In 1930, British aero engineer and aircraft builder Richard Fairey paid the Vicar of Harmondsworth £15,000 for a 150-acre plot to build a private airport to assemble and test aircraft. Complete with a single grass runway and a handful of hastily erected buildings, Fairey’s Great West Aerodrome was the humble precursor to the world’s busiest international airport, Heathrow.
During World War II the government requisitioned land in and around the ancient agricultural village of Heath Row, including Fairey’s Great West Aerodrome, to build RAF Heston, a base for long-range troop-carrying aircraft bound for the Far East. An RAF-type control tower was constructed, and a ‘Star of David’ pattern of runways laid, the longest of which was 2,743 metres long and 91 metres wide.
Work demolishing Heath Row and clearing land for the runways started in 1944. However, by the time the war had ended the RAF no longer needed another aerodrome and it was officially handed over to the Air Ministry as London’s new civil airport on 1 January 1946. The first aircraft to take off from Heathrow was a converted Lancaster bomber called Starlight that flew to Buenos Aires.
The early passenger terminals were ex‑military marquees which formed a tented village along the Bath Road. The terminals were primitive but comfortable, equipped with floral-patterned armchairs, settees and small tables containing vases of fresh flowers. To reach aircraft parked on the apron, passengers walked over wooden duckboards to protect their footwear from the muddy airfield. There was no heating in the marquees, which meant that during winter it could be bitterly cold, but in summer when the sun shone, the marquee walls were removed to allow a cool breeze to blow through.
By the close of Heathrow’s first operational year, 63,000 passengers had travelled through London’s new airport.
The first airfield on the site of the current Heathrow was the Great West Aerodrome, built in 1929 by Fairey Aviation. Redevelopment of the area began in 1944, however the end of World War II meant it was surplus to the Royal Air Force’s requirements, and instead was designated to become a civil airport by the UK Government. The new airport opened on 25 March 1946, initially as London Airport, becoming Heathrow in 1966.
The name Heathrow is named after the ancient hamlet Heath Row, upon where the airport is now built. The settlement, which was largely an agricultural area, was demolished fully in 1944 to make way for the development of the airfield.
Following the end of the Second World War, it was realised that air travel was going to become a growing commodity. London’s previous biggest airport, Croydon Aerodrome, was becoming increasingly populated, and the site of the Great West Aerodrome was chosen as London’s designated airport.
