@$:@bylinefrank:<*p(0,0,0,+1,0,12.278,g)>By Vejay Steede@bodyfrank:Anyone who has spent some time on the popular campground in the middle of Hamilton Harbour called Darrell Island will know all about the scary old building that stands over the dock, and has been slowly decaying over the years. Those who take an interest in such things will know that very building once housed Bermuda's first fully operational airport. Imagine Customs, Immigration, baggage claim and all the adjunct accoutrements of a properly equipped airport packed neatly into that relatively small, concise building. Now imagine a dozen state-of-the-art flying boats parked along an extended dock that ran about 100 yards into the harbour from the position of the current dock. Can you see it? Well, 70 years ago, it was just as unbelievable as it is today.In an effort to finally bring air travel to Bermuda, our government, with the encouragement and assistance of Imperial Airways and the UK Government, defied the naysayers of the day and built a fully functional airport at Darrell Island way back in 1936. The following year would see the launching of the first successful commercial flight from the Darrell Island 'International Airport', and over the next decade, the little-airport-that-could would service more than 5,500 of the most magnificent aquatic birds man could build.This new development in travel was the rough equivalent of what the introduction of flying cars would be right now, a watershed moment in our history that transformed Bermuda's material and cultural landscape in dramatic and profound ways. Needless to say, Darrell Island became the hub of a revolution, and history would show that the facility was more than up to the task. The location of the airport was perfect, with plenty of space and shelter to protect the precious vessels and their human cargo, and a two-mile stretch of unobstructed water for them to take-off and land, Hamilton Harbour proved ideal. The facility itself was equipped with a steel hangar, a slipway, a mooring dock, and basic passenger handling amenities.Imperial Airways (which later became British Airways) assumed the mantle of managers of the marine terminal, in addition to their well-documented involvement as airline operators. And the local staff would be ferried to and from the airport in small motorboats from the City of Hamilton daily. During the Second World War, the Darrell Island airport served as a service stop for American-built PBY warplanes, also known as Catalinas. These planes would make their way across the Atlantic from Montreal, stop here, and then continue on to contribute to the allied effort in Europe. Records show that more than 400 of these planes stopped by for some Bermudian hospitality during the war years. Of course our famous inhospitable seas presented a few problems for flying boats at times, considering that these birds could not take off or land in excessively choppy water.Wing Commander Edward (Mo) Ware, who was the senior Royal Air Force officer stationed in Bermuda during the latter part of the war, remembered: "Often there were as many as 20 Catalinas stacked up in great congestion waiting for suitable weather." <>t3<>Commander Ware would later become Bermuda's first, and longest standing Director of Civil Aviation. Another story about weather problems tells of an incident when a Catalina crashed into the harbour during take-off. June Stanton, an employee of British Overseas Airways Corporation (which also later became British Airways) recalled: "It sank like a brick. Amazingly, all 19 people on board survived, including a BOAC senior traffic officer who couldn't even swim.<>t4<>"Yet he managed to make his way along the length of the plane, which was 12 feet under by this time, escape through a hatch and reach the surface where a boat was ready to haul him clear."Indeed the history of aviation in Bermuda was not entirely problem free.But during the pioneering days when the Darrell Island 'International Airport' operated at full capacity, air travel was still mythical, magical, and mystical to the majority of Bermudians. This romanticised, adventuresome new form of transportation bred a fascination with the outside world that Bermudians have since revelled in satiating. Besides, stories of crashes were few and far between, even then.In the years directly following the war, Darrell Island got a quite significant makeover. A larger terminal building, made of coral stone and capable of handling up to 100 passengers at a time was erected, along with a separate freight building and a new slipway.But this was too little, too late, as the end of the flying boat era was fast approaching.Kindley Field Airport, which had been built by the United States Air Force during the war, was opened to civil aircraft in 1946. This fact, along with the sad truth that land planes were faster, more powerful, and the clear choice for the future indicated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the end was near for Darrell Island.BOAC tried to hold fast to the maritime tradition, stubbornly continuing to operate three sea planes (the Bangor, Berwick, and Bristol) from Darrell Island through 1947. By 1948, however, even they submitted to the lure of Kindley Field, launching service with the Constellation on January 18. Darrell Island was finished as a major commercial airport.<>*p(0,12,0,12.4,0,0,g)<><>t11<>Mark Twain once famously opined that people had to "go through purgatory to get there" while describing the onerous journey to Bermuda, one of his favourite destinations, by boat.Let us not forget that it was the effort of Imperial Airways and the ideal setting of Darrell Island that changed that scenario.Those magnificent flying boats made Bermuda more accessible to the world, and, what is perhaps more important, made the world much more accessible to Bermuda.