Liverpool Flying Clubs in the '50s

Background
Although the existence of Aero Club activity can be traced back pre-War, to the ‘Liverpool and District Aero Club’, formed in 1928 and based at Speke from 1934, clearly civilian operations in the UK ceased to exist during the war years 1939-1945. Post War, there was an attempt to revive the Liverpool and District Aero Club in 1946, however there is no evidence that they ever managed to restart operations. It would be 1949 before a new aero club would operate from Speke.

Immediately post War, there was initially a surplus of trained pilots leaving the military, many finding employment with small airlines, while some joined the Voluntary Reserve or Auxiliary Air Force, yet others found whatever income they could from flying at weekends. The earliest post war flying clubs at Liverpool were a part of small airline operations, the flying club aircraft were much occupied with pleasure flying work, air-taxi charter flights for the parent airline and small military contracts such as acting as radar targets for Territorial Army anti-aircraft units, rather than flying training.

Wright Aviation was established in 1946, initially at Hooton Park, and shared its aircraft with the Wirral Aero & Gliding Club. Sqdn. Ldr. Gordon C. Wright, being not only founder and director of Wright Aviation, but also Chairman and CFI of WA&GC. Gordon Wright was a busy man as he was at the time also Chief Pilot for Liverpool airline, Skytravel 1946-1947. A fleet of 5 Auster aircraft were soon built up during the first year of operation at Hooton Park, although one was subsequently lost during 1948.

Move to Liverpool, Speke
Late in 1949, Wright Aviation assisted in the formation of ‘Liverpool Flying Club’ at Speke. Sqdn. Ldr. ‘Wilbur’ Wright becoming Chairman of the Club, with Capt. G. Ford, formerly assistant manager of the B.E.A. Helicopter Unit, as CFI and General Manager. The official opening of the Flying Club took place on 5th November 1949, with Wright’s Austers forming the basis of the Club’s fleet. Initially the fleet was split between Speke and Hooton Park, however in April 1950, Wright’s operations at Hooton Park were closed down as military activity there increased. To the fleet of Austers; 3 Hawk Trainers were added in 1950 and 1951, then a Miles Gemini twin in 1952 for air-taxi work. The Hawk Trainers were used under an Air Ministry contract to provide Air Training Corps and Combined Cadet Force scholarship winners, with flying training through to PPL standard. The contract specified either Hawk Trainers or Tiger Moths as the aircraft type to be employed.

In August 1951 the Liverpool Flying Club (that is the Liverpool Daily Post wording) played a major part in the 'Liverpool Festival' regatta and air display off Otterspool Prom, with formation flying featuring 4 Austers a Magister and Tiger Moth. The Tiger Moth then being put through a 'breath-taking' aerobatic routine flown by Sqdn Ldr G.C.Wright, Chief Instructor of the Club. The display ended with a "learning to fly" display and bombing of a launch by balloons from Liverpool's Flying Club aircraft.

The Club was known for its friendly character, and attracted several members of the motor trade as members, Stanley Reece owned the Ford agency, Blakes on Leece St, and Jack Auty, Merton Motors of Wallasey. As a result exotic motor cars were often parked outside the club and the Liverpool Motor Club used to hold competitions on the taxiways outside the club. There was an interest in racing too, Reece and Auty participated in the Monte Carlo Rally, while ‘Wilbur’ Wright flew a Hawk Trainer in an all red scheme in the King’s Cup Air Races.

The Flying School’s fleet colours were cream overall, with red registration and cheat-line, the company name expressed as ‘Wright Avn - School of Flying’ on the engine cowling.

Wright's operations were obviously in trouble during summer 1953. Considerable sums of money (rumoured to be £5000) were borrowed as a debenture from one of the club members, Donald Tod (of shipping family). In late '53 the debenture was called in, 'Wilbur' Wright couldn't pay and a court hearing in November 1953 decided the fate of the company and Wright's was placed into receivership. Donald Tod was already a director of Dragon with Guinane and Harold Bamberg. Very quickly, by January '54 Dragon was well established at Liverpool.

