On 26 September 1932, aircraft dealer Norman Wallace George Edgar started a twice-daily passenger service between Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport and Cardiff (Splott) Airport[1] – a 20-minute trip in the De Havilland Fox Moth of his company, Norman Edgar & Co. At that time a road journey between Bristol and Cardiff meant either crossing the Severn by the Aust Ferry, or a long detour upstream via Gloucester.

New routes were added, across the English Channel to Le Touquet and Paris, and also to Cardiff and Bournemouth (Christchurch), as that airport's first airline service.

Edgar's company started two new ventures: Western Air Transport whose role was 'to operate airlines', and Airways Union, to 'establish lines of aerial connection'.

On 10 July 1937, Louis Strange, a director of Straight Corporation, diverted to Weston during the annual air race from London (Heston) to Cardiff (Pengam Moors, which had been renamed from Splott).

[3] At the same time, Western Air Transport was renamed Straghtways Ltd.[2] On 10 August 1938, Norman Edgar left the company in some acrimony after he alleged that some of its pilots were flying while drunk.

[A] With airport lighting in place for the Army contract, the airline wanted to start night passenger operations, principally for the Cardiff air ferry route.

The event, on 2 October 1938, was covered live by BBC reporters, and famous aviators Arthur Whitten Brown and Jim Mollison were at Cardiff to meet the incoming Rapide.

This work, mainly under contract to the Civilian Repair Organisation, continued until the end of the war, during which time the airfield had been greatly expanded, hard runways laid, and the Bristol Aeroplane Company had established a huge presence at Weston Airport.

A wide range of aircraft types were then worked on, including Avro Tutor, Supermarine Walrus, Percival Petrel (military Q6), Taylorcraft and Miles.

Western Airways' airline operations restarted in July 1946, when the Ministry of Civil Aviation permitted services on the Weston – Cardiff air ferry route.

The service only lasted until the end of the 1949 holiday season, when Western withdrew, Cambrian carrying on for a few weeks, finally stopping on 29 October.

With many Freighters used for intense English Channel car ferry operations, stresses on the airframe were high, and Western Airways got considerable business replacing components in the wing's main spar for many years after production finished.

Barber manufactured a range of products including conveyor systems, wheelchairs, vending machines, and prefabricated steel-frame buildings, many of which were bought by the Little Chef restaurant chain.

[6] On the Weston Airport site it made prams and push-chairs for Mothercare along with chicken cages and electrically heated clothes driers.

However, Campbell's funding ran out and the whole project was abandoned, the Cougar moving to The Helicopter Museum,[2] built on the site of Weston Airport's control tower.