Leighton Park
LEIGHTON PARK: Temporary aerodrome
Note: Known these days it seems as - WIRRAL PARK.
Operated by: Henri Salmet
Location: In Parkgate, on the west side of the Wirral peninsular, about 7.5nm WNW of Ellesmere Port and roughly 8nm SSW of Liverpool city centre
Period of operation: 8th and 9th July 1914
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Another fine example, provided by Mike Holder who is such a great friend of this 'Guide', of a very little known venue that he has discovered. Then kindly providing us with the following items.
The Notice was placed in the Liverpool Echo on the 8th July 1914.
THREE ITEMS FROM 'OLD WIRRAL'
TWO PRESS ARTICLES PUBLISHED ON THE 11th JULY
The short article was published in the Liverpool Weekly Mercury. The article being published in the Chester Chronicle.
I find the short article very interesting. The women's suffrage movement was by this time gaining much momentum, probably about a thousand years later than it really should have started, (not that I'm biased of course), and think this article reflects one avenue in which women really could express how independent they could be. They got limited means to vote in 1918.
The local area view is from my Google Earth © derived database. Please note that by far not all of the flying sites listed in this 'Guide' are 'pinned'.
NOTES: This is pure speculation on my part. During his Daily Mail sponsored Tours in 1912 and 1913, Henri Salmet invariably flew between the venues, which really did set him apart as being a most skilled and determined aviator, arguably the best operating in the UK? But, this time he elected to have his Blériot delivered by rail or by lorry. (Accounts vary and it may well have been a combination as the station at Parkgate probably couldn't handle an aeroplane being delivered). By this time it was very clear to those in the know, that the U.K. was soon to declare war on Germany and I rather suspect that Salmet was in the process of winding up his affairs, (at HENDON?), before departing to enlist with the military in France.
Probably deciding to squeeze this event in at the last moment, war on Germany being declared on the 4th August, less than a month later.
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