For a little more about Wright Aviation’s passenger and Dragon Rapide activity, cross reference with: www.derbosoft.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&thread=3394 Initial post; for Skytravel post #7

FLEET LIST (ISOC 12.53)

   
G-AIBZ  J/1 Autocrat        10.46  ISOC
G-AIGP  J/1 Autocrat        11.46  ISOC
G-AIKB  Auster 5            01.47  26.03.48 when crashed and w/o near Ruabon, Wrexham
G-AIGV  J/1 Autocrat        05.47  11.51 when sold to locally to E.Francis of Chester, later to TF-ACC 9.55
G-AIPH  Auster J/4          06.47  ISOC
G-AIZL  Hawk Trainer 3   31.05.49  ISOC
G-AGVI  J/1 Autocrat        08.50  ISOC  initially owned by Jack Auty of Wallasey, to Wrights ownership c.6.53
G-ALOG  Hawk Trainer 3   25.08.50  ISOC
G-AKRM  Hawk Trainer 3      11.51  08.04.53 when crashed and w/o near Chester, was registered to Stanley Reece
G-AKEM  M.65 Gemini 1A      03.52  ISOC
G-AHAK  Taylorcraft Plus D  08.53  ISOC  arrived by road dismantled, never flew with LFC.
Probably acquired .52, two Hawk Trainer aircraft from Herts & Essex Aero Club for spares recovery: 
G-AKNA (in silver with green regn) and unconverted V1028/G-AKMY.  Quite likely to Fire Service end .53
.
Also during this period Wright's operated two Dragon Rapides, G-AHPT (5.52 ISOC) & G-AIBB (briefly during 1953).     

ASSOCIATED AIRCRAFT

G-AIAA  P.44 Proctor 5      03.48 owned by T.Wayman-Hales, initially at Hooton & later Speke
G-AJUZ  J/1 Autocrat        throughout 1950, owned by Margaret Kelly and used by LFC at times
G-AHDD  Tiger Moth          Owned by Chipperfield’s and followed the Circus around the country, 
                            used by Wright on occasions.

With the sudden departure of Dragon Airways’s Liverpool Flying Club aircraft, there was no flying school at Liverpool, leaving the field clear for an entrepreneur to fill the gap. By February 1956 John ‘Jack’ Green, a former Flying Club member, had purchased a number of the former LFC aircraft from Dragon and founded the ‘Merseyside & North Wales Flying Club’, although it would appear that the former name remained in circulation for some time after. The grand title was devised to attract a wider clientele than just from Liverpool, although all flying was conducted from Speke Airport.

The initial equipment was the 3 Austers and a Plus D acquired from Dragon Airways. The new owner set about an expansion programme, and establishing a new image. Initially the cold, dark Hangar 39 was used for a few weeks, before moving across into Hangar 50, to be joined later by Federated Fruit Company’s aircraft. The Austers and Plus D were repainted in new fleet colours, with red fuselage with white top to the fuselage and wings and registration, ‘AK was first as it was still at Liverpool, then ‘AE and ‘PH. ‘GV was brought back from Newcastle by Ronnie Ogden, a Dragon engineer, who then went on to work for M&NWFC for a while before moving to Starways. The new Club continued to operate an Auster for the Royal Artillery Aero Club, this too acquired the fleet red and white scheme, but with the RA crest on the tail.

By now the contracts that sustained earlier flying clubs operations – pleasure flying, air-taxi work, RAF Flying Scholarships and Territorial Army contracts had largely ended, the emphasis changing to private pilot training and leisure flying, but retaining a ‘club’ aspect to the operation. For some time, the staff were the owner, Jack Green as CFI; with Cedric Flood as engineer (and also a QFI); along with a part-time bar-man! This change of emphasis, with a new generation of would-be pilots requiring training, saw the addition of a Tiger Moth for training, and a Proctor for touring. The Tiger Moths were silver overall, while Proctor ‘PP retained a two-tone green scheme. The first of the Tiger Moths was purchased from the RAF for £75 by John Jones for Club operation, and once it had a civilian C of A, was collected from Thruxton via Staverton by Cedric Flood on 1st May 1956.

During the May 1956 Liverpool Air Display, Tiger Moth G-AOHC was loaned to dare-devil stunt man Aleksie Dragoljub, who as part of his ‘performance’ hung from the aircraft solely by his teeth. The M&NWFC provided the closing ‘act’, with a formation routine using three Austers G-AHAK, G-AIPH and G-AJAE.

However, not all progressed smoothly for the company. Tiger Moth G-AOHC was landed in a field near the owner’s Holywell home, subsequently in ‘an argument with a hedge’ was written off on 26th May 1956, although was soon replaced by G-ANSX, collected from Knapton’s Farm near Oxford via Kidlington on 26th June 1956 and described by Cedric as a ‘beauty’. The Taylorcraft Plus D crash landed into the Fire Service’s hangar, just inside the airport boundary mid-evening of 16th June 1957 following take-off from 36. Sometime in 1958 Tiger Moth G-ANSX was damaged when turned over by a student at Speke. Rather than rebuilding, it was sold as a rebuild project and ended up on the Dutch register. By this time, another Tiger Moth had been purchased and delivered to Liverpool from Sherburn-in-Elmett on 5th September 1957. G-ANSA was unusual in that it had a glass cockpit canopy over both seats and spatted undercarriage. Tragically the Club founder and owner, Jack Green, was killed on 30th May 1958 when out over the River abeam the Airport, on a very still and misty day - a classic 'glassy water' accident. It is thought he drowned having hit his head on the unusual glass cockpit cover modification on 'SA.

