Collection Item

Flight Ticket Office

In 1911 the world’s first Flight Ticket Office was built to offer recreational flights to members of the public.

In 1909 the BARC cleared the land in the centre of the track to create one of Britain’s first aerodromes. This led to the creation of what became known as the ‘Flying Village’ in a series of wooden sheds at the western end of the Brooklands track. It housed many of the greatest pioneers of British aviation from 1910 to the outbreak of the First World War, establishing aircraft manufacturers such as Sopwith and Martinsyde.

As aviation grew more popular, Brooklands became a centre for pilot training with several flying schools setting up in the Flying Village. By the outbreak of the First World War, the 14 Flying Schools that operated at Brooklands had trained more pilots than anywhere else in the UK.