THERE was no danger of the skies being overcrowded when Joe Jones was a lad. For this sagely Suttoner can look back to a pre-war era when air traffic appeared above St Helens about every six months.
But when a plane did appear it was a cause for great excitement and the sign that something very special was happening overhead.
Joe, from Irwin Road, recalls spotting a low-flying light-blue monoplane, rumoured to have been taking the then Prince of Wales (later the abdicating King Edward VIII) to the 1934 Aintree Races.
"This was later proved true by pictures in the national newspapers showing the Prince climbing from the plane at Liverpool," says Joe.
Months later, Airship R101 came cruising over the town, said to be carrying an aristocratic passenger list in an attempt to boost the message of safety in travelling by airship.
Then there was a sighting of the German airship, Hindenburg, returning to Germany from America, carrying former world heavyweight boxing champion Max Schmelling, fresh from his crushing defeat in a return title fight with Joe Louis.
CERTAINLY seems to have been much more romance in the air during Joe's younger days!
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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