Article by Beverley Ward – Excerpt from our 50th Anniversary Edition – Issue 358 – August 2023

The entrance to the Aeroclub lies snugly between the Guardia Civil buildings and the Hippodrome, mid-way between Mahón and Sant Lluis. The bar is well known to the Choir, dancing clubs, the billiard club and others, providing ample space for weekly meetings or special celebrations and providing easy access and parking; but the actual aerodrome which spreads over 750,000 sqm has an interesting history.

The First Runway
The beginnings go back to 1939, nearly at the end of the Spanish Civil War when the first runway of Menorca was prepared over 850 m and constructed out of compacted earth and thereby suffering the inevitable problems of ‘determined vegetation’. This was a military runway with little activity for several years, but it provided an emergency landing for aircraft of various different nationalities that found themselves in difficulties during WWII. Most of these ended up lying there abandoned for years until finally being removed for scrap.

However, ten years later, in 1949, Aviaco started a regular weekly flight to Barcelona carrying passengers, post and cargo. It’s hard to imagine nowadays the Bristol 170 parked in front of a new terminal of 300 sq m while the two pilots and the hostess would wander over for a coffee between flights, the passengers carried their luggage out to the plane and cargo was dragged over on a wheelbarrow or pulled by a mule. It became obvious that improvements were needed to the runway especially when puddles from heavy rain caused a plane to veer off the runway onto rocks. Some 50 prisoners from La Mola were paid 2 pesetas per day to extend it by another 100 m, later followed by more compulsory purchase of land and by 1961 the runway stretched to a reasonable 1250m.

These were different times for flying. Imagine boarding your plane but then being asked to get off again as one engine wasn’t starting. You waited on the runway while the captain took off on one engine and watched as he managed to start the other while in the air, then returned to the runway still keeping the engines running and you were told to board again. A true story and all landed happily in Barcelona.

Tourism, as is so often the case, was the key to development in Menorca. By 1965 there were one million tourists coming to the Baleares, but a whopping 89% went to Mallorca, 9.4% to Ibiza and Menorca lagged well behind with only 1.3%. A serious lack of infrastructure was largely to blame, the limited facilities of the airport, only 2 hotels on the island, and lack of activities for tourists amongst other factors. The change began in 1969 when Horizon Holidays offered the novel idea of charter flights to Menorca, with hotel and activities included. The Director, Jim Maps did a brilliant job of inventing activities and entertainment to keep the British visitors happy and BEA flew here regularly. This was a key factor in the decision to build a new airport. So, in 1969 the new airport opened and the old aerodrome was offered, together with a small AISA taildragger plane to a group of aviation enthusiasts. The Aeroclub was born.

The Early Days
It was the then mayor, Gabriel Segui who negotiated with the military for the use of the land and runway and he became the first President of the Real Aeroclub of Mahón. But there were no pilots, fairly important, so it was arranged for an instructor to come over regularly from Mallorca to teach a few well-heeled Menorcans how to fly. Of this early group it was Dr Vicente Roca who subsequently went on to become an instructor and trained up (for free) many of the present pilots over the next 30 years or more. At first it seemed like an elitist group, but this changed to a very “normal” group of pilots who just loved to fly and during the first half of the 90’s it was at its peak with a lively social life and plenty of aeronautical activities and excursions such as flying all the planes to Reus or Igualada or Mallorca for a weekend away. It was much more relaxed then, without so many restrictions or controls as nowadays and no need to draw up a flight plan. Any evening or weekend you would find people around the hangar to chat to, and although fuel had to be obtained from the main airport, you could go off flying at the drop of a hat.

Recent Years
In the years that followed we’ve had Formula 1 using the runway for straight line testing and taking advantage of one of the longest runways in Europe for an aeroclub

It’s 1,800m or a nautical mile long, (very useful when you are needing to improve your landing technique!).

We now have nearly 100 members and 4 planes of the Aeroclub plus 7 other privately owned planes in the hangars.

