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The origins of Manchester Airport in England, UK, date back to the 1930s. Construction started on Ringway on 28 November 1935 and it opened partly in June 1937 and completely on 25 June 1938, in Ringway parish north of Wilmslow, from which it derived its original name Manchester (Ringway) Airport. Its north border was Yewtree Lane. Its southeast border was a little northwest of Altrincham Road (Styal).
In World War II, it was the location of RAF Ringway, and was important in the production and repair of military aircraft and training parachutists.
After World War II, it gradually expanded to its present size, including massive expansion of aprons, runways and car parking areas. Among the first expansions was car parking and service buildings north of Yewtree Lane.
From 1958 to late 1962, Terminal 1 was built: this was the first of Ringway's modern large terminals and the first major public building north of Yewtree Lane.
In 1997, the second runway was planned and construction on it started, with protests about it intruding on woodland in the Styal area.
Manchester, England, has been served since 1911 by the following airfields:
In World War II, aircraft dispersal and work areas with hard standings were built outside the old airfield area: north of Yewtree Lane by Fairey's area, and southeast of Altrincham Road (Styal) by the three southeast hangars. These were linked to by "level crossings" across those two roads, which were closed to the public except to those with a local resident's pass from early 1940 to mid 1945. After the war these hard standings were removed and the land was returned to farming, and the two roads became public again.
At the end of the war the airfield had these buildings (In the pairs of hangar numbers, the first number is the hangar's original number and the second is its later renumbering.):
After World War II the airport grew massively.
Croydon Airport was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located near Croydon, then part of Surrey. Built in a Neoclassical style, it was developed as Britain's main airport, handling more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time. Innovations at the site included the world's first air traffic control and the first airport terminal. During World War II the airport was named RAF Croydon as its role changed to that of a fighter airfield during the Battle of Britain; and in 1943 RAF Transport Command was founded at the site, which used the airport to transport thousands of troops into and out of Europe.
Blackbushe Airport is an operational general aviation airport in the civil parish of Yateley in the north-east corner of the English county of Hampshire. Built during the Second World War, Blackbushe is north of the A30 road between Camberley and Hook. For a time, it straddled this road with traffic having to wait whilst airliners were towed across. The south side was used for aircraft maintenance, using wartime-built hangars. Today, only the part of the airfield that lay north of the A30 remains in active use. The historical name for the flat piece of land on which it is sited is Hartford Bridge Flats. The nearest towns are Yateley and Fleet.
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2022, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers and the 19th busiest airport in Europe in 2023, with 28.1 million passengers served.
Royal Air Force Northolt or more simply RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station in South Ruislip, 2 nautical miles from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, western Greater London, England, approximately 6 mi (10 km) north of Heathrow Airport. As London VIP Airport, the station handles many private civil flights in addition to Air Force flights.
Ringway is a civil parish on the southern border of Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it is the only civil parish in the city of Manchester. The population at the 2011 census was 103. Ringway is home to Manchester Airport.
Wythenshawe is an area of south Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931, Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large new housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately 11 square miles (28 km2), Wythenshawe became the largest council estate in Europe.
Royal Air Force Hooton Park or more simply RAF Hooton Park, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, is a former Royal Air Force station originally built for the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 as a training aerodrome for pilots in the First World War. During the early/mid-1930s, it was one of the two airfields handling scheduled services for the Merseyside region. Hooton Park was home to No. 610 Squadron and, post Second World War, to No. 611 and No. 663 (AOP) Squadron.
Nottingham Airport, also known as Nottingham City Airport, is located in Tollerton, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated 3 nautical miles south east of Nottingham City Centre, and signposted on the A52 at Trent Bridge and on the A606—this makes it one of the closest airports to a city centre in the UK. The aerodrome is equipped for private aviation, business aviation and flight instruction.
Swansea Airport is located in the middle of Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula 6 miles (9.7 km) to the west of Swansea, Wales.
Barton Aerodrome is an airport in Barton-upon-Irwell, Greater Manchester, England, 5 nautical miles west of Manchester. Formerly known as City Airport and City Airport Manchester, It is known by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as Manchester/Barton and rebranded as Manchester Barton Aerodrome on 3rd April 2023.
Royal Air Force Ringway or more simply RAF Ringway is a former Royal Air Force satellite station in Ringway, Cheshire, England, near Manchester. It was operational from 1939 until 1957. The site of the station is now occupied by Manchester Airport.
Haverfordwest Airport, also known as Withybush Airport, is a minor airport located 2 NM north of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. It is on the site of the former RAF Haverfordwest, which was operational between 1943 and 1945. Pembrokeshire County Council bought the site in the 1950s, and it has been a civil airfield since, with a number of other organisations also using it.
Heston Aerodrome was an airfield located to the west of London, England, operational between 1929 and 1947. It was situated on the border of the Heston and Cranford areas of Hounslow, Middlesex. In September 1938, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew from Heston to Germany three times in two weeks for talks with Adolf Hitler, and returned to Heston from the Munich Conference with the paper referred to in his later "Peace for our time" speech from 10 Downing Street.
The Lancashire Aero Club is the oldest established flying club in the United Kingdom, it was founded in 1909 to organise the Blackpool Aviation Week, Britain's first officially recognised air show.
Alexandra Park Aerodrome was the second purpose-built aerodrome in the Manchester area in England. The site was chosen by the War Department in 1917 because of its open agricultural nature, and lay between the neighbouring districts of Fallowfield, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Whalley Range, Withington and West Didsbury, at the junction of Princess Road and Mauldeth Road West, three miles south of Manchester's city centre: the land was owned by the Egerton Estate. The aerodrome's brief existence is commemorated on a plaque in the sports pavilion at Hough End Playing Fields, which now occupy part of the site. A commemorative plaque was unveiled on 7 July 2007 to mark the 90th anniversary of the aerodrome and is located in the grounds of No. 184 Squadron, Air Cadets, in Hough End Crescent.
Manchester (Wythenshawe) Aerodrome was the first airfield built to serve Manchester, England. It is now occupied by Rack House Primary School.
No. 613 Squadron was an Auxiliary Air Force later Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadron formed on 1 February 1939 at the then new municipal airport at Ringway, nine miles south of Manchester. The squadron served at first in the army cooperation role, and later during the Second World War became a tactical bomber unit. After the war the squadron reformed as a fighter unit and as such flew until its last disbandment in March 1957.
National Aircraft Factory No. 2 was a World War I UK government owned aircraft factory located at Heaton Chapel, Stockport. It produced over 450 warplanes during 1918/19. The Heaton Chapel factory was then sold to Crossley Motors, who used it for building motor vehicles. In 1934, it was sold to the Fairey Aviation Company, with aircraft production there continuing until the late 1950s.
The Great West Aerodrome, also known as Harmondsworth Aerodrome or Heathrow Aerodrome, was a grass airfield, operational between 1930 and 1944. It was on the southeast edge of the hamlet of Heathrow, in the parish of Harmondsworth. The Fairey Aviation Company owned and operated it, for assembly and flight testing of Fairey-manufactured aircraft. The area was to later be the site of London Heathrow Airport.
In its early years what is now Heathrow Airport was the Great West Aerodrome, sometimes known as Heathrow Aerodrome.
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