𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙪𝙙𝙖’𝙨 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙞𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩.
How a desperate wartime request by Winston Churchill shaped the runway we land on today.
In the early months of World War II, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill in May 1940, asked then U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt for 50 Destroyers as escort ships to especially protect trade routes from North America to Britain because changes to German Naval Protocol meant that their U-Boats were now attacking merchant shipping bringing much-needed supplies – and in due course – troops to the war in Europe.
In return Roosevelt requested that the U.S. be allowed to establish a naval air base in Bermuda (and other western Atlantic locations). Signed on September 2, 1940, this became the Destroyers-for-Bases Agreement granting the U.S. a 99-year rent free lease on land in Castle Harbour including Longbird Island.
Construction of the air base in Bermuda (initially called The Kindley Air Base) began in mid-1941 to support long-range anti-submarine patrol bombers to protect Atlantic shipping.
On January 15, 1942, after critical meetings in Washington, Churchill boarded a massive Boeing 314 Flying Boat named the Berwick in Virginia and touched down on the waters of the Great Sound and taxied to the flying boat base at Darrell’s Island.
He made an unannounced visit to the Sessions House in Hamilton to address the House of Assembly to thank Bermuda for the Agreement. To return to Britain he decided to fly the Berwick across the Atlantic – becoming the first world leader and head of government to fly across the Atlantic.
On January 1, 1946 – after the end of the War – the airfield officially opened to commercial civilian flights.
Bermuda’s Government established a small civilian terminal on the north side of the airfield to process passengers and today is the L.F. Wade International Airport named after Leonard Frederick Wade (1939-1996).
See this location come to life: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vx4K1M_eu04
Learn more about touring Bermuda: Best Bermuda Shore Excursions – Bermuda Heritage Tours