Blackpool Stanley Park
The original terminal buildings for the 30s aerodrome were incorporated into the Zoo and are still visible plus other odd relics.Possibly an original small blister hangar may still be in use adjacent to the main road , it was a sports hall.
Last real aircraft on the site was a visit by Spitfire K9942 by road in about 1969 at the royal Lancashire
Agric show before the zoo was built.
Also was used by model flyers for ages until anew hotel was built.
I worked on a proposal a few years ago to develop part of the old Blackpool airport site as part of a museum. Sadly it didn’t go any further.
At that time, and I assume it hasn’t changed, there were five hangars left on site, along with the old terminal building and two grandstands which were built in 1930 in the anticipation of large numbers of holidaymakers turning up to watch the aeroplanes!
Hangar E is the last surviving original (1931) hangar on site, while Hangars 1, 2, 3, 4 of the late 1930s RAF Bellman type, I gather originally used as a part of an instrument training school. They are now being variously used as summer storage for the Blackpool illuminations, zoo animal feed stores and the animal hospital.
The terminal building, complete with its glass roof lantern, was being used for zoo admin and the head keeper’s office, while the walls of the old grandstands formed the sides of the elephant pens!
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