A Brief History

During the WWI, when forces from the United States Navy arrived in 1917, work on the building of hangars at this site began and at the peak of the American presence, around 4,000 officers and men were billeted in tents and huts along the adjacent London to Southampton railway line.

After the war, the site became a transit camp for mainly Russian refugees, who were about to sail from Southampton to America and in 1921 the hangars were converted into dormitories, kitchens and dining rooms.

The hostel was intended to be a short-term clearing house for those migrants changing ships, but some residents were forced to stay much longer. In 1924 about 980 Ukrainian Jewish emigrants were cared for at the hostel. Some of them were still there seven years later, stranded between the US and UK and unable to return the countries they had fled. Atlantic Park as it was known had a school, library, and synagogue while the refugees formed football teams that played local sides and took part in local events, such as Eastleigh carnival.

In 1932 Southampton Corporation purchased the site and it became Southampton Municipal Airport.

Today over 1 million passengers fly from Southampton to over 30 destinations every year.