ust to stir up the LPL vs. Man thing, in my ancient BOAC 1958 timetable, certain London to New York and Montreal flights by DC7C aircraft route through "Manchester/Liverpool" Airport according to the schedules! I assume this means Ringway, as it was then known.
Was that a winter 1957/58 timetable?
BOAC introduced the DC7C from Manchester in 1957 and operated four flights a week to Montreal (one non stop) and three to New York (one non stop) but the runway length was only 5,900 ft.and, whilst this didn't pose a problem for the 7C (unlike with the Stratocruiser which operated more from Burtonwood than Ringway, normally due to wet weather and stopping distances), the service transferred to Burtonwood in December whilst runway extension work was done. This restricted the runway and overrun area to around 5,000 feet.
Burtonwood was used throught the winter and, with non stop New York and Montreal being available from the North West without weight restriction for the first time, BOAC decided to try to attract the liner traffic that, at that time, was still the first choice for most passengers heading across the Atlantic - Liverpool being a close second to Southampton for departures - thus the Liverpool reference.
On 23 April 1958, the Manchester runway extension to 7,000 feet was opened and on April 28 G-AOIC made the first full weight, non stop, flight across the Atlantic to New York. Montreal followed and the number of non stops with 7Cs and Britannias continued, reverting to stopping services when the 707 was introduced and runway length again became a problem.
It would be interesting to know how long (if at all) the Liverpool reference continued in the timetable.