1/ #HistoryKeThread Locusts were not the only things that dotted our skies around 1929. Since 1927, small privately owned aircraft had began to fly over Kenya. 
2/ A settler and flying enthusiast, Lord John Carbery was among the first, well, Kenyans, to own an aeroplane.
3/ I can tell you a thing or two about this Irishman Lord Carbery, who many believe was a psychopath. Not only was he cruel, but he was also an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler.
4/ But let’s glide on....
5/ Other pioneer flying aces in Kenya included Denys Finch-Hatton, about whom I wrote not too long ago, Beryl Markham, Tom Campbell Black and Maïa Anderson-Carbery.
6/ Maïa (pictured) was Carbery’s wife. When she died in a plane crash in 1928 aged just 24, Maïa’s family blamed her husband John. Against Maïa’s wish, John forced her to perform at some early air show over Ngong that ended her life. In those days, the only airstrip in Nairobi... 
7/ ...was found somewhere along present-day Ngong Road, Nairobi. It was known as Ngong Airstrip.
8/ As the number of planes increased, a private airline, Wilson Airways, was launched in 1928. Its founder was a settler from Karen, Florence Ker Wilson. She founded the airline’s office somewhere towards the west of Nairobi. Here, there was ample and conducive ground to...
9/ ...accommodate many aircraft. And so Nairobi West Aerodrome came into being.
10/ Florence had seen the need to launch flight operations and services across East Africa. She felt she had the wherewithal to fund operations of her airline, whose aircraft eventually operated commercial routes to Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Cape Town and Kampala.
11/ The first flight from Nairobi West Aerodrome was completed in 1929.
12/ Apart from Wilson Airways, the other pioneering flight company was Imperial Airways.
13/ Most of the operations at the Nairobi West Aerodrome were mostly charters. But as demand for air transport increased, more aircraft were acquired. Moreover, regular flight schedules were introduced. The first aircraft to be operated by Wilson Airways was this DH60G Gipsy...
14/ ...Moth, photographed at an airstrip in Zanzibar. 
15/ Operations continued to peak until World War 2, when the Royal Air Force took over all aircraft personnel to serve Britain’s cause in the war. Civilian operations flourished after 1945, which is when the war ended.
16/ For Florence Wilson’s enterprising spirit, the colonial government in 1962 decided to honour her by renaming the aerodrome Wilson Airport. This was at a ceremony presided over by Masinde Muliro, the Commerce and Communication Minister, who is pictured here with Ms. Wilson. 
17/ Florence died at her Karen home six years later, in 1968. Today, and thanks to her, Wilson Airport is reputed to be among the busiest airports in Africa, with take offs or landings every 3-4 minutes.
