Woodford Aerodrome is a former airfield and aircraft factory at

Woodford, Greater Manchester Woodford is a suburban village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, south of Stockport, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Manchester. Woodford is the most southerly point of Greater Manchester and ...

, England, north of

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

. It was opened by the

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

company after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and became an important production centre for military aircraft in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Notable planes made at the factory include the

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

Avro Shackleton The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...

and

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...

. After almost 80 years of aircraft manufacture at the site, Woodford was closed and sold off by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

in 2011.

History

Pre-war

The aerodrome opened in 1924 when successful aviation pioneer

Alliott Verdon-Roe Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS (26 April 1877 – 4 January 1958) was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company. After experimenting with model aeroplanes, he made flight t ...

bought the original farmland to enable his

company to move its aeroplane assembly and test flying facilities from

Alexandra Park Aerodrome Alexandra Park Aerodrome was the second purpose-built aerodrome in the Manchester area in England. The site was chosen by the War Department in 1917 because of its open agricultural nature, and lay between the neighbouring districts of Fallowfie ...

in south Manchester. Originally it had a small grass landing area with several temporary

Bessonneau hangar The Bessonneau hangar was a portable timber and canvas aircraft hangar used by the French ''Aéronautique Militaire'' and subsequently adopted by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during the First World War. M ...

s. The Lancashire Aero Club also used the aerodrome briefly in the 1920s until moving to the new

Barton Aerodrome City Airport is an airport in Barton-upon-Irwell, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester. Formerly known as Barton Aerodrome and City Airport Manchester, It is known by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as Manchester/Barton. The ...

and used a converted farm building as a clubhouse and a 'Dutch barn' style steel-framed hangar built for A V Roe around 1927. By the late 1930s, the aerodrome was upgraded with the construction of concrete runways; the main runway was also extended to the east. Increased factory space, particularly at the northern edge of the aerodrome next to Woodford village, was constructed to allow vast expansion of aircraft production. During the

, the

was constructed at the site.

Post war

In 1945,

Hawker-Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of onl ...

bought into

Avro Canada Avro Canada was a Canadian aircraft manufacturing company. It was founded in 1945 as an aircraft plant and within 13 years became the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 5 ...

. Avro continued to be operating name at Woodford but it was actually a subsidiary of the Hawker Siddeley Group and used only for trading purposes. When the company was absorbed into Hawker Siddeley Aviation in July 1963, the Avro name ceased to be used. On 29 April 1977, Woodford was taken over by

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

. It was formed as a result of the

Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that nationalised large parts of the UK aerospace and shipbuilding industries and established two corporations, British Aerospace and British S ...

when Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Dynamics were nationalised and merged with

British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...

(BAC) and

Scottish Aviation Scottish Aviation Limited was an aircraft manufacturer based at Prestwick, Scotland. History The company was founded in 1935. Originally a flying school operator, the company took on maintenance work in 1938. During the Second World War, Scott ...

Final years

Woodford became part of

as a result of the £7.7 billion merger of British Aerospace (BAe) and

Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...

(MES) in November 1999. The aerodrome and factory became known as BAE Systems Woodford until it was sold in late 2011. The site was due to close anyway in 2012 when its Nimrod project was to be completed but in late 2010 the Woodford-built BAE Nimrod MRA4 project was cancelled. It was previously believed that some jobs would be transferred to BAE Systems' Military Air Solutions headquarters in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

. However, following the cancellation of aircraft orders in the British Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review, the site closed as an active airfield on 25 August 2011. On 20 December 2011 the site was purchased for £100m by Jo Bamford, the heir to the JCB fortune. A new housing estate called Woodford Garden Village is under construction on the site. The

Avro Heritage Museum Avro Heritage Museum is an aviation museum in Woodford, Greater Manchester, England, that opened on 13 November 2015. It is located at the former Woodford Aerodrome, and it replaces the former Avro Heritage Centre. History Avro Heritage Centr ...

now occupies the old aerodrome fire station.

Aircraft types

Many aircraft types have been built at Woodford, apart from the BAe 146, also first flown at Woodford including: *

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...

Avro Tudor The Avro Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on Avro's four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster heavy bomber, and was Britain's first pressurised airliner. Customers saw the aircraft as ...

* Avro 707 *

* Avro Ashton *

Hawker Siddeley HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption by Hawker Siddeley. ...

Hawker Siddeley Nimrod The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...

BAe ATP The British Aerospace ATP (Advanced Turbo-Prop) is an airliner designed and produced by British Aerospace. It was an evolution of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748, a fairly successful feederliner of the 1960s. The ATP was developed during the 1980 ...

BAe 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Manufacture by Avro International ...

References

{{reflist Aircraft assembly plants in England Airports in Greater Manchester BAE Systems facilities Defunct airports in England Military history of Cheshire History of transport in Greater Manchester