On 2nd March, one of our members, Peter Rix, spoke about the little-known history of aircraft flying from the Harrogate Stray. It started in July 1911, when the Daily Mail sponsored a “Circuit of Britain” air race with a £10,000 (around £1M today) prize for the winner, with a mandatory stop at Harrogate. Of the 21 starters from London, just 5 reached Harrogate on 24 July 1911. 70,000 people paid to see the activities, with picture postcards of the event being published and posted within just 3 days.
Intermittent pleasure flights took place from the Stray before and after WW1, but the next highlight was the King’s Cup air race in 1925 which again included a stop in Harrogate.
Today, the Stray Act of 1985 limits use to 12 “vertical landing aircraft” a year, and readers may remember the RAF Chinook that landed in 2020 with supplies for the Nightingale Hospital.