As a pilot, any straight preferably bitumen surface is a landing ground in any emergency when not encumbered with powerlines etc. I’ve got no doubts in squadron messes, even formal briefings, such a piece of real estate would have been identified as a standby for any one of a number of reasons including fuel starvation, engine failure after take off etc.
The runway story is indeed a myth. Shaftesbury Avenue was built as the Timperley by-pass pre-war very much in the style of many other by-passes of the time. It was only the outbreak of war that delayed it being developed for housing. Only a handful of houses at the cricket club end were built. At the time Shaftesbury Avenue was built Ringway was still a grass runway and not used in strategic operations, so a reserve would not have been a priority. The storage of military hardware is true though. I was born adjacent to Shaftesbury Avenue in 1960 and from a young age my father told me of the time tanks awaiting transportation to the south coast were stored on the Thorley Lane to Brooklands Road section during the war, so it was still a fresh memory for him.
I was also told of that tank storage by my Grandma, who has since passed, who was a teenage girl at the time. She would mention it whenever we drove down there.
I quite agree. I lived on the adjacent Stockport Road which went through Timperley village. In deed Shaftesbury Avenue was the Timperley bypass and whilst it never was a runway, it’s thought that it could have been a decoy as Shaftesbury Avenue was bombed by the Germans . They may have mistaken it for Ringway.
even so, that doesn’t mean that it was identified as a usable emergency auxiliary runway if the main locations were targets or destroyed…it would be foolish to not have backups to your backups, that just happened to be conveniently there for use
@@bostonrailfan2427 Yeah what you said, although never used or converted to do that purpose. It was probably a ear marked as a emergency use to land if air strips were bombed badly.
I live on Shaftesbury Avenue and was a firefighter at Manchester Airport. I conducted my own research using the archive files stored at the airport (part of what was "The Black Museum"). I found a declassified document which refers to relief runways in the area. Sadly, I couldn't find any reference to Shaftesbury Avenue. The sites named in this document were Tatton Park, Woodford, Barton and Hawarden Airport for heavy bombers.
There was a major runway built on the Duke of Westminsters Estate to the south of Chester. I know this because my dad built it. He later went on to work on the extension of Ringway in the 1960’s
@@screwdriver5181one of the runways at RAF Poulton (as it was known) survives, and the layout is still very much visible on Satellite view. Sadly it's all well within the Eaton Estate and not visible or accessible by the public
We have these temporary airfields here in Finland. They are mostly on rural areas on public roads, there are signs marking the beginning and end and the roads get wider for some kilometers (might be shorter) most have support side roads leading to what looks like plane parking spacees, they mostly have antenna masts with a discone and i presume airband vhf dipoles.
in what was West Germany and in north end of South Korea there are highways built flat from side to side, for runway use, even tho' rain can puddle up on uncambered roads while used for peacetime cars my Dad was in a car spin-out on a German Autobahn when someone else was driving, 1970s
During the war there were anti aircraft and searchlight units based on Shaftesbury Avenue they were to protect Manchester and the Atlantic Street industrial area. My family house was on a road parallel to Shaftesbury Avenue and with only fields a full view of the searchlights operating. As a precaution the units were moved regularly. There was an old house opposite the Hare and Hounds that was the civil defense headquarters and had the air raid siren on its roof well into the 1950's I remember it being tested occasionally when I was a child.
Great video thank you! I have to say, as somebody with an interest in military history and a career in aviation, I have my opinions on this. It is highly unlikely that it was ever planned as a runway, roads being used as runways was not something that was planned for in the UK. The Air Ministry and the FAA/RAF used compulsory "purchase orders" to buy land, or to take ownership of it "for the duration" to build as many airfields and satellite airfields as they desired. It doesn't make any sense for a residential street to be given over for landing aircraft on such a small island absolutely filled with military airfields amd rural land at the time. Often these urban legends come from confused facts. For example, (a made up example) it could be that one particular member of the RAF, Air Ministy or Fairey Aviation stated that the road "would make a good emergency landing strip" in a document somewhere... this has then been taken out of context. I see this a lot locally to me, rumours are now 70 years+ old and 3rd hand, not helped by the fact that people can publish blogs etc on the Internet perpetuating these rumours which they genuinely believe are true. Now, the tank story is more likely when you look at history. Not for that road in particular, but as a story. Down here in the new forest many roads today seem out of place for rural communities, too wide and substantial, or leading to odd dead ends. On the run up to DDAY many US tanks were housed in the new forest awaiting transport to the likes of Southampton, Lymington and other embarkation points. Many roads were hardened, straightened and widened in preparation for these tanks. Huge civil engineering projects done as low key as possible. So, it's not unfeasible that for some reason, the road was either actually used, or planned to be used as a staging point for amassing tanks for some operation, or potential operation. The issue is however, without documentary or photographic evidence, word of mouth is no longer enough to go by in 2022 for a war that was a long time ago. Air raid shelters become "military bunkers", naval Air stations become "RAF airfields" one Air raid on a town becomes "a blitz", any military personnel's death becomes a "targeted attack". Thank you for making it clear that you cannot find any evidence of these interesting stories. (Of note though, the fairey Gannet's first flight wasn't until 1949, so post war Ringway)
When I was a student pilot, one of the dreaded subjects was 'engine failure after takeoff'. In the classroom, we would look at maps and try to work out where we could flop down in an emergency, various school playing fields, golf courses and such likes were discussed. Now, it is quite possible that many student pilots will have spotted this road and thought 'if it all goes wrong, that would make a good runway'. It is a very short leap of faith to see how anecdotally that changes into 'and we had an emergency runway at...' It would be interesting to see if there was ever an aircraft that landed there, or maybe mistook it for an airfield. When I was a boy, there was a story about the fields near Goresbrook Road, Dagenham, being an airfield. It was not true, but, there was an aircraft that arrived by ship into Dagenham and was assembled on those fields and flown out, my memory which may be faulty was that it was a DC2.
Here in New Zealand, we have so many stories that "The American Marines offered to build a road from X to Y during the war but the government turned them down". None have any particular evidence, and in most cases you can see no strategic reason why the Americans (or any other foreign military) would do that, especially as their resources were tied up in combat in the pacific. There may well be one genuine case where that claim was true, but it seems every every modern proposed roading project has that story attached in local urban legend!
I live in Germany about five miles from what used to be RAF Laarbruch until it closed down in 1999. About 15 kilometers from here is a stretch of motorway which is part of the Autobahn A57. This was clearly designed for use as an emergency landing strip for aircraft during the cold war. This section of the motorway between rest areas Alpen and Bönninghardt is 2.7 kilometers long and arrow-straight. There are no bridges. The crash barriers at the centre of the motorway used to be detachable and there is no green strip along the middle-line. The rest areas served turning areas for jets after they had landed. Apparently the NATO had quite a few of these emergency landing strips on Autobahnen here in Germany.
