Sir George Cayley
I remember the aerodrome at Ryde but have yet to find any references.
A couple of shots of Auster J/5g Autocar G-AMZV taking off from mud-flats at Ryde when testing Saunders-Roe hydro-skis. Not sure if Ryde mud-flats = Ryde aerodrome, but perhaps there's enough detail to identify its location.
Photos show Auster J/5g Autocar G-AMZV fitted with Saunders-Roe hydro-skis taking off from mud-flats at Ryde (Isle of Wight). Geoff Tyson was the pilot.
Saunders-Roe's works at East Cowes were five miles along the north coast of the Isle of Wight and I can only assume the nearest suitable mud-flats for tests were at Ryde, which is why the tests were done there.
The National Archives at Kew has a copy of an Auster Aircraft Company file held in the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office describing the trials of the hydro-skis and similar unusual undercarriage attachments made by Saunders-Roe as fitted to Auster aircraft.
A report quotes: "On water, buoyancy is achieved by lift from the pressure on the skis when planing. This is achieved at “an acceptable taxiing speed,” and a distance of only three to four times the Auster’s own length is all that is needed to reach a safe enough speed for entering the water. Successful take-offs have been made starting from sand, shingle and short concrete slipways—the remainder of the run to become airborne being on the surface of the water. During early low-speed trials on water, buoyancy-tanks were fitted under the wing-tips as a precautionary measure, but were soon removed."
Auster Autocar G-AMZV came to a tragic end in August 1966 when it crashed during a pleasure flight at Weston-super-Mare killing the pilot and three passengers.