<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History Southampton Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">Aviation began at the site in 1910 when pioneer pilot Edwin Rowland Moon used the meadows belonging to North Stoneham Farm as a take-off and landing spot for his monoplane, Moonbeam Mk II.The site became known as Eastleigh Airfield</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>World War I:</strong> The Royal Flying Corps earmarked the site as an aircraft acceptance base during World War I, but when forces from the United States Navy Air Service (NAS) arrived in 1917 it was handed over to them and designated NAS Eastleigh. Work on the building of hangars which had begun under the Royal Flying Corps was accelerated. At the peak of the American presence, some 4,000 officers and men were billeted in tents and huts along the adjacent London to Southampton railway line</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Inter-War years:</strong> Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying, published in 1919, showing Eastleigh as a military and civil station.</p>
<p class="blog-para">After the war, the site became a transit camp for refugees, mainly Russian, who wished to sail to America from the port of Southampton. Shipping companies Cunard and White Star Line (the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company), together with the Canadian Pacific Railway, formed the Atlantic Park Hostel Company to house them temporarily. In 1921, the hangars were converted into dormitories, kitchens and dining rooms.</p>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="History Southampton Airport" src="../../main/img/airport/southa/62.webp" alt="History Southampton Airport" width="950px" height="500px"></p>
<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3">Ground transport Southampton Airport</h2>
<p class="fs-6 lh-lg wow fadeInUp">Find the following transport options at Spokane Airport:</p>
<ul>
<li class="blog-li"><strong>Rail:</strong> Southampton Airport has a dedicated mainline railway station, Southampton Airport Parkway. It is on the South West Main Line from London Waterloo (66 minutes away) to Winchester (15 minutes away), Southampton (city centre about 7 minutes away), Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester and Weymouth, with a fast and frequent service to those places. The station is a 60-second walk from the terminal, one of the closest airport links in Europe.</li>
<li class="blog-li"><strong>Bus:</strong> Unilink buses run to Southampton city centre every 10&ndash;15 minutes throughout the day and take about 45 minutes; taxis are available outside Arrivals.Xelabus also runs services to Eastleigh and Hedge End.</li>
<li class="blog-li"><strong>Motorway:</strong> The airport is near the junction between the M3 motorway and M27 motorway, giving easy road access to Southampton, Winchester, Bournemouth, Poole, Portsmouth and places between.</li>
<li class="blog-li"><strong>Bicycle:</strong> Southampton Airport has designated parking and storage for bicycles. Southampton cycle route 7 is proposed to run just outside the airport, giving it a direct cycle path to the city centre. National Cycle Route 23 also runs outside the airport, running between Southampton and Reading via Basingstoke, Alresford, Winchester and Eastleigh.</li>
</ul>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="Ground transport Southampton Airport" src="../../main/img/airport/southa/63.webp" alt="Ground transport Southampton Airport" width="950px" height="500px"></p>