There have been visits from flying clubs that are united with a common plane such as the Cirrus or Diamond. There are clubs formed of ultralight aircraft with up to 40 aircraft flying in together and there have been air races and planes who include Menorca as part of their tour of Spain. We must not forget the visits from the Spanish Patrulla Aguila or the Red Arrows. The latter will once again be visiting in September and the Aeroclub as always will be hosting a reception for them and the local dignitaries. Throughout the summer months we have growing numbers of visiting light aircraft from all over Europe, and it is often a surprise to see so many planes of all shapes and sizes.

The Future
Since its inauguration in 1969 until the present day the Aeroclub has been owned by the Ministry of Defence who allowed us to make use of the facilities in exchange for maintaining them. Over the last few years their intention has been to sell, and following recent negotiations there is now an agreement between the military and the Consell Insular for the purchase of the land and installations. This is currently in the process of being finalized. This heralds a very positive step for the Aeroclub since our future is now more secure than it has been since 1969.

Learning to Fly in Menorca
f you’ve ever dreamt of going up in a light aircraft or maybe even to learn to fly, then you should get in touch with us. An Air Experience flight can be arranged with an experienced local pilot in a four seater Piper Archer and you can choose the duration, but 45 minutes or an hour is recommended.

If you are tempted by the idea of becoming a pilot, you can also ask for a trial flight with one of the english speaking instructors who will be happy to give you more details of the courses available, both practical and theory. We have two instructors who speak excellent English and an examiner, so courses are provided for new pilots to learn to fly for a PPL or LAPL, or also for ultralight aircraft with an instructor from Mallorca. The examinations can nowadays be done in English and all radio communications also, so although having a good level of Spanish is always useful, it’s not obligatory. Don’t hesitate to get in touch for prices or more details.

info@aeroclubmenorca.com or our website www.aeroclubmenorca.com

We, Richard Whewell (Ricki), myself Kerstin (known as Swedish Tina, since no one could pronounce my name) and our 5 year old son Nicholas settled in San Cristobal (no Menorquin names at all back then) in February 1971. Our intention was to provide something we felt the island needed and was missing, i.e. a magazine in English directed mainly to the visitor but also to foreign residents. The fact that during the Franco era all media were extremely restricted, surveyed and censored, was an unexpected blow for us.

I started working in a local travel agency and my husband, together with a handy Englishman, started Menorca Homes & Gardens whilst pursuing our magazine idea. We were thoroughly vetted by Dr Mateu Segui and D.Guillermo de Olivares from El Diari, who came to our home in San Cristobal to check these weird strangers with surprising ideas. We were approved and allowed to produce a monthly supplement in English to the daily local paper. A way to see what we were up to and under their control.

The setting procedure turned out to be a nightmare and an endless adventure in itself. Since nobody spoke or understood English, I had to spell each word, letter by letter, to the man who did the setting with lead type! This took place late at night or early in the morning after he finished the next day‘s Diari. The printing was on an old Heidelberg and the quality really poor. Not at all what we had hoped to produce.

In the square behind the market there was a printing company, Imprenta Sintes. Manuel Sintes was a charming man who gradually became a friend. Believe it or not, he held a still valid, unrevoked, Permiso Legal for a publication named Roqueta (the Menorcan nickname for their island). There is much more to be said about this, but in short, he liked our idea and eventually Roqueta saw the daylight. Annette Bell (Anabel) sold adverts for us and later contributed articles.

My husband and I parted company and he left the island. I continued running Roqueta, eventually together with an architect I was working with, Javier Hernandez Montesinos. We decided to print in Palma at Ultima Hora, which meant a move to colour and a much-improved quality. I certainly remember Henny van Eck and her beautiful daughter Pia who was on the first front cover. Here are some photos from El Festival International de la Canción in Teatro Principal, where Geronimo Marques (from Ciutadella) and I were comperes. The festival was held two years running. The third photo is from one of Henny’s Boutique Pian fashion shows, where I was the compere, in 1974 if I remember correctly.

