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Historic racing at Aintree


laird387
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How many remember that there used to be road racing at Aintree - more or less next to the Grand National course?  Here is an image from a meeting at Aintree on 12 July 1986 photographed by Bob Light.

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Enjoy

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1 hour ago, turbohead said:

Oh yes, I remember that. The same piece of tarmac was even used for stages on the Lombard RAC World Championship Rally in those days.

Was the tarmac a 'left-over' from some wartime activities perhaps - did the RAF fly missions to combat the German bombing raids from there?

Some of the images in the archive were taken from the wooden fence by Beechers Brook (?) and look down to the tarmac, which looks to be quite cracked and nowhere near todays 'fit for racing' standards.

Watch this space for more images - or join the ORRe club where most will go.

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Hi
Wrong side of the country to fly a fully loaded four engine bomber over to the continent from in 1944.
Could have been a training station though.
But no, Aintree was a purpose built motor racing Grand Prix track in 1954.

Glad to have been able to contribute on an historical point.

Regards
Sparks

Edited by sparks2
Correction
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21 hours ago, sparks2 said:

Hi
Wrong side of the country to fly a fully loaded four engine bomber over to the continent from in 1944.
Could have been a training station though.
But no, Aintree was a purpose built motor racing Grand Prix track in 1954.

Glad to have been able to contribute on an historical point.

Regards
Sparks

Sorry Sparks,

I (ex RAF!) know where all the Lancaster bases were!

My query was based more on whether it was the base for a night fighter squadron to combat the extensive German bombing raids on Liverpool - which was very hard hit around the same time as Coventry and Bristol.

When you say purpose built in 1954, did you mean the actual construction was undertaken in that year - or that it already existed at that time?

Thanks for all your help.

Regards

Deryk

Edited by laird387
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On ‎05‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 8:40 AM, laird387 said:

Sorry Sparks,

I (ex RAF!) know where all the Lancaster bases were!

My query was based more on whether it was the base for a night fighter squadron to combat the extensive German bombing raids on Liverpool - which was very hard hit around the same time as Coventry and Bristol.

When you say purpose built in 1954, did you mean the actual construction was undertaken in that year - or that it already existed at that time?

Thanks for all your help.

Regards

Deryk

What are you sorry about Deryk ??

Sorry that you suggested Aintree might have been active as an airfield 1939 - 1945 ??

Anyway, Aintree was not active as any type of airfield or MU 1939 - 1945.
Strangely, I cannot find any reference to a night fighter station protecting the NW. This would have been 9 Group Fighter Command.
All the night fighter stations appear to be to the east - Digby, Wittering, Coleby Grange, etc (Probably because night fighter operations had to be co-ordinated with the RADAR cover on the east coast).

However, in 1914 - 1918, some of the early military aircraft were built in the Liverpool area and flown off from Aintree, the grassed field as it was then.

As I understand, the Aintree motor racing circuit was purpose built from the grassed area to the inside of the Grand National course in 1954
specifically to hold the British Grand Prix.
In later years the inner grassed area was used for a time for private light planes coming into and out of Aintree race meetings.
That is until there was a fatal accident when all flying was stopped.
Regards
Sparks

Edited by sparks2
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