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Shore Road Roundabout Sculpture – Lady Peace and Coronation Flight Memorial

Shore Road Roundabout Sculpture – Lady Peace and Coronation Flight Memorial

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Shore Road Roundabout Sculpture – Lady Peace and Coronation Flight Memorial

Name: Shore Road Roundabout Sculpture – Lady Peace and Coronation Flight Memorial
Rating: 2

Recommended by 4 hikers

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Location: North West England, England, United Kingdom

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2. Southport Pier – Southport Pier loop from Ainsdale

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3. Southport Pier – Southport Pier loop from Ainsdale

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Tips

Jim Martin

September 7, 2024

"This sculpture commemorates two double transatlantic flights in the early days of aviation undertaken by the pilot Dick Merrill, via Southport.

The Lady Peace ‘Ping Pong’ Flight

In 1936, Dick Merrill was looking to do a double transatlantic flight. The object was to fly from New York to England and then back again. He teamed up with a famous broadway entertainer called Harry Richman. Richman not only owned a plane capable of doing this feat, but was prepared to finance the journey to the tune of $360,000, a huge sum in those days. His aircraft was a specially modified monoplane Vultee V-1A, which he named the Lady Peace. However, part of its modifications involved the installation of 41,000 table tennis balls in the wings and tail which supposedly would help with buoyancy if the plane landed in water. This led the press to dub it the ‘Ping Pong Flight’.

After making it successfully from New York to Wales, the plane then flew on to London. But the return trip was to prove a problem – they needed a really long runway in order to take off, as they would be carrying a lot of fuel. The largest runway in the country at the time was at Liverpool’s Speke airport, but this was deemed too short. The solution lay relatively nearby though; the stretch of beach from Ainsdale to Birkdale was deemed ideal. At 3am on the 14th September 1936, on a makeshift runway lit by flares, the plane ran along nearly a mile of beach before successfully taking off. Bad winds and an accidental loss of fuel on the way over the Atlantic meant that they were forced to land 100 miles north of St John, Newfoundland. A week later they finished their trip and arrived in New York.

The Coronation Flight

Just eight months later, Dick Merrill was hired to do the same double Atlantic trip again. The abdication of Edward VIII meant there would be a coronation of a new king, George VI, on May 10th 1937. The American press baron, William Randolph Hearst, wanted pictures in his papers before his competitors got them, and this led two Wall Street brokers, knowing of Merrill’s previous flight, to engage him to deliver the goods."

Source: lancashirepast.com/2018/08/18/early-transatlantic-flights-via-southport

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Elevation 70 m

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Saturday 6 December

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76 %

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Max wind speed: 36.0 km/h

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Location: North West England, England, United Kingdom

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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Shore Road Roundabout Sculpture – Lady Peace and Coronation Flight Memorial

1. Ainsdale Beach – RAF Woodvale Airfield View loop from Formby

2. Southport Pier – Southport Pier loop from Ainsdale

3. Southport Pier – Southport Pier loop from Ainsdale

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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