9th December 1933
Jersey Airways is founded
Jersey Airways flew its first commercial flight between Jersey and Portsmouth on 18 December 1933, just nine days after it was founded by Walter Thurgood. However, air transport was still in its infancy and the de Havilland Dragon aircraft that it operated had to land on and take off from the beach at St Aubin. Jersey Airport wouldn’t open for another four years, but was requisitioned for military use during the occupation, bringing commercial air travel to a pause.
The airline’s name disappeared in 1947 when the British government nationalised all airlines within its domain, and Jersey Airways was subsumed into British European Airways.
FREE Jersey history newsletter
Don't miss our weekly update on Jersey's fascinating history. We promise never to sell your data to anyone else, and there's a super-easy unsubscribe link on the bottom of each email so you can leave whenever you want.
Other events that occured in December
Jersey elects first woman to States Assembly
- In 1948, Ivy Foster became the first woman elected to serve in Jersey's States Assembly, although she was not the first to try.
- Read more…
Jersey and Guernsey papers agree to merge
- The saga of the Guernsey Press and Jersey Evening Post had been running for over nine years by the time the two agreed to merge in 1998.
- Read more…
TV naturalist wades into seagull row
- Plans to kill a playful seagull called Gulliver attracted the attention of a television naturalist, and the States of Jersey changed its plan.
- Read more…
Father Clifford Cohu is born
- Fr Clifford Cohu was a retired priest in Jersey during the Occupation. He was deported in 1943 for sharing BBC news.
- Read more…