Hooton Park was once one of the most important airfields in the North West, but back at the end of the 1990s the remnants of this former RAF base were under threat of total destruction.
In 2000 the Hooton Park Trust was set up and bought the site from Vauxhall. Since then the trust's members have worked towards preserving the buildings on site with the aim of eventually opening a museum.
The site was first developed as an aerodrome in 1917 and was used to train pilots for service in the First World War. At this time three hangers were built with an intended life of ten years. They are still there now.
In 1927 it was bought with the intention of building an airport to serve the whole of the North West and three years later it became Liverpool's airport until Speke took over in 1933. In the meantime several industries building light aircraft and aero engines moved to the site. It was also a busy airfield for hobby fliers - for a while it was the busiest flying club outside London.
All that changed with the outbreak of war in 1939, when civil flying stopped and the site became a military base.A flight of Avro Ansons flew anti-submarine patrols over the Irish Sea from Hooton Park, while other parts of the site were used for the assembly of American aircraft that arrived in kit form at the Mersey docks.
After the war the RAF flew Spitfires and Gloster Meteor jet fighters from Hooton Park, but in 1957 the base was closed down. The site and its buildings were abandoned and fell into decay.
It wasn't long before the old RAF Hooton Park site caught the eye of developers looking to bring jobs to Ellesmere Port, and in the early 1960s Vauxhall bought the whole site for a factory to build its new Viva small car.
Factory buildings sprung up across the southern half of the site, and the control tower was among the airfield structures knocked down to make way for them. To improve transport links a new road was built to link the factory up with the A41. The road, originally called the Hooton Industrial Road, was later extended to become the Ellesmere Port bypass and eventually the M53.
Although Vauxhall used the old runway to store its cars - and still does - the condition of the airfield buildings became so bad over the years that the company set out plans to demolish them.
With the hangers under threat, volunteers banded together to form the Hooton Park Trust with the aim of buying the remaining buildings and saving them. Today the trust is seeking the funding for emergency repairs and then to fully restore the site.
The trust has also done extensive research on the history of the site over the past 1,000 years.
Also at the site is the Griffin Trust, which occupied the site for many years and did a lot of work in preserving the site before it was sold. The Griffin Trust is dedicated to preserving the buildings, but also restores and displays a range of old vehicles.
Hooton Park is also home to the 610 Squadron Association, and TAC (The Aircraft Collection) who restore and rebuild aircraft for display at museums.
The plan is to restore the three hangers (now Grade 2* Listed) and associated buildings and turn the site into a museum where static vehicles and aircraft can be displayed.
To contact the Hooton Park Trust, phone 0151 327 3565 or visit their website, which is linked below.
South Road, Ellesmere Port.
