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Liverpool John Lennon Airport lies on the Mersey estuary at Speke, some 7.5 miles south-east of Liverpool city centre, and is one of North West England's principal international airports. It offers a single long, lit runway with ILS on both ends, controlled by Liverpool Approach, Tower and Ground, making it a straightforward but busy controlled-airspace destination for visiting VFR pilots. Its history stretches back to the 1930s and includes a notable wartime role as RAF Speke.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport serves the Liverpool City Region and North Wales from a site at Speke, on the estuary of the River Mersey. It is a busy single-runway international airport handling scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services, alongside general aviation and courier traffic. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix of a long ILS-equipped runway, active controlled airspace, and a rich aviation history dating back to the 1930s, including its wartime incarnation as RAF Speke.
The airport sits on the estuary of the River Mersey at Speke, about 7.5 miles (12 km) south-east of Liverpool city centre. It is a controlled aerodrome, with Approach, Tower, Ground and ATIS services provided, and pilots should expect to operate within its associated controlled airspace when routing to or from the field.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport has a single physical runway, 09/27, with a hard surface. Runway 09 is 7301 ft long and runway 27 is 7493 ft long; both directions are lit and equipped with ILS, giving instrument approach capability from either end. Field elevation is 69 ft.
The airport provides a full suite of ATC services: Approach on 119.85 MHz, ATIS on 124.33 MHz, Ground on 121.95 MHz and Tower on 126.35 MHz. Both runway ends are served by ILS, giving instrument approaches to 09 and 27.
The airport traces its origins to 1930, when Imperial Airways began scheduled flights via Barton Aerodrome and Castle Bromwich Aerodrome to Croydon Airport near London; it was officially opened as Speke Airport on 1 July 1933, built in part on the grounds of Speke Hall. By the late 1930s rising demand for Irish Sea crossings had prompted construction of a distinctive terminal, control tower and two large hangars. During the Second World War the site was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force as RAF Speke, and Rootes Securities built an adjoining shadow factory producing Bristol Blenheims and Handley Page Halifax bombers, while the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation assembled Hudsons and Mustang fighters shipped in parts from the United States via Liverpool Docks. The airfield was also home to the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit. On 8 October 1940, Flight Lieutenant Denys Gillam of 312 Squadron took off from Speke in his Hawker Hurricane and, together with Alois Vasatko and Josef Stehlik, shot down a Junkers Ju 88 in what is thought to be the fastest air-to-air combat kill of the Battle of Britain, an event later depicted in Robert Taylor's painting Fastest Victory. After the war, civil operations resumed, with passenger numbers rising from 50,000 in 1945 to 75,000 in 1948, though ownership by the Ministry of Aviation and the loss of the region's only ground-controlled radar approach unit saw Manchester overtake Liverpool from 1949. Speke Airport also hosted popular annual air displays in aid of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Air Force Association charity; one such display on 21 May 1956 ended in tragedy when parachutist Leon 'Leo' Valentin, the 'Birdman', was killed after his balsa wood wings struck his aircraft on exit, sending him into an uncontrollable spin from which his emergency parachute failed to save him. The airport was renamed after Liverpudlian musician John Lennon in 2001, becoming the first airport in the United Kingdom to be named after a person, and its original 1930s terminal building, once seen packed with Beatles fans on early television footage, was preserved in Grade II listed Art Deco style and converted into a hotel.
The modern airport comprises a single passenger terminal, three general-use hangars and a FedEx Express courier service centre, alongside its single long runway. It serves as an operating base for easyJet, Jet2.com and Ryanair, and continues to handle a substantial mix of scheduled and general aviation traffic.
