The Exeter Corporation was one of the first Municipal authorities, in January 1932, to identify a suitable site for the location of a Municipal Airport. The authority was however, unable to secure the site by agreement and was forced therefore, to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order on the landowners. After a Public Inquiry in which the Secretary of State agreed with the Authority, a start was made on preparing the landing ground. The Air Ministry duly granted a Licence on 31 May 1937. In April 1932, there were still only 11 Municipal aerodromes operating in the United Kingdom but by October 1933, this figure had been increased to 16. Also in 1933, five towns had purchased sites for development, eight had purchased sites and were in the process of preparing them and another eight had reserved sites in their Town Planning Schemes. At the end of 1933, the number of towns who had made steps to inspect sites for an aerodrome had increased to 94, of which Exeter is one. Out of a total of 128 licensed civilian aerodromes operating in the UK during 1937, the number of Municipal aerodromes had increased to 37. The grand total for 1937 included 32 sites that had Customs facilities, Exeter included. The Air Ministry officially acknowledged an aerodrome having Customs facilities as an “Airport”.