@@Klassiker- that was a very common NATO tactic in Europe for the Cold War. Absolutely fascinating part of history, forgotten by many today. I remember visiting parts of Germany with similar set ups, where modern day Lorry Parks would once have been for aircraft to turn, re arm or refuel. Britain developed the Harrier as its main forward deployed "rapid response" aircraft. Using roads as runways wasn't a ww2 tactic for the British operating from the British Isles. Even in Europe, Britain and the US built advanced landing grounds for thr purpose of forward deployment post Dday.
My father grew up in Altrincham, he was a teenager during the war. He remembers tanks and other military vehicles being stored on Shaftsbury Avenue. My dad was in the RAF in the '50s and flew from Ringway many times. Great video very interesting.
There was definitely a decoy runway somewhere in the area. My mum and dad were courting during the war and were out cycling one night in some woods (sadly I have no details) the air raid alarm sounded and suddenly a bright pattern of runway lights came ON in the woods. My dad apparently worked out what it must be and they cycled out pretty quickly. I remember being told this story many a time as a child. They worked at Metro Vick and also told me the story of one night when a UXB came down into the factory. I found out only a few months ago that a school friends dad was the night watchman and he told the same story. It would be great if someone could corroborate the decoy airfield story too!
I live adjacent to Shaftsbury Avenue, and indeed, the landing strip story is just a myth. My old neighbour was a little girl during the war and she confirmed that it was used to store military vehicles. Interestingly, the fields to the side (where our houses are now), had anti aircraft gun emplacments, and as a little girl my neighbour used to walk across the fields from the village to visit the soldiers manning the guns.
There is a photo that I have seen with tanks stored one what are now the cycle lanes. Also did you know there is a very large secret nuclear bunker at Tatton Park, and also one under the old GPO telephone exchange on the downs in Altrincham. I used to live at number 10 Kingsley avenue, and the house next door was hit by a bomb in WWII
I’d expect the phone exchange to be a hardened building given its build date, so there would well be a bunker underneath for GPO workers. Would love to see it!
There are many myths about roads being used for relief landing areas. We know that if this was the case they had never been used, so finding documentation about it will be difficult. During the Battle of Britain the German Luftwaffe heavily targeted our airfield's and almost brought it to its knees. This almost made it impossible for our aircraft to land so I would say though never been used the idea of using certain roads to land on would have been a possibility, should it be needed. As for the storage of military equipment, this could be true as much of our industry changed to support our war effort. Example Avlis (who built cars) quickly started turning out tanks during the war. Then after the war they continued to build military vehicles and even though now merged with BAE Systems produced the Stromer HVM you read about in the news lately. The Churchill machine tool company (later known as Ti Chruchill then Ti Matrix in the late 1980 early 90) churned out ammunition cases so maybe could have stored military equipment back then?? I believe also that when the collapse of Alfred Herbert's (Machine tools) in Coventry they set up there too. Remember the IRAQ Super gun story? The machine to help build that came from Ti Matrix (Churchill) so it does have military related background.
It was suggested that across the UK sections of "A" roads and Motorways were planned and constructed to be used as aircraft runways in the event of total war. Add to this secret fuel dumps where large quantities of Aviation fuel had been stored in Gerry Cans and then covered in earth not that far away from these locations.
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN yet 120 million gallons of aviation fuel stored in covered tanks at Woodford with a secret pipeline running from east coast then across the Pennines to green lane higher Poynton then to Woodford
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN oh do he quiet of course you could back then, back then petrol was petrol and kerosene/aviation fuel was exactly that none of this ethanol bollocks we have today, it’s the ethanol that makes the fuel go off nowadays straight petrol will last several years stored in Jerry cans yeah it will degrade eventually but not that quick
I suppose, irrespective of fact or myth the saying “Any port in a storm” would also apply to aircraft and if you’ve in trouble and can’t quite reach the real runway then a nice long, straight piece of tarmac will do very nicely. Thanks for the video and history. Take care. Peter
Great video! I've always liked this type of urban legend. 👍👍 A map of Machester pointing the area out would have been great at the begining though - I've always lived in Manchester & had to dive onto Google Maps to find the Avenue!
I doubt it too, it was just a modern, for its time, road that was straight by design to link two areas. It was a bypass of sorts to save traffic from going through timperley village.
My Dad always told me the same story about Shaftesbury Avenue whenever we drove down that road. He said as a kid there were loads of tanks all lined up either side of the road in those long lay bys. Every now and then him and his brothers used to bike ride from there home in Benchill to see them I don’t know if he was aware of the Churchill factory but he assumed they were lined up ready to be loaded onto trains. So it isn’t a Myth regarding tank storage. Love you videos 👍 Quinny
I really enjoyed your video, we now live in North Wales, but I was brought up in Timperley and didn’t move until we retired. My aunties and uncles always said that Shaftesbury Ave was used to store tanks.
Doesn’t make sense as an ELG or RLG would be sufficiently remote from the parent airfield so as any dispersed aircraft or aircraft having to divert wouldn’t become targets on the ground.
I think Lewis any decent road wide enough or long enough would have been used in an emergency....particularly in the cold war ...but either way the legends live on in what you have shown us today ...a big well done gor the 1st info
Landing on roads in ww2 wouldn't have been something that was really considered with the number of airfields and satellites that the UK had. If an aircraft had to land in an emergency and an Airfield was not available, a rural clearing would have been the most likely attempted spot, although bailing out was the preferred procedure. The UK isn't short of rural land for aircraft, and it certainly wasn't in ww2 when more aircraft were capable of such landings and our countryside was utilised differently.
Churchill's was a machine tool manufacturer, during the war this would of been a protected industry because we needed as many lathes, milling machines , planers and ancillary tooling as possible, so there's no way they would of put them on munitions or artillery production.
Would love a video of the old municipal airport in northern moor what sat on Lawton moor rd and some of the old building stand today at st Aidan’s primary school 👍🏻
Hi there. I'm from Warrington (It was me that put Ollie onto those concrete barges from the other week?) We have a similar semi-legendary tale about certain main roads near the old Burtonwood Air base from the war where American bombers needed an alternative landing strip in case of the airfield being bombed. I can't recall which roads they were but apparently the lamp posts were set way back from the road to allow clearance for the Liberator and B-17 bombers wingspan. Great video. Thanks. Best wishes and take care
Very interesting! Your history videos are great. I totally agree, a runway is a bit of a stretch. There is a road in Bolton called Beaumont Road. This was nothing more than a dirt road originally. During the war they widened it and put a surface down. This was used to store tanks which were used for the D Day landings. A local history group has eye witness accounts of this and there were a few pictures in the local newspaper. There were dispersal sites all over the country.
My uncle past away a couple of years ago but used to come round to see me and my dad and i'd get him talking about family and the past. One story he told us many times was how the Americans had a make shift bas eon Shaftsbury Ave and as kids him and his mates would go up there from Grove Lane where they lived and drive round in the Americans Willys jeeps dotted around until they attracted attention and had to scarper. So there was definitely a military presence around there and I have heard similar stories about it being at least mistaken by the Germans as a runway and bombed in error during the war. One other story that I know to be true is that the Americans left behind some American style cars and my Grandad who ran a motor garage in Timperley (opposite where the new Library is now) bought one and used it as a taxi for many years. I have a photo of him stood by it. Jut some family anecdotes to fuel the myths.
