Woodford Post World War 2

1940s 1950s 1960s

With the war over Avro looked for new opportunities to use its war time designs. Based on the Avro Lincoln the Tudor was the first pressurised British civil airliner but did not sell well and production ceased in 1949.

Better success was had with the Avro 696 Shackleton which was based on the Lincoln and would be in service for over 40 years in various roles for the RAF.

During 1946 the Air Staff of the RAF issued specification B.35/46 for a medium bomber with a cruising speed of 500 knots and a ceiling of at least 55,000 feet which was quite a performance change from the bombers of WW2.

Three designs were chosen resulting in the 'V Bombers'; the Handley Page Victor, Vickers Valiant and the Avro Vulcan. The Vulcan programme would be the main stay of work for both Manchester Sites for the next 20 years.

(Monochrome Photograph Top Right) - WIDE-EYE ON THE 748
The Daily Express special "wide-eye" camera recorded the rapid progress being made on the Avro 748 prototypes when the newspaper's chief photographer. David Cooksey, visited us last month-just twelve months after the announcement was made that Avro were to re-enter the civil market.

To ensure Avro did not become wholly reliant on Military contracts the company in 1958 re-entered the civil aircraft market with the Avro 748.

The above picture from the February 1960 Avro News shows an article that appeared in the Daily Express showing the development of the 748.

Woodford held its first post war Airshow Saturday 39th April 1949, attracting huge crowds, with Spitfire of 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron taking part in the flying display. The show was held annually and always drew large crowds as seen in the picture from the late 1960's (Bottom Left). The last show took place in 2000.

Surprisingly given the many wartime and post war air movements, in 1958 Woodford gained its first air traffic control tower.