamer Service (1832), big money proposals for a railway bridge (1865), the feasibility study for a Tunnel under the Humber (1923), an actual but short-lived Hovercraft Service in 1969 and of course the magnificent suspension bridge that opened in 1981 providing the shortest road route between the two places. 

It has not been an easy thing to achieve a degree of unification and indeed the ultimate failure and scrapping of what was intended to be the over-arching administrative body of Humberside was testament to this. 

I do feel that the persistent failures, a combination of politics, finance, cultural and social issues have been major obstacles in empowering the Region and attaining its rightful and deserving position as a Powerhouse in the UK economy. 

Another mode of transport on the Hull to Grimsby route was in fact the first of its kind in Britain, that being a passenger service by aeroplane that started up in 1932. Up until that time there were no scheduled internal flights. It was set up, very much as an experiment in the September of that year flying from Hedon Aerodrome to the east of Hull to what was described as a field close to a bus stop at Bradley to the South-West of Grimsby. 

The flights were operated by National Flying Services and aimed at the specific target market of "commercial men". It was on a small scale with a Desouttier cabin type aircraft which could carry only two passengers and limited post and parcel items. 

For a fare of 7 shillings each way the passengers could look forward to a 10 minute crossing. 

The local newspaper gave some column space to the inauguration of the flights and that, in particular, two women were amongst the first 11 users and that they had reported the plane to be comfortable and as smooth as a Rolls Royce. 

Allowing for travelling to and from the runway sites and the short flight a businessman or woman could expect to make the journey from the centre of Hull to the centre of Grimsby in under 40 minutes. 

The operation does appear to have been well patronised initially although there was a higher flow of passengers to Hull than in the other direction. 

I am not sure how long the viability of this pioneering service ran for but as a model for the future of internal flights in the UK it was of great importance.