We have a similar road near to us. There is a single carriageway road (two lanes, one in each direction) and on each side a reservation, and then on each side a single road in front of houses (late 40's). It goes for some distance, but goes nowhere. It starts at one roundabout and ends at another. From what I know it was going to be the original through main road out of town towards the county town. But I am told residents protested and the road was moved further down into the valley. Sometimes projects are started and don't come to fruition.
I was told as a child that Victoria avenue East was a supplementary/emergency runway for one or two aircraft manufacturers in the area. It has been narrowed over the years due to the ring road.
I'd heard a variation on this that it was built wide and straight to assist with the transport of Lancasters from the Greengate Chadderton factory to Woodford for final assembly. There is a video of the 80th anniversary celebration where most of a Lanc fuselage is on a low loader going from Chad to Woodford, but having tried to watch it a few times, I am not if it does go along Viccy Avenue, and of course, it may not have taken the 'oroginal' route if such a thing existed. Here's a link to the vid anyway: ua-cam.com/video/DDdoufy6eQE/v-deo.html&ab_channel=NeilDraper
@@Simon_Nonymous Fascinating, I just watched the video, it doesn't go down Viccy Ave just straight down Greengate towards Lightbowne and then Broadway. I was also told that the rugby club at the junction of Greengate and Victoria Ave used to be an airfield or maybe some sort of stand by airfield.
1:04 The 3 runways at RAF Ringway aren’t to increase the numbers of landings or take offs. But are there for different wind directions, each runway is about 45 degrees in another direction, so that they’ll never be much of a cross wind. Aircraft land or takeoff into wind.
When in the Air Training Corps back in the early 1940s, I had a trip in a Warwick , ( Wellington variant) and there were Skua dive-bombing aircraft there practising their skills, although usually flown by Naval pilots !
This may be confused with an aircraft factory in the north of Manchester near Chadderton. When I wotrked for ICL, Britains mainframe computer company in the 1970s, I had to pay a visit to the BAE site on several occasions. The major part of the operation was clearly inside a former hanger but there are no runways near the place. I was told that it used to build Lancasters and they'd be wheeled out onto the dual carriage way that ran past the site to take off - never to return. There were some photos in tn reception to testify to this. Since it doesnt look like an airfield, the Nazi's never targetted it. Nearly 50 years on its hard to spot exactly where this is/was. It may be "The Broadway" (seems like a lot of trees today) and the BAE site itself looks as if it is no more. (I searched google maps to pin[point it but sadly nothing coincides with my memory)
In the us the blue star highway designation, supposedly in addition to being memorials to fighting forces, are capable of having straight sections every so many miles to serve as emergency runways.
There is a similar intriguing wide road near Heywood in Greater Manchester. From junction 19 on the M62, the A 6046 runs southwards dead straight with only a slight incline for over half a mile. It looks as though it's a modern link road to the motorway but it was built many years earlier as it appears on the 1938 OS map. Probably coincidentally there was the huge RAF 35 MU nearby and a Barrage Balloon unit at Bowlee, neither of which would appear to need a runway. The A580 East Lancs Road is similar and this dates from 1934.
Great stuff, very interesting, used to live on Lorraine road which runs parallel to Shaftesbury avenue and heard that tale a few times and always wonder how true it was, nice to have a definitive answer !
That is a great video. I love the urban myth about "RAF Shaftesbury" There is another Urban Myth about Chorlton Cum-Hardy Golf club an the playing fields adjacent to it was an RLG.
There was a small airfield at Tatton Park that was the designated relief landing ground for Ringway. It was also used for parachute training, possibly in conjunction with the activities there. There is some basis for stories of roads being used a runways. In London, both the Mall and The Broad Walk in Kensington Gardens were kept clear of road furniture during the War, so transport aircraft could land and evacuate the government or Royal Family should the need arise. This continued into the early years of the Cold War until helicopters became more widely available.
Perhaps built as a decoy airfield? We have one to the north of Newcastle Airport in NE England. Sure there are airfields nearby such as RAF Morpeth but decoys were built too. Might be worth following that lead?
Frank Sidebottom said it was a standby runway and he was an expert on Timperley and its environs so I'm not sure what to think, it could just be bobbins.
Interesting, I wonder if it were possible in the U.S. too. There is some speculation that our Interstate Highway System built in the 1950's throughout the 1970's could accommodate aircraft landings and takeoffs in an emergency. Indeed there have been several instances where planes have made emergency landings right on our interstate highways. The Interstate Highway System was conceived by President Eisenhower after seeing the Autobahn in Germany.
some sections of wide rural roads in the Australian outback are designated runways for the flying doctor service, providing emergency medical response out to some very isolated areas.
Check out the National Library of Scotland's OS map database. The 6-inch map for the area from 1938 clearly shows the planned route of the A560/Timperley Bypass between the Hare & Hounds what is now the B5165. This was over what were open fields at the time, so there was no reason to built it as anything other than two long straights with a long curve in the middle.
If it was an optional Ironsides stopline strip? If operation Sealion had got a foothold on the south coast in 1940 or 41. Then any level hard standing could have been utilizes for emergency air defence . Plenty of old biplanes still around, in private ownership which if slow could still ferry people about.
With the formation of the RAF during WWI and a growth in the use of aircraft, it wouldn't surprise me to find roads like this were influenced by the idea that there may be need for emergency runways dotted around the country even if it wasn't aimed directly at wartime use.
We have certain wide avenues in Birmingham built on the basis that they included wide side areas with Cycle lanes as part of an interwar national cycling network that never came to pass ......
Not as far fetched as some may think. In the States sections of the Interstate Highway System are engineered to be auxiliary airfields in the event of a national emergency.
Dundee's Kingsway a 5.5m long straight double sided dual carriageway that runs right through Dundee was to be used in the event that RAF Leuchars was put out of action
Altrincham retail park I *think* is built on the former site of a factory that manufactured engines during g WW2, I have an idea that they were aero engines butcould be wrong. The blast proof walls that surrounded the factory are mostly gone but some are still in place on Craven Road. Down on Dawson Road there used to be a small factory which made clockwork mechanisms prior to the war but they retooled to make clockwork detonators for bombs. There was also a military base a little further down Sinderland road. Lots of industrial and military history in and around Altrincham
I believe there was also a temporary landing strip on Cringle Fields in Heaton Chapel/Levenshulme. It straddled Crossley Road across what are now football pitches and a public park. My understanding is that it was used by Fairey Engineering who had a factory adjacent to it. The only reference I have seen to this is an old book I had as a young aircraft enthusiast in the 70's which used to list the names and locations of all the airports, airfields and airstrips in the UK. Be unetresting is anybody could confirm anything more.
