Heathrow airport: an ever-expanding story
After more than 80 years of service, Heathrow prepares for new runway and a new chapter in its impressive career
Heathrow started life in 1930 after British aero-engineer and plane builder Richard Fairey paid the vicar of Harmondsworth £15,000 for a 60-hectare (150-acre) plot to build a private airport for assembling and testing aircraft. The site had only a single grass runway and a couple of rudimentary buildings.
During the second world war, the government requisitioned land around the village of Heathrow, including Fairey’s Great West Aerodrome, to build RAF Heston, a base for long-range, troop-carrying aircraft bound for east Asia.
Related: Heathrow airport at 70: from tents to terminals – in pictures
Source: Guardian Transport
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