Roundhay Park

53°50'06"N 001°30'03"W

runway: n/a - ..x..m - grass

Roundhay Park airfield (also known as Soldiers' Field airfield) was a airfield in Leeds, 275 kilometers north of London
The airfield was first used in 1909 by aviation pioneer Robert Blackburn for test flights of his first aircraft. During World War I Blackburn built BE2c aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps at the Olympia Works in Leeds, which were flown from Soldiers' Field in Roundhay Park.
In 1919 he established a small airport at the park. On 30 September 1919 North Sea Aerial Navigation Co. Ltd. started a regular passenger service between Roundhay Park and Hounslow Heath near London, using Blackburn Kangaroos. The services were later extended to Amsterdam.


Blackburn test pilot W. Rowland Ding in the cockpit of the White Falcon monoplane at Roundhay Park, ca 1915 (Flyingmachines.ru).

I was unable to trace when exactly the airfield was closed. According to a plaque on the former Olympia Works (now a Tesco store) flying ended in 1932. The Olympia Works were still producing aircraft parts and repairing Fairy Swordfishes during World War II. After repair, aircraft were towed to Soldiers Field and then flown back to service.
Today, Roundhay Park is simply a park.


Roundhay Park in 2002 (Google Earth).


Blue Plaque at Tesco, Roundhay Road, Leeds, LS8 4BU (Wikipedia).