When we moved to San Cristóbal (now Es Migjorn), only two foreign families lived there. One of them is the Russell family. Rusty and his wife became good friends. His son is living in Mahon and his older brother David is now the world-famous guitarist. We had some wonderful evenings in the Russell gallery/ cave underneath their house, listening to David giving recitals. I have since followed his tremendous career with great pride and interest. It was also in San Cristóbal where we met Annette.

We were considered mad living so far from work and school in Mahon. El Sereno (the village night watchman) asked if we could take his son to and from school, so he too could attend La Salle. We did. This caused quite a stir in the village and several families wanted to follow suit. After two years we moved to Mahon and by then La Salle was running a regular school bus to SC!

You may know that Nicholas Parsons and his wife Denise had a house near San Luis. He was a well known TV personality, loved the island and wanted to do something behind the camera for once. His dream was a documentary about Menorca’s culture and history. This became a reality, when he became the producer of a film that was made over a whole year, showing the different seasons, fiestas and activities. I became a production assistant, negotiating permits to film on the islands in Mahon harbour (then military), access to palaces in Ciutadella and much more (the film is now available on You Tube thanks to Steve Morgan – see purple column).

The most dramatic occasion was when the film crew had arrived for the first time. All was set to start. Only one thing was missing: the main camera was stuck with Customs at Barcelona airport and would not be released. Franco’s control and censorship were not to be played with! The crew was ticking money and Nicholas was desperate. The director, a BBC man Eric Davidson, and I went to Barcelona. I was pleading and explaining in tears to many ice-cold men in uniform and we were sent from one office and authority to another. After two days the camera was released and filming finally commenced!

In February 1978 after 7 years, and with Roqueta in its winter hibernation, my mother became ill and as an only child I had to leave Menorca suddenly and return to Sweden. My focus was getting my son settled in a new school with a different language and building a new life for us in my home country. Roqueta’s destiny was not my main concern then.

Menorca has left many imprints in my life. When my husband Staffan and I got married in 1987 it was Suzy (Nicholas Parson’s daughter) who helped us organise everything in London, in the Swedish church. I have and value several friendships from back then and we are regularly in touch: Swedish Annette (Bell then, Crosthwaite today… yes! another Annette Bell), who had Boutique Gemini in C/Angel. She returns regularly, usually in August. We meet in Sweden and UK. Belgian Greta (Nelissen, now Morren), who worked in tourism and later promoted high-class Menorcan shoes around the world. She comes back to the island once or twice every year and we are frequently in touch. British/Spanish Margaret (Gray then, Thomas Adams now) who once with her husband ran Bar Nelson in Son Vitamina. Later she had her own business at Mahon airport as a handling agent for foreign airlines.

Staffan and I have over the years spent much time in another part of Spain, Almunecar in the Granada province. Margaret came to visit, and liked our little town so much that she left Menorca after all those years and settled in Almunecar. Thank you Menorca for beautiful friendships!

To end my story, let me say that I am proud and delighted that Roqueta is still up and running and even celebrating its 50th anniversary! I wish Liz and John every success and all the best. Congratulations!

With fond memories and best wishes Kerstin Backman

EUREKA! (AKA I’VE FOUND IT!)

by Graham (Ricky) Capel
Main Pic: POSTCARD OF MAHON HARBOUR 1970s

I first came to Menorca in 1965, and life here was really different then. This was only a few years after Franco, and as Menorca had been the last of the Balearic Islands to surrender at the end of the Civil War, it got very little of the subsequent Franco era funding in the late 1950s, early 1960s. This worked out quite well in the long run as Menorca suffered none of the high rise building and lager louts of Majorca, the Costa Brava and Costa del Sol in the 1960/70s. It made the conscious decision in the 1980s to become a family island which it is today.

We first came here in July 1965 on an Autair charter flight. This was a turbo-prop and took nearly 3 hours. If the headwinds were against it, they had to refuel in Perpignan to get here! We landed at the Sant Luis airport as it was then, which is the Flying Club today. As a pilot, I recall helping out in the Control Tower once for a British Caledonian flight to land. The pilot said, ‘How nice to hear an English voice here’.

