Sky's the limit for Liverpool Airport's 75th anniversary

Apr 29 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

With its 75th anniversary this summer, Liverpool Airport has plenty to celebrate. Peter Elson reports

HARD to believe it today, especially when measured against the might of Manchester Airport, but Liverpool once led northern aviation.

Now with business flourishing again, Liverpool Airport – which started life as Speke Aerodrome and evolved into Liverpool John Lennon Airport – has every reason to celebrate its 75th anniversary on June 29.

To commemorate this important date, aviation historian Phil Butler’s book, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, An Illustrated History, has been updated, expanded and reprinted.

“I’ve always been interested in aviation and a great supporter of Liverpool Airport, having been brought up in south Liverpool,” says Phil.

He worked as a metallurgist at Lucas Aerospace, then moved to National Nuclear Corporation at Knutsford, before a further transfer to Gloucestershire. He now lives in Cheltenham.

As always, Liverpool marches to its own drum-beat. Once our airport led the world in its facilities, then nose-dived with the city’s crashing fortunes, only to rise again on the budget airline boom with Easyjet and Ryanair.

The original terminal building is one of western Europe’s great art deco wonders, and the only airport hard against one of the most impressive half-timbered Tudor mansions, Speke Hall.

The airport site was originally part of the Speke Hall estate, bought from Miss Adelaide Watt by Liverpool Corporation in 1928.

It led the way in the early years of municipal airports and becoming a thriving aerodrome after its opening on July 1, 1933, by the Air Minister, Lord Londonderry.

In fact, Speke Airport’s first scheduled flight was in 1930 with a service by Imperial Airways via Barton Airport, Manchester, to Croydon Airport, London.

By the late 1930s, air traffic from Liverpool was boosted by rising demand for Irish Sea crossings. This created the impetus for building its distinctive passenger terminal, control tower and two large aircraft hangars.

During the Second World War, the airport was taken over by the Royal Air Force and known as RAF Speke. The adjacent Rootes motor car factory switched to aircraft production and built many bombers in a shadow factory here, including Bristol Blenheims and 1,070 Handley Page Halifaxes.

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation assembled many types, including Hudsons and Mustangs, which were shipped in from the US via Liverpool Docks.

RAF Speke was witness to what is considered to be the fastest air- to-air combat “kill” in the Battle of Britain and possibly of all time. Squadron Leader Denys Gillam took off in his Hawker Hurricane just as a Junkers 88 flew in front of him. As his undercarriage retracted, he shot the Junkers down.

The airfield was also home to the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit and while RAF Speke’s contribution to the war effort was priceless, this involvement badly handicapped its post-war development and Manchester grabbed an unsurpassable lead.

“Having been requisitioned by the Air Ministry as RAF Speke, the government policy after war was to run all airports as a nationalised concern,” says Phil.

Manchester never allowed its airport to be requisitioned for military use, whereas Liverpool Corporation didn’t have that influence.

“Also, in the late 1940s and 1950s, Liverpool Corporation lost their forward vision. There was no entrepreneurial spirit in developing traffic or expanding demand, so the airport just sort of toddled along.”