Would not be surprise if it was, in the south they had main, 2nd 3rd and 4th location for planes to land on, and most was roads, this was during the Battle of Britain and the blitz, where airports were prime targets
My father did his parachute training at Tatton Park - vaguely remember him saying that he took off from Ringway and parachuted out over Tatton Park during training exercises but maybe that's wrong given the info reported here? He eventually took part in the landings at Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden and towards the end of the war in the liberation of Norway - he was one of the lucky ones who got out of the Arnhem situation, otherwise yours truly would probably have never been born!
I would think pilot's in WWII would have a whole list of possible alternative landing sites and this may have been just one of them. So never made as a runway just you could if needed
People were probably impressed with the width of the new lane, and this might have lead to airfield comparisons, which then gave rise to an urban legend. If any plane ever landed on Shaftesbury Avenue (magically avoiding the street lights) surely someone would have taken a picture. It never happened.
It could be a good drag strip, given its length and width. Mind you, Switzerland and Singapore have roads that can be used as emergency runways in wartime.
it’s not a myth if it was considered as a usable runway even if it never got used as such, it would be foolish to not consider every possible location for use especially if they’re already built and able to handle the planes that would have used them. it was an auxiliary to the auxiliary airfield, the place that you had to use as a last ditch attempt at landing. they could replace the plane and repair the driveways, but they can’t replace the pilots!
It is unlikley Churchills made tanks. It was a machine tool company and would have been at maximum capacity building and refurbishing machine tools for the UK war industry. Perhaps the nearest to any weapons manufacture would be high precision components for assembley elsewhere. Churchills was an extremly important manufacturing facility. I also don't think the factory layout was suitable for the asembley of tanks machine tool production and particulalry the type of machine tool made at Churchills was in the smaller capacity. Tanks thatwere stored in the vacinity were probably just a stratigic storage point near transport and used as required.
Churchills made heavy, very powerfull Offhand Grinders, with wheel diameters of 12inches, or more, and 3 inches thick. ~ A lot of kinetic mass if a wheel burst !
Whilst on contract in Nigeria in the late Eighties my superior John Smith, around thirty years older than I told me how he trained as a Paratrooper at Ringway, initially jumping out of a small door at the top of a wooden barn to practice landing, later they would go up in a plane which had for all the world a bathtub with an open-end facing rearwards fastened to the bottom of the plane, On instruction one would lower oneself into the bathtub with hands across your chest, prey.
Nice vid, I lived on the right in a detached on Shaftesbury for 27 years, parents still there, my dads Kia is in drone shots, we heard this myth all the time,
It's interesting how easily history is lost and forgotten. This "airstrip" isn't that old, relatively speaking. You would think that there would be some documentation or a historical memory of someone from back then. Maybe it's all just an urban legend.
Of course there would be some evidence. A photograph of an aircraft landing there, a report on the feasibility or a construction brief. The military and government never used to test anything without photographs and reports. Even Fairey themselves if it has been with their aircraft in mind. Documentation can be lost to time, but the lack of any solid evidence means that it is unlikely.
I'm going to go along with people commenting who are clearly much more knowledgeable than myself but, I'm guessing that in an emergency anything flat and straight enough could effectively constitute a landing strip...
Plenty of videos of pilots in the US performing an emergency landing on the highways. Quite how blocking the M1 with a Cessna would go down with the police or Highways England remains to be seen.
Well there was a control tower there so something was landing there .There seems to have been an R.A.R. base there during the war.according to Wickepaedia.
Probably not build as a runway but at some time for whatever reason a small aircraft may have landed on it and then rumours and stories built around that single account .
Not sure about Shaftesbury specifically, but when the motorways were being constructed after the war, at least a nod was given to the fact that they may have had to be employed as runways in case the pesky Commies invaded and knocked out the military and civil airports. This was supposedly reflected in their location and design. Makes sense I suppose... Great video Lewis, thanks again mate. 🏴👍
Jaguar fighter jet lands on M55 motorway - April 1975 On April 26, 1975, Tim Ferguson, a test pilot for the British aircraft Corporation, landed a Jaguar fighter jet on the M55 motorway in Lancashire shortly before it was opened to the public. The landing demonstrated the aircraft's ability to take-off and land on unorthodox landing strips away from main air bases under wartime conditions. Today, BAC's successor, BAE Systems, still works on aircraft capable of taking off and landing in tight spots, including the F-35 Lightning II.
@@GlasgowGallus If you Google this event there are videos showing the event - I worked on the construction of the M55 but had been transferred to another contract in South Wales by the time this event took place.
They have been after Woodford airfield for years finally they got it, million pound houses now and just the Avro museum in it, Thatcher closed the aircraft factories that had full order books so onward with the houses. The A34 finally built planned in 1930s to cope with the limos that are now endemic in the area.
As a pilot, any straight preferably bitumen surface is a landing ground in any emergency when not encumbered with powerlines etc. I’ve got no doubts in squadron messes, even formal briefings, such a piece of real estate would have been identified as a standby for any one of a number of reasons including fuel starvation, engine failure after take off etc.
The runway story is indeed a myth. Shaftesbury Avenue was built as the Timperley by-pass pre-war very much in the style of many other by-passes of the time. It was only the outbreak of war that delayed it being developed for housing. Only a handful of houses at the cricket club end were built. At the time Shaftesbury Avenue was built Ringway was still a grass runway and not used in strategic operations, so a reserve would not have been a priority. The storage of military hardware is true though. I was born adjacent to Shaftesbury Avenue in 1960 and from a young age my father told me of the time tanks awaiting transportation to the south coast were stored on the Thorley Lane to Brooklands Road section during the war, so it was still a fresh memory for him.
I was also told of that tank storage by my Grandma, who has since passed, who was a teenage girl at the time. She would mention it whenever we drove down there.
I quite agree. I lived on the adjacent Stockport Road which went through Timperley village. In deed Shaftesbury Avenue was the Timperley bypass and whilst it never was a runway, it’s thought that it could have been a decoy as Shaftesbury Avenue was bombed by the Germans .
They may have mistaken it for Ringway.
even so, that doesn’t mean that it was identified as a usable emergency auxiliary runway if the main locations were targets or destroyed…it would be foolish to not have backups to your backups, that just happened to be conveniently there for use
@@bostonrailfan2427 Yeah what you said, although never used or converted to do that purpose. It was probably a ear marked as a emergency use to land if air strips were bombed badly.
Spot on mate 👍
I live on Shaftesbury Avenue and was a firefighter at Manchester Airport. I conducted my own research using the archive files stored at the airport (part of what was "The Black Museum"). I found a declassified document which refers to relief runways in the area. Sadly, I couldn't find any reference to Shaftesbury Avenue. The sites named in this document were Tatton Park, Woodford, Barton and Hawarden Airport for heavy bombers.
There was a major runway built on the Duke of Westminsters Estate to the south of Chester. I know this because my dad built it. He later went on to work on the extension of Ringway in the 1960’s
@@screwdriver5181one of the runways at RAF Poulton (as it was known) survives, and the layout is still very much visible on Satellite view. Sadly it's all well within the Eaton Estate and not visible or accessible by the public
@@screwdriver5181where abouts? Can't find any evidence at all on that one either!
