| Lee-on-the-Solent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Just outside of Gosport can be found
Lee-on-the-Solent with its large fleet air arm airfield now closed,
called HMS Daedalus which has made a great contribution to the town and
its history. Here can be found the Royal Navy's Hovercraft trials centre
with a huge wide ramp crossing the road running along the seafront to
allow the craft to enter and leave the water. The Navy has been associated with the town for many years and here on the seafront can be found the Fleet Air Arm War Memorial the opening ceremony of which was conducted by Earl Haig 3 July 1921. The Coastguard Search and Rescue Service also has its home here at HMS Daedalus and often the white and red helicopter can be seen winging its way over the town speeding to the rescue of somebody in distress either on land or at sea. It was in 1894 that the town started to develop with the three mile branch line from Fort Brockhurst at Gosport and in another four years the opening of the pier, but this was short lived as in the middle of the 1930s the railway closed and the town started to go into a steady decline. Even the pier suffered as during WWII its cinema was blown up as an invasion precaution and was never rebuilt.
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