Trafford Park Aerodrome (Manchester)

Trafford Park Aerodrome (Manchester) was the first purpose-built airfield in the Manchester area. Its large all-grass landing field lay just south of the Manchester Ship Canal between Trafford Park Road, Moseley Road and Ashburton Road and occupied a large portion of the former deer park of Trafford Hall. Today's Tenax road runs north-south through the centre of the site of the old airfield which was located 0.7 miles NE of today's Trafford Centre. Manchester Aerodrome Ltd was formed in late 1910 to rent the land and prepare the surface for flying and this work was completed by summer 1911.

The first known use of the airfield was by Henry Melly on 7 July 1911 when he flew his Blériot monoplane, with A. Dukinfield-Jones as passenger, from his base at Waterloo just north of Liverpool to meet Alliott Verdon Roe at Trafford Park. A.V. Roe had laid white sheets on the aerodrome to indicate the location of the landing area. Their return flight later that day was the first heavier-than-air flight from Manchester.

The airfield latterly saw little use and closed during 1918.

References

* "Manchester's Early Airfields", R.A.Scholefield, 2004 published in 'Moving Manchester', Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 2004, ISSN 0950-4699
* "Flying Rebel - Story of Louis Strange", Peter Hearn, HMSO, London, 1994, ISBN 0-290500-5
* "History of British Aviation" R. Dallas Brett