oldart
Aviation has used the site in some form or another since 1915 when it was an RFC home defence base attempting to combat Zeppelin and Gotha raids.Cecil Lewis wrote in his book Sagittarius Rising: "Rochford was a magnificent aerodrome almost a mile square." Some pleasure flying took place during the 1920s but it wasn't until 1933 that Southend Council purchased the site and it became Southend Municipal Aerodrome. The first scheduled services started to Rochester soon afterwards and the site has been in use as a commercial airport ever since, with a six year break for WW2 when it played an active part in the Battle of Britain. My mother recalled squadrons of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants rising to meet the Luftwaffe, and Luftwaffe bombers attacking the airfield too. In 1960 Southend was the second busiest airport in the country in terms of aircraft movements and the third busiest in terms of freight handled.
So the aerodrome was there long before the houses were built.