Also airfields at Sealand and Hooton Rufford and raf Southport so many runways about in aera forgot Speke
We have these temporary airfields here in Finland. They are mostly on rural areas on public roads, there are signs marking the beginning and end and the roads get wider for some kilometers (might be shorter) most have support side roads leading to what looks like plane parking spacees, they mostly have antenna masts with a discone and i presume airband vhf dipoles.
in what was West Germany and in north end of South Korea there are highways built flat from side to side, for runway use, even tho' rain can puddle up on uncambered roads while used for peacetime cars
my Dad was in a car spin-out on a German Autobahn when someone else was driving, 1970s
During the war there were anti aircraft and searchlight units based on Shaftesbury Avenue they were to protect Manchester and the Atlantic Street industrial area. My family house was on a road parallel to Shaftesbury Avenue and with only fields a full view of the searchlights operating. As a precaution the units were moved regularly. There was an old house opposite the Hare and Hounds that was the civil defense headquarters and had the air raid siren on its roof well into the 1950's I remember it being tested occasionally when I was a child.
Great video thank you!
I have to say, as somebody with an interest in military history and a career in aviation, I have my opinions on this.
It is highly unlikely that it was ever planned as a runway, roads being used as runways was not something that was planned for in the UK.
The Air Ministry and the FAA/RAF used compulsory "purchase orders" to buy land, or to take ownership of it "for the duration" to build as many airfields and satellite airfields as they desired.
It doesn't make any sense for a residential street to be given over for landing aircraft on such a small island absolutely filled with military airfields amd rural land at the time.
Often these urban legends come from confused facts.
For example, (a made up example) it could be that one particular member of the RAF, Air Ministy or Fairey Aviation stated that the road "would make a good emergency landing strip" in a document somewhere... this has then been taken out of context.
I see this a lot locally to me, rumours are now 70 years+ old and 3rd hand, not helped by the fact that people can publish blogs etc on the Internet perpetuating these rumours which they genuinely believe are true.
Now, the tank story is more likely when you look at history.
Not for that road in particular, but as a story.
Down here in the new forest many roads today seem out of place for rural communities, too wide and substantial, or leading to odd dead ends.
On the run up to DDAY many US tanks were housed in the new forest awaiting transport to the likes of Southampton, Lymington and other embarkation points.
Many roads were hardened, straightened and widened in preparation for these tanks. Huge civil engineering projects done as low key as possible.
So, it's not unfeasible that for some reason, the road was either actually used, or planned to be used as a staging point for amassing tanks for some operation, or potential operation.
The issue is however, without documentary or photographic evidence, word of mouth is no longer enough to go by in 2022 for a war that was a long time ago.
Air raid shelters become "military bunkers", naval Air stations become "RAF airfields" one Air raid on a town becomes "a blitz", any military personnel's death becomes a "targeted attack".
Thank you for making it clear that you cannot find any evidence of these interesting stories.
(Of note though, the fairey Gannet's first flight wasn't until 1949, so post war Ringway)
Thanks so much for your insight and info
When I was a student pilot, one of the dreaded subjects was 'engine failure after takeoff'. In the classroom, we would look at maps and try to work out where we could flop down in an emergency, various school playing fields, golf courses and such likes were discussed. Now, it is quite possible that many student pilots will have spotted this road and thought 'if it all goes wrong, that would make a good runway'. It is a very short leap of faith to see how anecdotally that changes into 'and we had an emergency runway at...'
It would be interesting to see if there was ever an aircraft that landed there, or maybe mistook it for an airfield.
When I was a boy, there was a story about the fields near Goresbrook Road, Dagenham, being an airfield. It was not true, but, there was an aircraft that arrived by ship into Dagenham and was assembled on those fields and flown out, my memory which may be faulty was that it was a DC2.
Here in New Zealand, we have so many stories that "The American Marines offered to build a road from X to Y during the war but the government turned them down". None have any particular evidence, and in most cases you can see no strategic reason why the Americans (or any other foreign military) would do that, especially as their resources were tied up in combat in the pacific. There may well be one genuine case where that claim was true, but it seems every every modern proposed roading project has that story attached in local urban legend!
I live in Germany about five miles from what used to be RAF Laarbruch until it closed down in 1999. About 15 kilometers from here is a stretch of motorway which is part of the Autobahn A57. This was clearly designed for use as an emergency landing strip for aircraft during the cold war. This section of the motorway between rest areas Alpen and Bönninghardt is 2.7 kilometers long and arrow-straight. There are no bridges. The crash barriers at the centre of the motorway used to be detachable and there is no green strip along the middle-line. The rest areas served turning areas for jets after they had landed. Apparently the NATO had quite a few of these emergency landing strips on Autobahnen here in Germany.
@@Klassiker- that was a very common NATO tactic in Europe for the Cold War.
Absolutely fascinating part of history, forgotten by many today.
I remember visiting parts of Germany with similar set ups, where modern day Lorry Parks would once have been for aircraft to turn, re arm or refuel.
Britain developed the Harrier as its main forward deployed "rapid response" aircraft.
Using roads as runways wasn't a ww2 tactic for the British operating from the British Isles.
Even in Europe, Britain and the US built advanced landing grounds for thr purpose of forward deployment post Dday.
My father grew up in Altrincham, he was a teenager during the war. He remembers tanks and other military vehicles being stored on Shaftsbury Avenue. My dad was in the RAF in the '50s and flew from Ringway many times. Great video very interesting.
There was definitely a decoy runway somewhere in the area. My mum and dad were courting during the war and were out cycling one night in some woods (sadly I have no details) the air raid alarm sounded and suddenly a bright pattern of runway lights came ON in the woods. My dad apparently worked out what it must be and they cycled out pretty quickly. I remember being told this story many a time as a child. They worked at Metro Vick and also told me the story of one night when a UXB came down into the factory. I found out only a few months ago that a school friends dad was the night watchman and he told the same story. It would be great if someone could corroborate the decoy airfield story too!
I live adjacent to Shaftsbury Avenue, and indeed, the landing strip story is just a myth. My old neighbour was a little girl during the war and she confirmed that it was used to store military vehicles. Interestingly, the fields to the side (where our houses are now), had anti aircraft gun emplacments, and as a little girl my neighbour used to walk across the fields from the village to visit the soldiers manning the guns.
My gran told me about that sweet shop bomb, she was in the area minutes before it hit. Amazing that you have photos of the event in this video.
Another cracking video Lewis. I use Shaftesbury Avenue daily and love the folklore surrounding it.
There is a photo that I have seen with tanks stored one what are now the cycle lanes. Also did you know there is a very large secret nuclear bunker at Tatton Park, and also one under the old GPO telephone exchange on the downs in Altrincham. I used to live at number 10 Kingsley avenue, and the house next door was hit by a bomb in WWII
I’d expect the phone exchange to be a hardened building given its build date, so there would well be a bunker underneath for GPO workers. Would love to see it!
@@98jonesd My Dad was a GPO Operator in the building back in the day
The bunker near Tatton Park has been accessed and vandalized now, just a wreck unfortunately.
Worked at Ringway in the early 90's in the old WW2 hangars. Great times....Big up for RavenAir! Good memories.
