Lancashire Aero Club

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The Lancashire Aero Club is the oldest established flying school in the United Kingdom, based at Barton Aerodrome, the site of Manchester's original municipal airport.

1 History
2 Flying School
3 Fleet
4 Related Articles
5 External Links

[edit] History

In 1922 John F. Leeming began constructing a glider in the garage next to his home in Bowdon with the help of a group of friends who subsequently formed The Lancashire Aero Club.

The aircraft was initially based at Alexandra Park Aerodrome just outside Manchester City Centre from early 1924 until September, when the airfield closed. A.V. Roe and Company (Avro) had moved to their new Woodford Aerodrome by early 1925 and invited the club to move there.

After many years of indecision, it was decided that Manchester should have its own municipal airport. The race was on to be the first city in the country to have such a facility. In autumn 1928, construction of the new airport for Manchester began at a site at Barton-on-Irwell. The facility became operational in January 1930. The Lancashire Aero Club remained at Woodford until the outbreak of World War II, when their aircraft were stored for the duration.

On 5th of July 1930 the King's Cup Air Race was held with an attendance of 30,000 people. Despite tough opposition from numerous famous pilots, flying the very latest aircraft, Miss Winifred Brown of the Lancashire Aero Club won the event.

The 22nd January 1934 saw the arrival of Captain Ivan Smirnoff, who flew his president, Dr Albert Plesman, on behalf of the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in order to assess Barton's potential as a link between Manchester and Amsterdam. Unfortunately the field was considered to be too small. It was this event that instigated research into a larger airport for Manchester's international needs. Thus on 25th June 1938 Ringway was opened to replace Barton as Manchester's main commercial airport.

Since moving to Barton in 1946, The Lancashire Aero Club has steadily grown to become one of the largest and friendliest flying clubs in the country and continues to make history around what is one of the North West's most important historic aviation landmarks.

[edit] Flying School

The Lancashire Aero Club Flying School is CAA approved and has been teaching people to fly from its very start. In addition to NPPL and JAA Private Pilots Licence courses they also offer several courses of further advanced training such as night flying, instruments and aerobatics.

[edit] Fleet

LAC operates a large fleet of aircraft giving a wide variety and availability of aircraft to suit everyone. These aircraft are owned by the club itself, and are available to hire for a fixed fee per hour.