When we came in 1966 our vehicle had to be craned aboard the ferry at Barcelona and craned off in Mahon. There were no drive-on/off ferries in those days! The harbour edge in Mahon was half the width it is today and only partly made up, and there were still many bodegas and warehouses on the harbour edge. One sold blocks of ice in sawdust which you carried away on a sack on your shoulder to break up to pack into your non-electric ice chest at home or in your bar/café. Life was very different then!

There were not many bars and restaurants along the port in Mahon. The Club Maritimo was there but not for foreigners like us, and the best harbourside restaurant then was the Rocamar on the point in Fonduco – it is still there but a wreck of its former self. The American Bar was the popular meeting place along with the Andalucia Bar, both of which are still there. The market in the Cloisters of Carmen was mostly stalls selling vegetables from many of the small farms around San Luis, Villacarlos (Es Castell) etc, each promoting their own fresh produce individually which was delightful. In the entrance was the butcher’s shop of Gomilia Llambias, with his one gold tooth, chopping up and selling fresh meat to all and sundry.

We had heard about Menorca, and Cala en Porter in particular, in an advert for ‘Villas in the sun for £500’ by a company called Gale Developments who operated from above a shop in Green Lane, Ilford, Essex. We came out on one of their inspection flights for £30, with the promise of waterfront property if we would open a Water Sports Club to help promote their development. In July 1965, standing at the top of the steps looking down at the azure blue bay of Cala en Porter as a first impression was ‘magic’. We had seen nothing like it before on the South Coast of England where we had learned to Water Ski!

We walked down the steps to the beach with Simon Vidal the developer. We waded out into the warm, crystal-clear sea, and when the depth reached our chests, we said that we would like to build our Water Sports Club on that piece of cliff. Simon looked up and said that it would cost us £800. Peter and I, two 25-year-olds from Surrey, had a quick conference up to our chests in the warm sea, and decided that it was too expensive for us. A salary in England was then £5/600 pa or £10/12 per week. We asked if we could buy the bottom half only. ‘That is simple. That will be £400’ said Simon. So, we bought it. ‘Come back next May and we will blast out the cliff for £200, we will build a 2-bedroom Gale Developments villa on the platform, and steps to it, and you can start your Water Sports Club’ said Simon Vidal. It cost us, in-all about £1800.

Next year, 1966 we came out with our van loaded with 6 beds and mattresses, tables and chairs, bottles of English Orangeade and Lemonade, towing our speed boat with Ski Club painted on the side by Barbara, and with Ian Warren to help.

The road to Cala en Porter was unmade after San Clemente, and the taxi drivers of the day were reluctant to take you there. The Playa Azul Hotel was only 2 storeys high and it was the only hotel with additional villas in its grounds. The cliff path down to the beach was 192 steps, and the Rustic Bar and Los Barriles were beside the lovely sandy beach. There was also a beach bar run by Pepe from Madrid who carried a large container of water across the beach each day which sufficed to wash the glasses all day! Club Menorca had just been built on the headland and was called Barbarella, after the 1960s Jane Fonda film.

We parked our van on the unmade road on the top of the cliff and walked down the cliff path – once called Nelson Escalera, but certainly Nelson never visited there! Sure enough, there was our Gale Villa, all built ready to become Goldeneye Villa Club (named after Ian Fleming’s house in Jamaica and a subsequent James Bond film). We unloaded all the beds, etc down 91 steps from the top. We moved in and put our pictures, etc on the walls. We towed the speedboat down to the beach and launched it from the beach into the crystal-clear water. We were in heaven.