Shaftesbury Avenue is so straight and wide to allow quicker egress from Wythenshaw...
There are many myths about roads being used for relief landing areas. We know that if this was the case they had never been used, so finding documentation about it will be difficult. During the Battle of Britain the German Luftwaffe heavily targeted our airfield's and almost brought it to its knees. This almost made it impossible for our aircraft to land so I would say though never been used the idea of using certain roads to land on would have been a possibility, should it be needed. As for the storage of military equipment, this could be true as much of our industry changed to support our war effort. Example Avlis (who built cars) quickly started turning out tanks during the war. Then after the war they continued to build military vehicles and even though now merged with BAE Systems produced the Stromer HVM you read about in the news lately. The Churchill machine tool company (later known as Ti Chruchill then Ti Matrix in the late 1980 early 90) churned out ammunition cases so maybe could have stored military equipment back then?? I believe also that when the collapse of Alfred Herbert's (Machine tools) in Coventry they set up there too. Remember the IRAQ Super gun story? The machine to help build that came from Ti Matrix (Churchill) so it does have military related background.
It was suggested that across the UK sections of "A" roads and Motorways were planned and constructed to be used as aircraft runways in the event of total war. Add to this secret fuel dumps where large quantities of Aviation fuel had been stored in Gerry Cans and then covered in earth not that far away from these locations.
You can't store fuel like that. It has a 'shelf life' shorter than you may think. Especially aviation octanes.
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN ex RAF. Enough said.
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN yet 120 million gallons of aviation fuel stored in covered tanks at Woodford with a secret pipeline running from east coast then across the Pennines to green lane higher Poynton then to Woodford
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN oh do he quiet of course you could back then, back then petrol was petrol and kerosene/aviation fuel was exactly that none of this ethanol bollocks we have today, it’s the ethanol that makes the fuel go off nowadays straight petrol will last several years stored in Jerry cans yeah it will degrade eventually but not that quick
@@battaliance DON'T TELL ME TO BE QUIET, YOU IGNORANT INTERNET GOBSHITE. YOU DON'T OWN UA-cam.
I suppose, irrespective of fact or myth the saying “Any port in a storm” would also apply to aircraft and if you’ve in trouble and can’t quite reach the real runway then a nice long, straight piece of tarmac will do very nicely. Thanks for the video and history. Take care. Peter
Great video! I've always liked this type of urban legend. 👍👍
A map of Machester pointing the area out would have been great at the begining though - I've always lived in Manchester & had to dive onto Google Maps to find the Avenue!
Awesome video Lewis. As a pilot, I’m fascinated with world war 2 aircraft and airfields…. Have a great weekend!!!!!
I doubt it too, it was just a modern, for its time, road that was straight by design to link two areas. It was a bypass of sorts to save traffic from going through timperley village.
My Dad always told me the same story about Shaftesbury Avenue whenever we drove down that road.
He said as a kid there were loads of tanks all lined up either side of the road in those long lay bys.
Every now and then him and his brothers used to bike ride from there home in Benchill to see them
I don’t know if he was aware of the Churchill factory but he assumed they were lined up ready to be loaded onto trains.
So it isn’t a Myth regarding tank storage.
Love you videos 👍
Quinny
I really enjoyed your video, we now live in North Wales, but I was brought up in Timperley and didn’t move until we retired. My aunties and uncles always said that Shaftesbury Ave was used to store tanks.
Doesn’t make sense as an ELG or RLG would be sufficiently remote from the parent airfield so as any dispersed aircraft or aircraft having to divert wouldn’t become targets on the ground.
I think Lewis any decent road wide enough or long enough would have been used in an emergency....particularly in the cold war ...but either way the legends live on in what you have shown us today ...a big well done gor the 1st info
Landing on roads in ww2 wouldn't have been something that was really considered with the number of airfields and satellites that the UK had.
If an aircraft had to land in an emergency and an Airfield was not available, a rural clearing would have been the most likely attempted spot, although bailing out was the preferred procedure.
The UK isn't short of rural land for aircraft, and it certainly wasn't in ww2 when more aircraft were capable of such landings and our countryside was utilised differently.
You can bet your ass these questions are being asked again given the current world status
Churchill's was a machine tool manufacturer, during the war this would of been a protected industry because we needed as many lathes, milling machines , planers and ancillary tooling as possible, so there's no way they would of put them on munitions or artillery production.
Lewis this is a fantastic mini documentary. I appreciate your work fella. Thank you.
Would love a video of the old municipal airport in northern moor what sat on Lawton moor rd and some of the old building stand today at st Aidan’s primary school 👍🏻
I went to St Aidan's school - 1958/59. First time I've come across a mention of the school 😊
We lived on Warmley Road till 1959.
Hi there. I'm from Warrington (It was me that put Ollie onto those concrete barges from the other week?) We have a similar semi-legendary tale about certain main roads near the old Burtonwood Air base from the war where American bombers needed an alternative landing strip in case of the airfield being bombed. I can't recall which roads they were but apparently the lamp posts were set way back from the road to allow clearance for the Liberator and B-17 bombers wingspan. Great video. Thanks. Best wishes and take care
Very interesting! Your history videos are great. I totally agree, a runway is a bit of a stretch. There is a road in Bolton called Beaumont Road. This was nothing more than a dirt road originally. During the war they widened it and put a surface down. This was used to store tanks which were used for the D Day landings. A local history group has eye witness accounts of this and there were a few pictures in the local newspaper. There were dispersal sites all over the country.
Agree - Horwich Works were building Matilda tanks in 1940 and these were stored along Chorley New Road, from Horwich as far as Beaumont Road.
My uncle past away a couple of years ago but used to come round to see me and my dad and i'd get him talking about family and the past. One story he told us many times was how the Americans had a make shift bas eon Shaftsbury Ave and as kids him and his mates would go up there from Grove Lane where they lived and drive round in the Americans Willys jeeps dotted around until they attracted attention and had to scarper. So there was definitely a military presence around there and I have heard similar stories about it being at least mistaken by the Germans as a runway and bombed in error during the war. One other story that I know to be true is that the Americans left behind some American style cars and my Grandad who ran a motor garage in Timperley (opposite where the new Library is now) bought one and used it as a taxi for many years. I have a photo of him stood by it. Jut some family anecdotes to fuel the myths.
We have a similar road near to us. There is a single carriageway road (two lanes, one in each direction) and on each side a reservation, and then on each side a single road in front of houses (late 40's). It goes for some distance, but goes nowhere. It starts at one roundabout and ends at another. From what I know it was going to be the original through main road out of town towards the county town. But I am told residents protested and the road was moved further down into the valley. Sometimes projects are started and don't come to fruition.
Singapore has roads that can be used as emergency runways.
I was told as a child that Victoria avenue East was a supplementary/emergency runway for one or two aircraft manufacturers in the area. It has been narrowed over the years due to the ring road.
