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Heathrow Airport History |
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The official version of the origin of Heathrow Airport has always been that it was developed as an airfield for the RAF in World War 2 and that at the end of the war it evolved into the main civil airport for London. In reality this is far from the truth and the true story behind its development show that the War Cabinet was misled into giving approval for its construction. As a result development of the airport, which was conceived from the beginning as a civil airport for London, diverted resources away from the war effort at a crucial time of the war when London was under attack from V-1 flying bombs and preparations were being made for the Normandy Landings. The first mention of the proposed airport in Air Ministry files is in mid-1943. It is clear that it was destined to be a civil airport right from the start. The development of the site for the Royal Air Force was merely a ruse to circumvent a public inquiry and to quell criticism that the war effort was being diverted to matters that could await the end of hostilities. In 1973, Harold Balfour (later Lord Balfour of Inchyre) published his autobiography, 'Wings Over Westminster'. He was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State between 1938 and 1944. In his book, Balfour states that he deceived the cabinet committee over the requisitioning of land for post-war civil aviation needs. He strongly made a case for the need to requisition land at Heathrow for a bomber airfield although there were several existing airfields in the Home Counties, which could have been made to do the job just as well. Balfour persuaded the Cabinet and the Government took the land using emergency powers (The Defence Of The Realm Act 1939) that circumvented the usual procedures applicable in peacetime. This allowed no right of appeal. The Perry Oaks sludge works frustrated the Air Ministry's initial plans and they informed the Middlesex County Council (MCC) that they had amended the layout of the airfield to avoid the immediate necessity for removal of the site. The MCC were directed to continue to survey for a suitable site to relocate the sludge works. The sludge works are still at the same location today, at least until a Fifth Terminal for Heathrow is approved. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was party to the whole plot but complained about the unsuitability of the proposed layout of runways for their civil aviation requirements. To maintain the ruse, a runway was built which was totally unsuitable for civil purposes and which was subsequently abandoned without ever having been used. Development began in June as the first V-1 attacks rained down on the London area, one actually exploding in Longford on 13th June 1944. Stage 1 of the construction was incomplete when the airport was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 1st January 1946. Despite all the spurious claims about the urgent RAF need, the RAF had never used the airport and the first use of the airport was for a civil flight, which took place for publicity purposes, when a British South American Airways Lancastrian aircraft took off on a long distance proving flight to South America. The airport was formally opened on 31st May 1946. Heathrow was one of the busiest airports in 1946. The Great Western Aerodrome was privately owned by the Fairey company and used largely for test flying. London's commercial flights took off from nearby Heston and Hanworth Park airfields. Wartime priorities changed the course of Heathrow's history. In 1944 it was requisitioned by the Air Ministry to be developed as a major transport base for the Royal Air Force. Before the work was completed the war ended and with it came the prospect of a huge expansion in civil aviation. Passengers using today's Heathrow Terminal 4 will find photographs and murals of the way it was 50, years ago. Heathrow's only terminal then was an army surplus tent situated a short walk from the aircraft. It is staggering to think that the airport, which is now almost a self-contained city with a population of 60,000 workers, started life as a small grass airfield. London needed a large airport with modern equipment and the partly-built site at Heathrow was ideal. One runway was ready for use and when the Ministry of Civil Aviation took it over in 1946 the tented terminal was quickly put in place and a new chapter began. By the following year three runways had been completed and work on another three - subsequently abandoned as unnecessary - was going on. In its early years, at a time of acute housing shortage, the Committee gave a great deal of practical support to securing adequate housing provision for airport based staff in local areas. With assistance to what became British Airways Staff Housing Association, some 3,500 homes were provided by 1952, many of them in Stanwell, Heston and Feltham. As traffic boomed the airport found itself with an ever-increasing demand for passenger facilities. The Queen inaugurated a new building in 1955 which is today's Terminal 2 and the tunnel which provides the main road access to Heathrow's central area was opened. With hindsight that has proved to be a flawed concept as it struggles to cope with the burden of today's flow of airport traffic. Next came the new Oceanic terminal handling long-haul carriers, a function it still performs as Terminal 3, followed by the opening of Terminal 1 in 1968. Increased congestion in the central area led to the birth of Terminal 4 in 1986 on the south side of the airport, a modern facility but an inconvenient 10-20 minute transfer from the heart of Heathrow. The pressures on London's principal airport keep mounting. The extension of the city rail link to the airport central area is now open. |
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