Central General Service Hangar (Building 17), Hooton Park Aerodrome

Central General Service Hangar (Building 17), Hooton Park Aerodrome

A general service hangar built in 1917 for the Royal Flying Corps. The building is constructed of red brick with a bitumen-felted roof. It is a single-storey twin-range hangar measuring 16 bays in length, with flanking workshops. Four corner pylons, each comprising 6 brick piers linked at the top by segmental arches, define the structure; the south-west pylon incorporates a water tower. The north end features doors arranged in 3 tiers of horizontally-sliding pairs, with segmentally-headed gables containing vertical studding and louvred openings. Continuous roof lanterns run along each range. The sides of both hangars are strengthened by raking buttresses to each bay, with 27-pane iron casements positioned above contemporary lean-to offices along the central section of each side; other later additions of no special interest are present. The south end has been given a modern brick facade. Internally, each bay is spanned by a wooden-latticed 'Belfast' roof truss, while a central arcade of twin brick piers linked by segmental arches runs the length of the building.

The hangars were constructed by Holland, Hannan and Cubitt Ltd to a type design by the Royal Engineers, with 80-foot spans and 25-foot clear heights. The 'Belfast' roof trusses were manufactured by D Anderson and Co. of Belfast. The doors originally slid into brick gantries, which have been subject to removal and alteration on the 'Vauxhall' hangar. A repair hangar was demolished around 1920.

Hooton Park occupies the site of a demolished house whose park was partly laid out as a racecourse in the late 19th century. The site was requisitioned by the army in 1914 and developed from late 1916 onwards. Originally intended as an Aircraft Acceptance Park for American-built aircraft arriving through Liverpool docks, the hangars were begun in late 1916 and completed in 1917. However, the need to train fighter pilots for the Western Front led instead to its formation in September 1917 as a Training Depot Station for Canadian and American pilots. Following closure in 1919, the training functions transferred to RAF Shotwick (Sealand) across the Dee.

After its selection in 1927 as one of a small number of Air Ministry-subsidised flying clubs, following a meeting in Liverpool Town Hall supported by Sir Sefton Branckner, Director of Civil Aviation, Hooton Park played an important role in civil aviation. The Comper Aircraft Company was formed on the site in 1930, and the airfield served as Liverpool's municipal airport from 1930 until its replacement by Speke in 1933. No. 610 'County of Chester' Squadron was formed at Hooton in February 1936 and played a key role in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain.

From early 1940, No. 7 Aircraft Assembly Unit assembled approximately 9,000 aircraft brought into Merseyside's ports from North America. The 'Civilian Repair Organisation', headed by Martin Hearn, made significant contributions to the war effort through inspection and overhaul of aircraft, particularly the Mosquito. From 1942 to 1944, No. 11 Radio School and its associated units occupied the hangars, playing an important role as the only school established specifically for training Coastal Command's airborne radar operators for submarine detection.

Throughout the Second World War, Hooton Park supported the Battle of the Atlantic. No. 206 Squadron flew Avro Reconnaissance bombers from the station, later replaced by American Hudsons and Whitley bombers of 502 Squadron, equipped with radar. The Lysanders of 13 Squadron conducted 'Scarecrow Patrols' as part of Coastal Command's Coastal Patrol Flights, seeking to locate and deter submarines and maintain open shipping lanes into Liverpool.

Of 66 stations of this type operational in November 1918, Hooton Park shares with Duxford in Cambridgeshire the distinction of being the only site to have retained its original complement of 3 paired hangars. This represents a rare survival of significance within the context of early powered flight in both British and European contexts. The three paired hangars at Hooton and those across the Dee at RAF North Shotwick (Sealand) were built for the same Wing and operated together as a pair; the survival of both related groups is unique. Two runways were laid in 1941.