Continuation of Club activities for some time was uncertain, however operation was taken over by Herbert ‘Bert’ Green as Trustee of the Assets and the name amended to ‘Merseyside & North Wales Flying Group’. The operation of Auster G-AJAE on behalf of the Royal Artillery Aero Club concluded summer 1958, the aircraft being based elsewhere by the owners. After a period of declining activity, first the Proctor and then the final two Austers were sold, although another Tiger Moth, G-ANEE, was acquired in 1960 by Bert Green and Ron Oldham. However the company never really recovered from losing the enthusiasm of its founder, and in May 1962 this final aircraft too was sold and the operation effectively closed down, with no successor until Jim Keen and his Liverpool Aero Club the following summer.

FLEET LIST (ISOF 2.56)

G-AIPH  Auster J/4           ISOF  03.10.59 when delivered to a new owner at Blackpool
G-AHAK  Taylorcraft Plus D   ISOF  16.06.57 when crashed in Garston and w/o following take-off from Speke
G-AJAE  J/1N Alpha           ISOF  mid 1958 when moved away to a new base by owners, Royal Artillery Aero Club
G-AGVI  J/1 Autocrat         ISOF  early 1960 when delivered to Blackpool
G-AOHC  Tiger Moth       01.05.56  26.05.56 when crashed and w/o at Holywell, owned by John Jones of Holywell
G-ANSX  Tiger Moth       26.06.56  02.06.58 when overturned Speke, owned by John Jones of Holywell. Damaged, sold, to PH-NIS 7.58
G-ANPP  P.34 Proctor 3   05.06.57  mid ’58  when delivered by road to a new owner in Blackpool
G-ANSA  Tiger Moth Coupe 05.09.57  30.05.58 when fatally crashed into the River Mersey, destroyed
G-ANEE  Tiger Moth       23.07.60  10.05.62 when delivered to Sywell, later became EI-ANN

Thanks, Viscount ! Cheque's in the post !! Nice picture of AE which I've never seen before. Looks like AK in the background.

Re my book. Amazon is confusing, but they now seem to have modified their information and just direct you to Woodfield. Easiest (and cheapest, as Amazon charge extra postage) is to buy direct from Woodfield as Viscount says. www.woodfieldpublishing.co.uk
Hope you enjoy it.
Cedric Flood.

Cedric Flood has provided a great number of images, some very small, of Flying Club aircraft from the 50s. A few have been used in his book (for anyone with an interest in the '50s to '70s at Liverpool Airport and light aircraft flying, this book is a great read).

This is a selection of shots illustrating a number of aircraft covered in the posts above. I trust I have the photos credited correctly. As some aircraft appear in more than one colour scheme, as a very rough guide:

1949-1953 Wright's Liverpool Flying school: cream overall, red regn & cheat line

1954-1955 Dragon's Liverpool Flying Club: dark blue, white top and wings, silver wings

1956-1962 M'side & N.Wales Flying Group/Club: red fuselage, white top and registration on the Austers, no corporate scheme on Proctor or Tiger Moths.

Line up of aircraft outside the clubhouse, with No.50 hangar behind, sometime 1954-1955 judging by the colour schemes on Austers G-AIPH, G-AIBZ, Hawk Trainer 3 G-ALOG, with Dragon Rapides G-AHPT and G-AKOB behind.



Taylorcraft Plus D G-AHAK





Auster G-AIBZ. Upper shot, apparently in silver does not fit with either of the 'corporate' schemes, maybe on acquisition as the scheme is a basic Auster factory scheme. Certainly not at Liverpool Speke either.





Auster G-AIGP



Auster J/1 Autocrat G-AGVI



Auster G-AIPH served the longest, being operated by all three Clubs 1947 to 1959. The first photo must be circa late 1949/early 1950 while Wright's were based at both Hooton Park and Speke, judging by the logo on the nose.







