Southend Airport has seen it all over the years - but is it world’s oldest?

It has been an RAF base, hit our screens in a hit James Bond film and undergone a £120million transformation since its humble beginnings.

College Park Airport, in the American state of Maryland, is in the record books as having the honour of being the world’s oldest airport, but a south Essex YouTuber has alleged our own airport could actually date back even further.

Jay Rose, when looking back at the lost airfields of Southend, said: “Officially, College Park, in Maryland, is the oldest airport in the world after opening in August 1909.

From yesteryear - how Southend Airport looked from the skies back in 1949

“But something else was happening in Southend in 1909 which may mean that Southend Airport, at least on a technicality, is actually the oldest airport in the world.

“One of the very first attempted flying activities in the area allegedly came from two men from Leigh named Victor Forbes and Arthur Arnold.

Historic - Mike Grayburn acquired the Piper Commanche plane that belonged to legless Second World War hero Sir Douglas Bader and posed for a photograph at Southend Airport in 1984

“Their very primitive heavier-than-air design made mostly of bamboo struts began being tested on the flat fields of what was then West Barrow Hall Farm in 1909.

“The land belonging to this farm is now at least partially part of the airport. It’s strange to think that some of the earliest attempts to gain heavier-than-air flight not only occurred in Essex but actually on the very site of our modern airport.”

All smiles - transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin (second from left) opened a new extension to the airport in April 2014

Southend Airport was initially created as a flying base and listed as a landing ground by the War Office in the First World War.

The first recorded flight at Southend Airport was on May 31, 1915, when Flight Sub Lieutenant A W Robinson took off in a Bleriot aircraft in a failed attempt to intercept a German Zeppelin.

Back in the day - Southend Airport has grown over the years since its humble beginnings more than 100 years ago

In the years which have followed, it has featured in the James Bond film Goldfinger and grown significantly since being purchased by the Stobart Group in 2008.

Scroll down to see more eye-catching photographs of Southend Airport through the years.

On the big screen - Sean Connery headed to Southend Airport for a scene in the James Bond film Goldfinger

United - transport secretary David Mitchell, Admiral Stacey – the Royal Navy’s top pollution expert – Nigel Brendish and controller John Churchill after Harvest Air ran the country’s top performing aerial anti-oil pollution unit fr

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Casting his eye over the airport - the view from the control tower in the 1980s

Looking back - Terry Carter, pictured on the left in the 1970s, used to paint Channel Airways planes at Southend Airport

On the tarmac - the Vulcan open day proved incredibly popular as crowds of people flocked to Southend Airport in 2014