Cala en Porter was not really a town as it is today, just a collection of shops/bars and restaurants. Behind the Playa Azul, there was a restaurant called La Salamandra which ran for years. Sa Paissa was on the corner, but it was open fields with stone walls right back to Bar Pon’s. The 007 bar (James Bond was the thing then!) had just been built and was the highlight for quizzes, if you could get there and back at night as there were no streetlights. Curbs and pavements did not arrive until the 1990s. On the way into Cala en Porter was the Gale Developments sales office on the right – still there as a villa, and a little further on was Molly’s Bar, run by a lady from Dagenham and her husband along the lines of an Essex Transport Café – now a boarded up ex- Chinese restaurant. A little further on at the bottom of the dip in the road on the right there was a laundromat and mini supermarket. On the top of the rise was S’Galera, run by an early resident Larry Smith with open land all around. A bit further on, beach bar owner Pepe eventually built ‘Pepe’s Castle’ on the left with accumulated profits from years of the beach bar, and this still stands today. In those days not many villas had swimming pools. Bar Pon’s and Molly’s Bar both had swimming pools behind with a garden open area for sitting/sunbathing. Tourists living in the Gale Villas congregated there to swim, sunbathe and drink all afternoon – that was tourism then!

We had been impressed with the Menorcan stone walls, so we excavated out the cliff below the villa and built a stone wall of our own watched daily by Orfila, a local who always carried a bottle of local gin and glasses which we all helped him drink. Many of the stones were excavated from the sea and thrown up the cliff in relays. When the stone wall was built, we got a local builder to construct arches on top (still there) and by Midsummer the Goldeneye Bar was completed – no permissions, no planning, nothing that I recall. Amazingly, it is still standing! We then started water-skiing with the boat in the daytime and running the bar at night. Pete had brought out from England the latest 35 amp stereo amplifier. We could bounce sound off the opposite cliff. The Goldeneye Bar was very popular that year, and for the next few years as well. My mother came down and made us a Goldeneye Flag which flew from a slightly bent flagpole to show where we were. We also painted a Goldeneye on the villa terrace facing into the bay. This was still there until a few years ago when the current owners painted over it (sad – a landmark destroyed!).

Shopping was very different then. Alaior was the nearest big town, but the road from the present Alaior roundabout on the Cala en Porter road all the way to Alaior was unmade and very bumpy. There was only one furniture shop and that was Triay. Their stock comprised rush seat and back spindle Spanish chairs which were most uncomfortable. The choice of settees which converted into beds was very limited, and so hard that you rolled off when trying to sleep. Local delivery transport was by donkey cart, so we used to tie any furniture on the roof of our hired Fiat or wedge soft furnishings on the ‘deck chair’ canvas rear seat. I remember the Cala en Porter rubbish collection service. This was in iron dustbins which were collected weekly by a donkey cart which could only hold 6 bins. The Donkey, who wore a hat with cut outs for his ears, was called ‘Brilliante’ which was the last thing that he was, poor thing.

We had a lot of fun with guests coming out from England, and Pete, Ian and I teaching water-skiing. In 1967 we added 6 rooms on the roof using a local builder with the 3 of us carrying all the materials to the site from where they had been delivered at either the top of the cliff path, or the car park by the beach. We were very fit that year! In 1968 we put on the first Cala en Porter water fiesta. We had Orfila with a huge searchlight on the cliff on the far side of the bay, and we had another by Goldeneye. We night skied, firing rockets from the bow of the boat circling the bay with 2 skiers towed behind, and the Goldeneye music blaring out. The whole of Cala en Porter – probably only about 300 people at most watched from the beach or the cliffs. The finale was Orfila jumping the 40/50 feet from the cliff into the bay with all the searchlights illuminating him. Orfila died several years later winning a ‘holding your breath underwater’ contest with a German tourist. He had wedged himself under the Playa Azul swimming pool bridge and did not come up!

We left Goldeneye in 1971 when we both got proper jobs in England and elsewhere, but we left Ian Warren behind, and he is still here. So is Goldeneye, now ‘Ocho de Oro’, no longer a Club and Bar, but a very up-market waterfront house which featured on the front cover of the Engels & Volker property brochure a couple of years ago at €1 million. I am still amazed that it did not slide off the cliff into the sea!

Everything has changed over nearly 60 years to the present convenient modern lifestyle in Menorca and I am still here enjoying Menorca today. I am glad that I saw some of the earlier ways of life to make me appreciate the present.

Completed Goldeneye Villa Club 1969

When John and I took over Roqueta we inherited the first ever issue from May 1973. I showed it to a few of the magazine contributors and they recognised Pia Van Eck on the front cover.