I'd heard a variation on this that it was built wide and straight to assist with the transport of Lancasters from the Greengate Chadderton factory to Woodford for final assembly. There is a video of the 80th anniversary celebration where most of a Lanc fuselage is on a low loader going from Chad to Woodford, but having tried to watch it a few times, I am not if it does go along Viccy Avenue, and of course, it may not have taken the 'oroginal' route if such a thing existed. Here's a link to the vid anyway: ua-cam.com/video/DDdoufy6eQE/v-deo.html&ab_channel=NeilDraper
@@Simon_Nonymous Fascinating, I just watched the video, it doesn't go down Viccy Ave just straight down Greengate towards Lightbowne and then Broadway. I was also told that the rugby club at the junction of Greengate and Victoria Ave used to be an airfield or maybe some sort of stand by airfield.
@@PHI77IP85 that's what I thought having watched in slo mo a couple of times.
1:04 The 3 runways at RAF Ringway aren’t to increase the numbers of landings or take offs. But are there for different wind directions, each runway is about 45 degrees in another direction, so that they’ll never be much of a cross wind. Aircraft land or takeoff into wind.
My point was, there was never a shortage of landing space for something ditching in an emergency
Great info, a simple answer to the question was highly appreciated!
When in the Air Training Corps back in the early 1940s, I had a trip in a Warwick , ( Wellington variant) and there were Skua dive-bombing aircraft there practising their skills, although usually flown by Naval pilots !
This may be confused with an aircraft factory in the north of Manchester near Chadderton. When I wotrked for ICL, Britains mainframe computer company in the 1970s, I had to pay a visit to the BAE site on several occasions. The major part of the operation was clearly inside a former hanger but there are no runways near the place. I was told that it used to build Lancasters and they'd be wheeled out onto the dual carriage way that ran past the site to take off - never to return. There were some photos in tn reception to testify to this. Since it doesnt look like an airfield, the Nazi's never targetted it. Nearly 50 years on its hard to spot exactly where this is/was. It may be "The Broadway" (seems like a lot of trees today) and the BAE site itself looks as if it is no more. (I searched google maps to pin[point it but sadly nothing coincides with my memory)
In the us the blue star highway designation, supposedly in addition to being memorials to fighting forces, are capable of having straight sections every so many miles to serve as emergency runways.
There is a similar intriguing wide road near Heywood in Greater Manchester. From junction 19 on the M62, the A 6046 runs southwards dead straight with only a slight incline for over half a mile. It looks as though it's a modern link road to the motorway but it was built many years earlier as it appears on the 1938 OS map. Probably coincidentally there was the huge RAF 35 MU nearby and a Barrage Balloon unit at Bowlee, neither of which would appear to need a runway. The A580 East Lancs Road is similar and this dates from 1934.
Great stuff, very interesting, used to live on Lorraine road which runs parallel to Shaftesbury avenue and heard that tale a few times and always wonder how true it was, nice to have a definitive answer !
That is a great video. I love the urban myth about "RAF Shaftesbury" There is another Urban Myth about Chorlton Cum-Hardy Golf club an the playing fields adjacent to it was an RLG.
There was a small airfield at Tatton Park that was the designated relief landing ground for Ringway. It was also used for parachute training, possibly in conjunction with the activities there. There is some basis for stories of roads being used a runways. In London, both the Mall and The Broad Walk in Kensington Gardens were kept clear of road furniture during the War, so transport aircraft could land and evacuate the government or Royal Family should the need arise. This continued into the early years of the Cold War until helicopters became more widely available.
Perhaps built as a decoy airfield? We have one to the north of Newcastle Airport in NE England. Sure there are airfields nearby such as RAF Morpeth but decoys were built too. Might be worth following that lead?
Frank Sidebottom said it was a standby runway and he was an expert on Timperley and its environs so I'm not sure what to think, it could just be bobbins.
Interesting, I wonder if it were possible in the U.S. too. There is some speculation that our Interstate Highway System built in the 1950's throughout the 1970's could accommodate aircraft landings and takeoffs in an emergency. Indeed there have been several instances where planes have made emergency landings right on our interstate highways. The Interstate Highway System was conceived by President Eisenhower after seeing the Autobahn in Germany.
some sections of wide rural roads in the Australian outback are designated runways for the flying doctor service, providing emergency medical response out to some very isolated areas.
Cheers from your newest subscriber from California !
There are quite a few countries with designed highway airstrips. Such a good idea, ever since Six Day War. 1967.
Check out the National Library of Scotland's OS map database. The 6-inch map for the area from 1938 clearly shows the planned route of the A560/Timperley Bypass between the Hare & Hounds what is now the B5165. This was over what were open fields at the time, so there was no reason to built it as anything other than two long straights with a long curve in the middle.
If it was an optional Ironsides stopline strip? If operation Sealion had got a foothold on the south coast in 1940 or 41. Then any level hard standing could have been utilizes for emergency air defence .
Plenty of old biplanes still around, in private ownership which if slow could still ferry people about.
With the formation of the RAF during WWI and a growth in the use of aircraft, it wouldn't surprise me to find roads like this were influenced by the idea that there may be need for emergency runways dotted around the country even if it wasn't aimed directly at wartime use.
We have certain wide avenues in Birmingham built on the basis that they included wide side areas with Cycle lanes as part of an interwar national cycling network that never came to pass ......
In Western Australia most main outback highways have a stretch marked out for emergency aircraft.
Not as far fetched as some may think. In the States sections of the Interstate Highway System are engineered to be auxiliary airfields in the event of a national emergency.
The "locking Road" in Weston super mare was wide enough so they could taxi planes down it from the factory..
Dundee's Kingsway a 5.5m long straight double sided dual carriageway that runs right through Dundee was to be used in the event that RAF Leuchars was put out of action
I learned to fly at Ringway in the 80's on the Southside, as it was known. I still think of it as "Ringway" and not "Manchester International".
Altrincham retail park I *think* is built on the former site of a factory that manufactured engines during g WW2, I have an idea that they were aero engines butcould be wrong. The blast proof walls that surrounded the factory are mostly gone but some are still in place on Craven Road. Down on Dawson Road there used to be a small factory which made clockwork mechanisms prior to the war but they retooled to make clockwork detonators for bombs. There was also a military base a little further down Sinderland road. Lots of industrial and military history in and around Altrincham
I believe there was also a temporary landing strip on Cringle Fields in Heaton Chapel/Levenshulme. It straddled Crossley Road across what are now football pitches and a public park. My understanding is that it was used by Fairey Engineering who had a factory adjacent to it. The only reference I have seen to this is an old book I had as a young aircraft enthusiast in the 70's which used to list the names and locations of all the airports, airfields and airstrips in the UK. Be unetresting is anybody could confirm anything more.
Would not be surprise if it was, in the south they had main, 2nd 3rd and 4th location for planes to land on, and most was roads, this was during the Battle of Britain and the blitz, where airports were prime targets
Germany also still has emergency road airfields with fold down/hinged street lights
You can certainly see how this legend started. It really looks the part.
