Hooton Park - new items
See the new Images page, photographs of the Hooton Park site, the hangars and more!!
click here! Contact HPTSo why Hooton Park?
The Hooton Park Trust (HPT) was formed in 2000 with the aim of forming a Trust to oversee and manage the restoration of the remaining WW1/2 hangars on the former RAF airfield at Hooton Park, Cheshire. The aim is to provide company conferences/seminar facilities, as well as restoring the buildings & the site itself as valuable historic artefacts in their own right. The buildings will then provide the perfect environment for the projects and initiatives that are planned.
Situated just off the M53, alongside the mighty Ellesmere Port Vauxhall car plant and River Mersey, much still remains of the ex-610 Squadron Hooton Park airfield and its buildings. Three original, belfast-trussed, hangars dominate the landscape, surrounded by the original access roads, taxiways, and numerous outbuildings and offices, all steeped in the colourful history of this one-time Royal Air Force airbase. Most of the runway also exists, although now used by Vauxhall for car storage. All manner of aircraft types have operated from this aerodrome, for example Austers of the Army Air Training Corps, Supermarine Spitfires of 610 Sqdn, and, during the postwar years, classic jets such as Gloster Meteors, De Havilland Vampires, Venoms and much much more.
There are numerous projects ongoing at Hooton Park. Alongside the ongoing restoration of the buildings themselves, associated groups and individuals are progressing with their own restoration projects .. for example, the building of a replica De Havilland Rapide, renovation of an ex-Battle of Britain film Hurricane replica, and an Auster, along with established exhibits such as a mighty Antonov AN2, English Electric Canberra nose section and hang glider to name a few. Hooton Park is also home to a varied collection of classic commercial vehicles, including a 1950s Austin K9 Lorry (in RAF colours) and a pair of Morris Commercials.
The Hooton Park Trust is still in its infancy, but, with the vital assistance afforded by the associated groups and volunteers involved with the resurrection of Hooton Park (and hopefully not forgetting the National Lottery), the aim of making this former RAF airfield come alive once again will be realised. Special mention must also go to Vauxhall Motors themselves, who have been very supportive in getting HPT off the ground.
Getting to Hooton Park couldn't be easier - it is situated just off the M53 motorway, very close to the "Cheshire Oaks" shopping complex in Ellesmere Port, nr Liverpool. Nearby attractions also include The Boat Museum and, of course, the Beatles museum in Liverpool itself. Exact dates for the 'Open Days' are available by contacting HPT directly.
If you wish to contact HPT in the meantime, please use our email form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for visiting the HPT website.
