Where is speke airport

During this time it's iconic station building was built , along with its control tower and two hangars and respectively. Construction of the control tower in SpekeLiverpool.

Military activity now exceeded civilian use of the Airport and by December yet another unit appeared 37 Sqn equipped with Wellington bombers. The latter did not remain very long. After 5 months of intense training, they left for the Middle East. In the war effort increased. At the same time, thousands of U. The two main hangars were used to reassemble them. Meanwhile in the adjacent shadow aircraft factory, the Rootes Group produced a steady stream of Bristol Blenheims.

Speke was getting overloaded with aircraft, with sometimes as many as being seen at the same time. It was one of No. The shootdown is thought to be the fastest air-to-air combat "kill" in the Battle of Britain and possibly of all time. Flight Lieutenant Denys Gillam took off in his Hawker Hurricane from Speke and was immediately confronted by a Junkers 88 passing across him.

The Czech Squadron was replaced by Polish Sqn. This latter squadron was engaged in Naval co-operation training. While taking off from Speke in his Hurricane, a raiding JU88 crossed the airfield in front of Denys Gillam, who promptly shot it down. It was the fastest air victory of the war, and probably of all time. Robert Taylor made this painting of that event. The Czechoslovak pilots hit German bombers more than once and the Liverpool inhabitants were very impressed, as this newspaper article shows south-lancs aviation research.

In the Rootes Securities company was awarded a contract to provide Halifax bombers. These became the first Speke produced aircraft, which made its maiden flight on 15 March Two months later the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit arrived for catapult launch trials.

These trials took place in the vicinity of the original farm house terminal building, adjacent to the River Mersey. Air traffic control decides the runway to be used and change in runway use at Liverpool is coordinated with that at Manchester so that both airports change flight direction simultaneously.

The drivers for this work were the need to increase security provision and thereby reduce queueing time and the need to move most retail activities airside and increase sales area. Eighty percent of retail sales are made airside and recent restrictions on the liquids that can be carried through security has reduced landside sales considerably.

The works involved the construction of a new security area on a new floor within the former Hangar No. The former route via the central mezzanine floor was blocked off. On passing through security, passengers walk through an expanded duty free shop and descend to the second level retail area. In a later phase of the project, a new baggage reclaim area will be formed in the first level of the former Hanger No.

In the longer term, the Airport has plans to expand to 11 million passengers and to develop a new cargo facility in the Oglet. The proposal is that Liverpool John Lennon Airport retains a single terminal but with new aprons served by satellite gate areas. To allow a greater range of destinations and increased aircraft capacities, the existing runway will be extended. The increase in runway length will be provided by a full width extension at the Hale end and a half width starter strip at each end.

In addition, a second parallel taxiway will be constructed to the south of the runway for the use of freight aircraft accessing a new cargo centre to be constructed in the Oglet. Disregarding the wider impact of aviation, individual airports impact on the environment in three ways: land hunger, noise pollution and air pollution. Nowadays, Liverpool John Lennon Airport has a relatively low environmental impact, although this was not always the case.

The development of the original northern airfield required a large acreage of the former Speke Estate be converted from agricultural to aviation use. The resulting airfield was, however, compact and the majority of flights would take off over the Mersey and land over farmland in the Halewood area. Unfortunately, subsequent housing and industrial development prevented extension of the main runway and, therefore, the new runway required for jet aircraft had to be built in the Oglet on the east side of Speke Hall.

The runway development was environmentally damaging for a number of reasons - it swallowed up more of the Speke Estate and introduced a new flight path over the centre of Hale Village and also concreted over the southern part of Speke Hall's ornate gardens - effectively separating the Hall from the River Mersey. In addition, the long taxiing distances involved from the Northern Terminal to the new runway in excess of two miles burned up aviation fuel and increased emissions.

Aircraft can burn up to a ton a mile of fuel when taxiing. The development of the Southern Terminal and the closure of the Northern Airfield has freed up a large area of land for industrial and commercial development and concentrated aviation activities on to the one runway.

The present arrangement of runways and taxiways means that taxiing distances are minimal and so emissions from aircraft are much reduced. To date there has been no mention of the future of the now redundant Speke Hall taxiway.

Aircraft noise remains a problem. Despite the fact that modern aircraft are much quieter than their s counterparts, the massive increase in flights has largely negated that advantage and areas as remote from the Airport as Thornton Hough and Huyton have experienced increases in noise as a result of the expansion. However, the level of noise intrusion from operations at Liverpool is much smaller than many comparable airports due to the large expanse of the Mersey Estuary under the main take-off flight path and the mainly agricultural nature of the main landing flight path.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is one of very few airports to have its own supporters group. Friends of Liverpool Airport FoLA is an amateur organisation set up in to promote the use of and need for Liverpool Airport in the face of closure proposals. Its president is Liverpool comedian Ken Dodd and its membership includes airport employees, aviation enthusiasts and people interested in the future development of the Airport. FoLA meets on the first Tuesday of every month at FoLA activities include airport promotion, arranging Airport tours for interested groups and providing assistance for airport activities.

Contributed by. We are a c 3 non-profit organization. Except where otherwise noted, this content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. See Copyrights. Explore Map Activity. Add a new page. Edit Info. View Edit. Spectators Recent reconfiguration of the terminal has removed facilities for spectators from the Airport terminal and those wanting to see aircraft must venture outside. Getting There Several transit options are available to and from the airport including by bicycle.

By Bus The Airport has several bus services, mainly operated by Arriva. The is a dedicated service from Liverpool South Parkway Station, taking only ten minutes. Terravision operate a coach from Manchester departing from Chorlton Street.

The airport serves Liverpool and the North West of England. Apart from domestic services, there are flights to European destinations, the Near East, and North Africa. A distinctive terminal building, control tower, and two large hangars were built by the late s. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation also assembled many aircraft including Hudsons, and Mustangs which were shipped to Liverpool Docks and flown from here.

The airport was also home to the Merchant Ship Fighting Unit. At the end of the war, civil airline operations resumed and in , the City took ownership from the Ministry of Aviation. Speke Airport hosted a very poular annual air display in aid of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Air Force Association, a charity for veterans.

In , a new 7,ft runway was built on a new site to the southeast of the existing airfield. In the s, ownership passed to Merseyside County Council which later became the five Merseyside Councils. In , a new modern passenger terminal was built and the original s buildings were closed shortly after.