Morecambe & Lancaster Aerodrome?

[Keith]

Morecambe v Rotherham's Shrimps Scene talks about the proposal in the 1930's to amalgamate Morecambe & Lancaster FC. In the quote from Dr Fred Hogarth, he said that getting land for a ground at Scale Hall was no longer easy "now that all that ground has been taken by the aerodrome authorities". I've never heard of an aerodrome at Scale Hall, where was it? Was it military? When was it there from/'til?

If you don't buy a programme, you don't know what interesting stuff you are missing!

[gbpacker]

Keith, I think it was land owned by the Ministry of Defence or some such body. Buildings on that land were occupied as well by some branch of the Postal Services. I remember rows of nissan-type huts.

[Christies Child]

It was on land that is now White Lund Industrial Estate I believe.

[Keith]

Ah, thanks guys. I did wonder where abouts it was. Strange that I'd never heard anything about it. So was it an actual airfield, ie with a control tower etc or literally a 'field' with huts? I know RAF crews were billeted in Morecambe during the war, so was this related?

[gbpacker]

It wasn't on the land that is now White Lund Industrial Estate but where the new housing estate is.

[Mighty Red]

I remember going to have a look when I was knee high to a grasshoppper. It was very overgrown but you could make out the concrete runway. Don't remember any buildings. Was this the same site that the munitions factory (which exploded) was on?

Not sure how accurate this is: http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/Scale- ... ecambe.php

[Keith]

Not sure how accurate this is: http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/Scale- ... ecambe.php

So it was decommissioned the same month as Germany invaded Poland.

[Christies Child]

It wasn't on the land that is now White Lund Industrial Estate but where the new housing estate is.

Are you sure?

I used to live on Stanhope Avenue when I was a nipper and I used to have to cross the Morecambe to Lancaster old railway line to get to the old runway.

Between my house and the railway lines was an area of known at the time as the green belt that is now the housing estate. The current cycle track used to be the old railway line and that runs between the housing estate you refer to and the Industrial Estate.

Age does play tricks with my memory and I could of course be wrong....

[Heysham_Shrimp]

It was on land that is now White Lund Industrial Estate I believe.

That makes sense. does anyone rememeber the building that they used for car auctions on White Lund ? It was an old aircraft hanger shape.

[Mighty Red]

So it was decommissioned the same month as Germany invaded Poland.

The local council never saw that one coming!
To be fair, they were in the middle of a debate trying to decide if they should build a cart track to link Morecambe and Lancaster.

[gbpacker]

Pete Hudson, a longtime resident of the area, tells me that the straight road that runs from Bookers towards Westgate was the landing strip and the red brick building that is now used by Morecambe Metals was part of the airfield. Where the new housing estate is was filled with nissan huts that housed a Polish community and also in that area was a football field used by Mayfield United and possibly a GPO Telecommunications side or Post Office Savings Department team (POSD).

Keith, you have certainly opened a can of worms!

[CASS]

Is there no mention in R.K.B.'s book "The lost resort"? The chap lives in our village if anyone wants to get in touch to sort this out his email add is available on line @ Southlakes.org.
He is very good at replying,tells you that "Its in my Book" and has no Idea about caplocks.

[Plain Peter]

Keith - I was in our local study centre in Gosport this afternoon. Never been in before, and I was blown away by all the ancient reference stuff on the shelves. So why not, next time you're on the mainland, bimble into the reference library in Market Square. I'm sure that all the info you're seeking, and more, will be there.