manchester tourist guide regional sightseeing
Thursday, 24th July 2003
Manchester AirportManchester Airport is the largest in the UK outside London: 19 million use it each year. The airport flies to 175 destinations worldwide and is used by more than 300 tour operators and 90 airlines. It is the largest municipally owned airport in the country and is jointly owned by the 10 local authorities of Greater Manchester. The city has the majority shareholding. In recent years the airport has been consistently rated one of the five best in the world.
With three terminals and a new runway, it is an interesting place to visit. There are all the usual airport facilities, the shops, the bars and restaurants. For the aviation fanatic there are viewing galleries where you can record those all important plane numbers and for the less fanatic there is a bar in the main terminal with a good view of the runways and a range of alcoholic beverages to ease the nerves or drown the jetlag. The latter has been redesigned by acclaimed architect Nicholas Grimshaw. There are frequent 24 hour links by rail to the city centre. The station is a sexy concoction of concrete, steel, aluminium and glass with a nice blend of speed and flight. The travelators from Terminal One to Two provide excellent views.
John Leeming was the driving force behind the airport. To draw attention to the need for one he landed a plan on Helvellyn mountain in the Lake District in December 1926. To record his achievement a dumbfounded professor of Greek, who happened to be out rambling, signed a certificate of proof. Leeming used traditional methods as well and was finally successful in his campaign when on 2 April 1929, the airport opened on this site. During WWII over 60,000 parachutists of the Allied Airborne Forces trained at the airport. There is a memorial to them on the site. In 1946 it reverted to civilian use.
The size and importance of the Airport reflects Manchester's contribution to aviation history. Barton Aerodrome to the west of the city was the first municipal airport in the country. Manchester man Alliott Verdon Roe became the first Briton to achieve sustained flight in 1908. He later went on to found the AVRO cCompany, the most famous plane of which was the Lancaster Bomber. Alcock and Brown, both from the city, became the first people to fly the Atlantic in 1919 several years before the trip was even a twinkle in Lindbergh's eye. It was a hair-raising journey. At one point their plane's undercarriage dipped into the waves but the intrepid pilots ploughed on to a bumpy but triumphant landing in Ireland.
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