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History of Manchester Airport UK

Manchester Airport:

So how did it all begin?

Manchester Airport has an exciting and promising future, but it has an equally illustrious past, which began in 1928.

Prior to that date, Manchester had seen plenty of air activity, starting in 1910, when Louis Paulhan landed his Farman biplane in a field near Burnage, claiming the £10,000 Daily Mail prize as the first man to fly from London to Manchester.

Various short-lived aerodromes sprang up in and around Manchester in order to handle increasing air traffic, and in 1919 Britain's first ever scheduled air service commenced from the Alexandra Park airfield in Manchester flying to Birkdale Sands in Southport, then on to South Shore, Blackpool.

But Manchester still needed a permanent airport and in 1926 city fathers, realising that unless Manchester had a permanent airport the city would suffer commercially, lobbied for the establishment of a more permanent airport.

Barton, five miles west of the city, was chosen as the site for the new airport. Meanwhile a temporary airfield - Rackhouse in Wythenshawe - opened in 1929 becoming the first municipal airfield in Manchester. Construction at Barton was completed and the airport opened for use in 1930.

Despite its convenient location, Barton had a number of problems. After heavy rain it became severely waterlogged meaning services were disrupted, and it was deemed to be unsuitable for larger aircraft. Improvements of the site would have been prohibitively expensive so a new location had to be found.

The new site found was south west of the city and construction of the new airfield, Ringway, began in 1934. Shortly before the airport opened for airline use in 1938 the aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation established a factory there. However it was as a military base that Ringway was to make its mark.

The wartime years from 1940 to 1945 saw 60,000 of Britain's Airborne forces troops training there. With another prominent plane maker A.V.Roe setting up shop alongside Fairey some of the most famous military aircraft of the conflict were manufactured in Manchester. It was here that the prototype of the Lancaster bomber made its first flight.

Peacetime brought new opportunities for civil expansion and in 1949 part of the old Parachute School cast off its past and was converted to handle an increasing number of passengers. Two years later the runway was lengthened and in the 1960's an imposing terminal building with air traffic control facilities and two passenger piers was added. That development heralded two decades of burgeoning traffic and growing facilities which included a third pier, new departure hall and a longer runway.

In the 1980s the airport was designated an International Gateway handling direct long-haul international flights. A second international passenger terminal and direct rail and motorway links have made the airport increasingly accessible to a wide catchment area.

Approval to build a second runway, gained against much local opposition, has further enhanced the airport's potential. The second runway means Manchester is expected to become the UK's second busiest airport in the next 15 years.

Manchester Airport Facts