The plaque is mounted a low wall of a residential bungalow on the Jurby Road (A13) Road not far from the town of Ramsey.
The text on the plaque is as follows:
IN MEMORY OF
HALL CAINE
(CLOSE LAKE)(RAMSEY)
AIRFIELD
OPENED 30.04.1935
CLOSED 25.01 1943
DEDICATED TO ALL UNITS
AND PERSONNEL BASED HERE
AIRFIELDS
OF BRITAIN
Conservation Trust
www.abct.org.uk
The Airfields of Britain website has the following information:
Also known as: Hall Caine Airport / Hall Caine Manx Airport
County: Isle of Man
Current Status: Farmland
Date: 30 April 1935 - 25 January 1943 (derequisitioned); minor flying by 1934 (earliest known date)
Current Use: Disused
Used By: RAF / Civil
Named after the once world famous but sadly now completely forgotten Manx author, Hall Caine was the Isle of Man’s first airport and the brainchild of his two sons Derwent and Gordon. Following the death of their father in 1931, a nearby landing ground at Close Lake to the west of Ramsey began to take shape and was active to an extremely limited degree as a private landing place by 1934. The brothers however envisioned that this location could become an airport to provide a genuine public service to the island and established Hall Caine as such in the spring of 1935.
Several airline companies such as Northern and Scottish Airways and United Airways successfully mounted services to the airport in the mid-1930s from other airports including Blackpool (Stanley Park) and Glasgow (Renfrew) but 1937 proved a particularly difficult year for Hall Caine for a variety of reasons. Some of these purely for business reasons, though its location at the north end of the Isle of Man away from the main town of Douglas did not help matters. The airport therefore in all but name ceased to be in the autumn of 1937, only a few visiting aircraft appearing after this time until the start of World War Two.
Shortly into the conflict Hall Caine was militarily requisitioned in order to support the new RAF training airfield of Jurby. What available records remain do not go into any great detail but it did serve in a supportive capacity until being finally derequisitioned at the start of 1943, as was beginning to be the case with some other parts of land on the Isle of Man around this period. Even then this was not quite the end of this story as the airport company records were steadfastly maintained for years afterwards and only ceased with the death of Sir Derwent Hall Caine in 1971.
Today all that is left of the airfield in situ is a wooden pole and a few foundations. Hall Caine is however more prominent than at first might be thought, as its main hangar now resides at Ronaldsway after two moves and is still used in its originally intended role. The excellent adjacent museum to today’s airport contains artefacts to bring to life the history of what was the first airfield in Britain to be officially named after a person.
The following organisations are either based at, use and/or have at least potentially significant connections with the airfield (as at 01/11/2015):
Andreas Parish Commissioners
Isle of Man Airport
The following is from the website of Abandoned, Forgotten & Little Known Airfields in Europe:
Hall Caine airfield (also known as Close Lake airfield) was a civilian airfield in the north of the Island of Man, United Kingdom.
The Hall Caine Manx Airport Limited was formed in March 1935 by the Hall Caine brothers, sons of the late author Hall Caine. The airfield was built on 45 acres of land, consisting of a drained flying field with a single small hangar. The airfield opened on 3 May 1935.
Within a short amount of time it was used very often by airlines belonging to the Whitehall Securities group, that had previously operated from Ronaldsway airport. Their airline United Airlines Ltd operated a four times daily service to Blackpool and a three times weekly service to Belfast. They operated DeHavilland DH89 Rapides, Dragons and Spartan Cruisers, and from August the giant Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy. Another airline, Northern & Scottish, introduced a service between Hall Caine and Glasgow Renfrew with a de Havilland DH.84, operating three times weekly until a daily service was introduced at the end of May.
Corporate changes within the Whitehall group resulted in the merger of United, Northern & Scottish and Highlands Airways Ltd, to form a new airline known as 'British Airways Ltd' from the beginning of October. Thereafter, British Airways serviced Liverpool and Blackpool from Ramsey three times a day on weekdays and twice daily on Sundays. The Belfast and Carlisle service also continued throughout the Winter, with flights three times per week. Construction of a large hangar began in January, but floodings closed the airport and construction was delayed.
1937 was a year of consolidation within the aviation industry and therefore it was a good deal quieter at Hall Caine when compared with the preceding two years. Airlines were stopping regular services to several destinations. Mergers and breakups led to a slow but definate decline in traffic, until the last of the dwindling scheduled services ceased altogether after the last departure of 2nd October 1937. The airfield still remained open for occasional traffic including private aircraft.
On the outbreak of war on the 3rd September 1939, Hall Caine Airport was officially closed to all traffic. The facility was requisitioned and staffed by the Royal Air Force, whose major training station at RAF Jurby was only a few miles to the North. Close Lake aerodrome was used for dropping the target-drogues towed by gunnery practice aircraft. Until the major RAF fighter station at Andreas was commissioned in 1941, it was also maintained as a Relief Landing Ground. As soon as the Royal Air Force departed, the old aerodrome was obstructed with blocks and posts to prevent its use by the enemy.
The large hangar remained in use as a farm store until after the war when it was dismantled and moved elsewhere. The terrain was returned to agricultural use. The proprietors of the Hall Caine Manx Airport Ltd. continued to file annual returns for the company until 1965. The company was finally dissolved in 1971.
Today nothing reminds of the former airfield. Only what appears to be the foundation of a hangar remains in the landscape.
source: (
visit link)
source: (
visit link)