Bournemouth Airport was first opened as RAF Hurn on 1 August 1941, one of the bases established by the RAF to counter the Luftwaffe presence across the Channel in northern France. RAF Hurn would go on to serve as a base for the development of radar in aircraft and as a base for bombers and fighter-bombers supporting the D-Day invasion of France. BOAC operated civilian services from Hurn as early as January 1942, flying at first just to Cairo but later to Madrid, Lisbon and Ireland, and between the end the war and 1 June 1946 Hurn was Britain's main international airport. After the departure of BOAC, Hurn was used as an industrial centre by companies such as Airwork, de Havilland and Vickers-Armstrongs, as well as playing host from 1948 until 2011 to the College of Air Traffic Control. Bournemouth Airport today serves airlines such as Ryanair and various charter services. In this book, Mike Phipp takes a look at the history of Bournemouth Airport from its early years to the present day.

Dorset has always been an important railway county, catering for holidaymakers heading to the resorts of Bournemouth, Swanage and Weymouth. As part of the mid-nineteenth-century desire for railways to reach many parts of the country, a line from Southampton reached the county town of Dorchester in 1847. This was to become part of the London & South Western Railway. The Great Western Railway arrived in the county in 1857 with a line from Yeovil to Weymouth built to Brunel’s broad-gauge standard. Another name associated with the county was the Somerset & Dorset Railway, which opened between Bath and Poole in 1870. Development of the various lines are covered – their heyday was the 1950s when they were used by holidaymakers heading for the sunny south coast. Then came the Beeching closures, but also the electrification of the main line to Weymouth. The various routes within the county are covered by a wide selection of photographs, many of which have not been published before.

Flying boats have been a familiar sight in the Solent since the dawn of aviation. Two of Britain's major manufactures, Saunders-Roe and Supermarine, were based in Cowes and Woolston respectively. The area has been home to flying boats of Imperial Airways and, latterly, BOAC and Aquila Airways. With a terminal at Hythe and then Southampton Docks, one could view not just majestic ocean liners but huge flying boats too, from the Empire boats of Imperial Airways to the majestic Saunders-Roe Princess, built in the post-war period. During wartime, BOAC operated their vital flying boat services from Poole Harbour. In fact, BOAC was based at Poole for longer than Southampton - a fact frequently overlooked, mostly due to wartime censorship. Post-war route expansion was also undertaken while still at Poole. Military aviation in the area saw flying boats operated from RAF Calshot and RAF Hamworthy, with types ranging from elderly biplanes to Sunderlands. Mike Phipp takes us on a tour of the Solent area and Poole Harbour's flying boat heritage using many previously unpublished images of the aircraft plus the men and women that flew and maintained them.

Often regarded as a quiet holiday county, in fact Dorset has many aviation connections. As early as 1908 Bleriots were being built by Bournemouth businessmen, the Royal Navy undertook first landing on a warship at Weymouth in 1910, the Schneider Race was held at Bournemouth in 1913, Dorset was at the front line of the early days of the Battle of Britain with attacks on Portland Naval Base, the Dam Busters bouncing bomb was tested on Dorset ranges in 1943, and aircraft production factories at Christchurch and Bournemouth existed in the 1940 and 1950s. With a wealth of previously unpublished images, Mike Phipp tells this remarkable story.