If I have to go shopping, give me a historic setting and something worth buying....this is my idea of heaven. Nearly missed it too....picked up the local free paper and was flicking through it Sunday lunch time and came across this " Aviation and Militaria Fair " at Hooton Park, 09:00am til 3:00pm. It was 12:30 but fortunately Hooton Park is only 15 minutes up the motorway, so off I went. If it wasn't for sale, you didn't need it....uniforms, weapons, genuine spare parts for Spitfires and Lancasters. 1/6th scale radio controlled Warbirds for your Action Man ( GI Joe )....dozens of re-enactors with their Jeeps and trucks and something you don't see too often at these events.....a guy in full Luftwaffe bomber kit, brave! when you think of the pounding Merseyside took at the beginning of the war.. Even without all this going on...Hooton Park is worth the visit.developed as an aerodrome in 1917 the site was originally a racecourse set in the grounds of Hooton Hall which was requisitioned in 1914 for Army training purposes at the beginning of World War 1. The first unit stationed at the new aerodrome was a Royal Flying Corps pilot training unit who remained until disbanded in 1919. In 1927, the site was purchased with the intention of creating a major airport serving Liverpool and the Northwest of England. During the twenties and thirties Hooton was a flourishing centre for aviation and was visited by several celebrated aviators including Amy Johnson and Sir Alan Cobham with his Flying Circus. Aeroplanes and engines were manufactured at Hooton including Nick Comper's famous record breaking Swift and the Pobjoy 7 cylinder radial aero engine. During WW2 the station was used by Coastal Command, operating patrol flights over the Irish Sea from South Wales to Cumbria. An important function of Hooton's war effort was the assembly and repair of RAF aircraft, undertaken by Messrs Martin Hearn Ltd founded on the site in the mid-thirties by a former wing-walker with Cobhams Flying Circus. During the retreat from Dunkirk, many types of aircraft landed at Hooton Park and as soon as they touched down, each aircraft was pulled off the runway to a parking position freeing up the runway for the next aircraft to land. Examples of all type of machine were in evidence, the list including Gloster Gladiators, Walruses, Douglas C-47s (DC3s or 'Dakotas'), Bostons, Blenheims, Swordfish to name just a few. Hooton Park still boasts 2 original 1917 Belfast truss hangers, the image above was taken inside one of them. There were 3 but saddly just before noon on December 16th 2011, the roof of hanger 3 collapsed under the weight of snow, this was not entirely unexpected, due to the age and condition of the hanger...You can actually watch the collapse, caught on a web-cam on the Hooton Park Trust website. Needless to say, I took a lot of photos so will probably add a few more....including one for the ' Petrol Heads '...given that a large portion of the airfield is now home to the Vauxhall Motors Car Plant, it wasn't really a surprise to find one of the first Vauxhall Vivas to roll off the assembly line, sitting in one of the huts....and it's immaculate..