My father did his parachute training at Tatton Park - vaguely remember him saying that he took off from Ringway and parachuted out over Tatton Park during training exercises but maybe that's wrong given the info reported here? He eventually took part in the landings at Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden and towards the end of the war in the liberation of Norway - he was one of the lucky ones who got out of the Arnhem situation, otherwise yours truly would probably have never been born!
I would think pilot's in WWII would have a whole list of possible alternative landing sites and this may have been just one of them. So never made as a runway just you could if needed
People were probably impressed with the width of the new lane, and this might have lead to airfield comparisons, which then gave rise to an urban legend.
If any plane ever landed on Shaftesbury Avenue (magically avoiding the street lights) surely someone would have taken a picture. It never happened.
It could be a good drag strip, given its length and width. Mind you, Switzerland and Singapore have roads that can be used as emergency runways in wartime.
We used it as a drag strip in the late 90's, parked in the Shell station then when out in pairs to the lights to race, young and stupid
@@stevenpettit The most fun you can have with your clothes on. You didn’t drive a Ford Popular, didn’t you?
@@chrishenniker5944 205 GTI and Renault 5’s in that era! All good fun!!
@@stevenpettit I prefer a’32 Ford or Volvo Amazon.
By fuck what an excellent video. Only found it as it was on the scroll list. I'm a proud Manc. Born n bread on the Hill. New subscription with me
it’s not a myth if it was considered as a usable runway even if it never got used as such, it would be foolish to not consider every possible location for use especially if they’re already built and able to handle the planes that would have used them.
it was an auxiliary to the auxiliary airfield, the place that you had to use as a last ditch attempt at landing. they could replace the plane and repair the driveways, but they can’t replace the pilots!
It is unlikley Churchills made tanks. It was a machine tool company and would have been at maximum capacity building and refurbishing machine tools for the UK war industry. Perhaps the nearest to any weapons manufacture would be high precision components for assembley elsewhere. Churchills was an extremly important manufacturing facility. I also don't think the factory layout was suitable for the asembley of tanks machine tool production and particulalry the type of machine tool made at Churchills was in the smaller capacity. Tanks thatwere stored in the vacinity were probably just a stratigic storage point near transport and used as required.
Churchills made heavy, very powerfull Offhand Grinders, with wheel diameters of 12inches, or more, and 3 inches thick. ~ A lot of kinetic mass if a wheel burst !
The thumbnail showing a spitfire taking off from the road gives all the clues
Whilst on contract in Nigeria in the late Eighties my superior John Smith, around thirty years older than I told me how he trained as a Paratrooper at Ringway, initially jumping out of a small door at the top of a wooden barn to practice landing, later they would go up in a plane which had for all the world a bathtub with an open-end facing rearwards fastened to the bottom of the plane, On instruction one would lower oneself into the bathtub with hands across your chest, prey.
If you want to see a pencil-straight road, have a look at the Nullarbor in Australia.
There were anough airfields and open land around Ringway that they didn't need to land in a nearby street.
yep. exactly what i said :)
Nice vid, I lived on the right in a detached on Shaftesbury for 27 years, parents still there, my dads Kia is in drone shots, we heard this myth all the time,
Sweden had several landing strips on public roads. But in rural areas. Not i a city. Several can still be seen.
There's an awful lot of lamp posts in the way, looking at the pictures in the video. Beaufighters were nearly 60 ft wide, Spitfires about 37 ft
Very interesting video. 👍
I hadn't realised Manchester Airport was an old RAF base
HMS Blackcap I have been past it many times on my cycling trips and the concrete runway is still there .
Cool photos.
Interesting piece of history.
The Gannet was a post war turbo prop carrier aircraft which could have landed on that road.
Very interesting Lewis
It's interesting how easily history is lost and forgotten. This "airstrip" isn't that old, relatively speaking. You would think that there would be some documentation or a historical memory of someone from back then. Maybe it's all just an urban legend.
Of course there would be some evidence.
A photograph of an aircraft landing there, a report on the feasibility or a construction brief.
The military and government never used to test anything without photographs and reports.
Even Fairey themselves if it has been with their aircraft in mind.
Documentation can be lost to time, but the lack of any solid evidence means that it is unlikely.
Good and intresting content
I'm going to go along with people commenting who are clearly much more knowledgeable than myself but, I'm guessing that in an emergency anything flat and straight enough could effectively constitute a landing strip...
Plenty of videos of pilots in the US performing an emergency landing on the highways. Quite how blocking the M1 with a Cessna would go down with the police or Highways England remains to be seen.
@@mjt8199 Yeh, but secretly we'd all love to know 😉
"no not the famous one in London"
As an American: "TIL London has streets besides Abbey Road"
Well there was a control tower there so something was landing there .There seems to have been an R.A.R. base there during the war.according to Wickepaedia.
Probably not build as a runway but at some time for whatever reason a small aircraft may have landed on it and then rumours and stories built around that single account .
I like the cycling aspect
Fairey Gannet? First flight in 1949 and subsequently operated by the German Navy. Don’t think it really fits in your interesting
piece.
Yes you’re right, albeit later, there was some assembled at ringway
Knowing what I know, a quick look at alignment and location says to Me, Not a reserve runway!
whats more interesting a road with cycle paths pre WW2
Not sure about Shaftesbury specifically, but when the motorways were being constructed after the war, at least a nod was given to the fact that they may have had to be employed as runways in case the pesky Commies invaded and knocked out the military and civil airports. This was supposedly reflected in their location and design. Makes sense I suppose... Great video Lewis, thanks again mate. 🏴👍
Jaguar fighter jet lands on M55 motorway - April 1975
On April 26, 1975, Tim Ferguson, a test pilot for the British aircraft Corporation, landed a Jaguar fighter jet on the M55 motorway in Lancashire shortly before it was opened to the public.
The landing demonstrated the aircraft's ability to take-off and land on unorthodox landing strips away from main air bases under wartime conditions.
Today, BAC's successor, BAE Systems, still works on aircraft capable of taking off and landing in tight spots, including the F-35 Lightning II.
@@tomsgrandad Thanks for that Richard, obliged to you 👍
@@GlasgowGallus If you Google this event there are videos showing the event - I worked on the construction of the M55 but had been transferred to another contract in South Wales by the time this event took place.
@@tomsgrandad I'll do that Richard, again, much appreciated, fascinating stuff. 👍
I’ve heard rumours of a runway on M62 for Burtonwood near Warrington during Cold War.
What a wonderful bit of history research Lewis for your area and its wartime air fields.
Marc In Bletchley G6XEG
They have been after Woodford airfield for years finally they got it, million pound houses now and just the Avro museum in it, Thatcher closed the aircraft factories that had full order books so onward with the houses.
The A34 finally built planned in 1930s to cope with the limos that are now endemic in the area.
I used to work at Woodford. Sad times now it is closed
Could the east lancs road be used for similar??
A Jaguar fighter jet did land on the M55 Preston to Blackpool motorway
It certainly did mate, the footage is brilliant
Nah ,just long enough to be a Runway ,maybe for small Aircraft
Use to have an airfield near me in the uk
I believe our motorways are designed with a straight stretch of road approx 2mls with no bridges or flyovers for war runway in emergency.