I went to meet her at her house in the centre of Mahon to find out more. Pia told me to take the private vacuum lift to the 2nd floor but it looked a bit too intimidating! I took the stairs and Pia welcomed me into her beautiful home in Calle Angel and was very happy to answer all my questions.

This was a defining moment in my life! No, not the stern ticking off I was receiving from my father for some serious misdemeanour at school but rather his announcement. While I was stood on the mat in front of his desk, head bowed in shame, he followed up with the news that he had purchased a villa on a tiny Spanish island. And so began a lifelong love affair with Menorca.

Number 1, Sol del Este was one of a group of 25 villas with a pool developed by Andrew Manners, whom many of you will know from his days with Don Cars or as Chairman of the Menorca Cricket Club. The deal was struck for under £5,000 in the Bar Andalucia next to the American bar, where most of their sales were signed up!

It was the early 70’s, flights were few and far between – the days of Aviaco, Dan Air and Freddie Laker. In 1969 the “new” airport opened on the current site with one runway and two check-in desks. It was all very casual.

You could have a drink with your friends and watch them pass through a small gate, waving them off from the garden area as they walked across the tarmac.

I also learnt to drive at Sol del Este, in our old Seat 600 with the engine in the boot. I have to admit that there were not many bushes left intact on our dirt track course, as we drove timed races on the “roads” they had laid out for the future development. Sol del Este was then just the Tramuntana villas – La Gardenia didn’t exist, nor any other houses or apartments all the way to Santa Ana which just had a smattering of large villas mostly overlooking Calas Fonts.

And oh, Calas Fons! (as we used to call it). Then THE place to go for all youngsters looking for fun. Trebol and Nikki’s (then Dumbo’s) are still in the original ownership they were back then. The port of Mahon had very little to offer in terms of restaurants or bars. My foray into “acting” was at Bar Port Nelson where free drinks were being offered to all the extras for the film “Spanish Fly” with Terry Thomas and Leslie Philips. The parents were none too pleased with the group of drunk teenagers rolling home later that day!

Filming Spanish Fly, Calas Fonts 1976

Moll de Llevant, Mahon c. 1970

Me driving “Snoopy” in Mahon Harbour 1977

Mobylettes at Sol del Este

Flistons Discoteca in Villa Carlos c. 1970 Photo: Pedro Cladera Torres

THE NIGHTCLUB SCENE

As a teenager in the 70’s the nightclub scene here was a big deal. My brother and I would bring sets of the top 20 singles on vinyl which would secure free entry to that disco for the season. Tonic, Si, the Caves of Xoroi and Flistons were our favourites while later, others such as Lui, Stars and Pacha were considered the cooler clubs. We thought the dance podiums and lighting up dance floors were great. The water feature with bridges to reach the bars may have looked amazing but what a ridiculous idea that was with glasses and revellers taking regular dips!

Our night out at the disco, would end at 7am, having picked up some fresh bread from the bakers in Villa Carlos with which to watch the sunrise from the rocks in front of the villa (the most Easterly place in Spain). We would then be woken at 11am on a Sunday morning as the cannon was fired from Lazaretto – a weekly event which took place for many years. La Mola was still being used for National Service, so was very active, as were the military buildings in Mahon and Villa Carlos. Isla del Rey was a ruin where we used to go for picnics by boat and later my boys used to play with their BB guns in and out of the colonnades.

In those days houses were usually left unlocked, as were cars, often with the keys in the ignition -Well, if they were stolen, they couldn’t go far. This was very useful if someone was parked in your way, as you could just hop in and move it! Pretty much all the ex-pat community knew each other, life was simple, fun and at an easy-going pace – so that hasn’t changed much.

Despite the enormous amount of development, Menorca has maintained that unpretentious charm that so many of us adore.

My love of and connection to this little Mediterranean rock has only grown stronger over the years. My mother and later, my father, lived here, I met my husband here, all my children’s holidays were spent here and now my young grandchildren are developing their love for it too. I can only hope that they have as many happy memories of this very special island as I do!