Miles Gemini G-AKEM, which appears to be in three different schemes: silver (with a small logo on the rudder), Wright's cream, and Dragon's blue (the nose-on shot)







Hawk Trainer G-AKRM, at Speke 11.51 to 4.53. Did not appear in 'corporate' scheme colours, but wore red overall 'racing' colours for the King's Cup Races.



Hawk Trainer G-ALOG in both cream and blue schemes.





Another shot inside the hangar, possibly at the time of colour scheme change as neither aircraft has a registration applied to the fuselage! Wings could be Auster G-AIGP.



Proctor G-ANPP with Merseyside & North Wales 6.56 to mid '57





Tiger Moth G-ANSA with it's non-standard enclosed cockpit conversion. A contributory cause to the death of the owner when the aircraft crashed into the River Mersey 30th May 1958. The copy Phil Butler provided me was partly cropped, this image is the same shot but copied from the pages of "Rapide" magazine 2005.



The fine photo of standard Tiger Moth G-ANSX while at Speke with Merseyside and North Wales June 1956 to Spring 1958.



John Jones's short lived Tiger Moth G-AOHC, flying with Merseyside and North Wales Flying Club for just one month, May 1956.

Welcome 'Greenspirit' to our aviation forum.

Jennifer, when I write about aviation, aircraft and operators, it is very easy to overlook the dedication and effort put in by those who work in aviation. I am delighted to hear that in the process of recording Liverpool Airport based operators, I have been able to include information of your uncle's and your father's considerable local contribution. A reminder to us all, that it is people that make aviation work, and they have families too.

I presume that you have read Cedric Flood's book with many references to your uncle's Flying Club before his untimely early death doing the job he loved.

Brian.

Every now and again I am shown as packet of old, usually tiny b&w prints, which although of individual poor quality (faded, stained, scratched, poor focus, over exposure), because of their age and subject matter, just have to be shared. A few days ago Eddie Quinn of FoLA showed me a packet of some 20 or so photographs passed onto him by the daughter of Leslie T. Jones, who worked for BEA at Speke in the late '40s. This first batch illustrate not only the Austers of the Liverpool Flying Club, but also their club house too.



The shot is dated 11th July 1947 and is inscribed "Wright Aviation's Auster G-AIBZ at Liverpool, to take us over to Hooton." The inscription on the engine cowl reads'Wright Aviation, School of Flying, Hooton'. This matches the date, as between 1946 and 1949 Wright's School of Flying operated from Hooton before moving over to Speke.





By far the best images in terms of print quality and camera sharpness is this pair of G-AIPH an Auster J/4. On the reverse captioned "Liverpool Flying Club, Speke, 1950's". From the colour scheme, I reckon these are during Dragon Airways ownership operation of Liverpool Flying Club, 1954-1955. The hangar I presume is No.39 Hangar - the aircraft inside could well be LFC's Miles Gemini twin, with the large landing light in the nose just discernable. It would appear that Les Jones was at some stage learning to fly, as one of the Auster photos is captioned "My flying classroom". I assume that the mechanic behind the engine had just cycled to work, with trousers well and truely tucked inside his socks! (Do read the e-mail from Cedric Flood quoted a few post on, on page 2).





From the processing number on the back of the prints, from the same roll of film, but these two shots lack the quality of the above pair. The Auster J/4 G-AIPH is captioned "Being run-up after maintenance" - likely that on the previous shots. Taylorcraft Plus D G-AHAK is simply captioned "Liverpool Flying Club, Speke, 1950's".



What makes this collection slightly different is this shot, and the next two. Captioned "Liverpool Flying Club, Bar and Accomodation in 1950's at Speke Airport". Added in biro pen a date of August 1950. Few will recognise the building as it was demolished around 1960. It was to the river side of Hangar No.50 and No.39, and was originally built for the pre-war Liverpool Aero Club. I fancy the date is around the same period as the Flying Club photos, that is 1954-1955, but the next few are also dated 1950, so maybe I'm wrong.





One is captioned "Liverpool Aero Club Bar at Speke - August 1950". Cannot make out any brand names, but do recognise the rechargable soda siphons. The low level and angle make me wonder if the photographer was on his way down to floor when the pictures were taken! Must be a subject first on nwan forum, not too easy to combine aeroplane and bar photos! They do convey though the fact that it was a 'Flying Club' - with a social aspect, not the strictly commercial 9 to 5 professional 'Flying School' organisation of today.


Anyone know of further old aviation photos, even of dubious quality kept in their parent's attic - some really do need to see the light of day again.

Edited in during August 2021, there are further images from both Bernie Mackenzie and Les Jones now to be found: derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/38215/1950s-collections-photos-speke-airport