Great West Aerodrome
Encyclopedia
The Great West Aerodrome, also known as Harmondsworth Aerodrome, was a grass airfield, operational 1930–1944. It was situated adjacent to the hamlet of Heathrow, within the parish of Harmondsworth
. It was owned and operated by the Fairey Aviation Company, for assembly and flight testing of Fairey-manufactured aircraft.
gave it notice to cease using Northolt. Fairey Aviation needed an airfield for flight testing of aircraft designed and manufactured at its factory in North Hyde Road, Hayes
. Its chief test pilot, Norman MacMillan, recalled a forced landing and take-off at Heathrow in 1925. He had noted the flatness of the land, and therefore recommended the suitability of the area for an aerodrome. MacMillan flew aerial surveys of the site, that was then typically used for commercial market gardening. In 1929, Fairey Aviation started by purchasing four plots of adjoining farmland in the hamlet of Heathrow from four local landowners. The cumulative total was 148 acres (59.9 ha), at a cost of about £1,500, at the typical 1929 market rate of £10 per acre. The site was bounded to the north-east by Cain's Lane, to the south by the Duke of Northumberland's River
, and to the west by High Tree Lane. The airfield boundaries were south of the Bath Road, north-west of the Great South West Road
, and about two miles west of the western end of the Great West Road. The airfield was about three miles by road from the Hayes factory, and it was declared operational in June 1930. That year, an additional plot of 29 acres (11.7 ha) was purchased, and a single hangar was built.
(K1695) was the first major experimental activity at the Great West Aerodrome. On 15 March 1931, the aircraft over-ran the boundary at Cain's Lane during an emergency landing, requiring re-design of engine installations, major repairs and project delay. Other notable types flown from there included Fairey Fox
, Fairey Gordon
, Fairey Firefly II (biplane), Fairey Fantome, Fairey Swordfish
, Fairey Albacore
, Airspeed Horsa
, Fairey Barracuda
, Fairey Battle
and Fairey Firefly
(monoplane). By March 1938, a second permanent hangar plus a temporary canvas Bessonneau hangar
had been erected.
(RAeS) held its annual garden party fly-ins at the airfield, at the invitation of Richard Fairey
, chairman and managing director of Fairey Aviation Company Ltd, and a past president of the RAeS. The events were aviation society gatherings combined with promotion and display of aircraft and their manufacturers, before the development of aircraft industry shows in Britain, from 1947. Richard Fairey, who started in business with model aircraft, also permitted weekend use of the airfield by model aircraft clubs.
(Sir Archibald Sinclair), secretly developed plans to requisition the airfield under wartime legislation – the Defence of the Realm Act (1939). The plans were stated to be designed to suit the considerable needs of long-range bombers, such as USAAF Boeing B-29s, but they were actually based on recommendations from professor Patrick Abercrombie
for a new international airport for London. The project was headed by Harold Balfour (then Under-Secretary of State for Air, later Lord Balfour of Inchrye), who kept the true nature of it hidden from parliament. The decision and plans were finally revealed in January 1944.
In 1943, Fairey Aviation had purchased 10 more acres of land to add to the total of 230 acres (93.1 ha) acquired in 1929, 1930, 1939 and 1942. The company's intention was to relocate its production facilities from Hayes to the aerodrome. The wartime legislation provided no obligation to pay compensation; Fairey Aviation was offered compensation at the 1939 farming land market rate of £10 per acre, that was rejected. Sir Richard wrote to his co-chairman of Fairey Aviation:
After eviction notices in May 1944, demolition of Heathrow domestic and farm buildings, and removal of roads across the site, the new airfield was still under construction at the end of World War II. By then, the plans had already changed from tenuous wartime military use to overt development into an international airport. On 1 January 1946, ownership of the site was transferred from the (military) Air Ministry to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. On 31 May 1946, the newly-named London Airport was officially opened for commercial operations.
The legal dispute with the government was finally settled in 1964 in the sum of £1.6M. Fairey's 1930 hangar, in legal limbo for 20 years, and used as the Heathrow Airport fire station and as backdrop for an advertising billboard for BOAC
, was then finally demolished.
Harmondsworth
Harmondsworth is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, close to London Heathrow Airport. The village is situated south of West Drayton.The nearest places are: Hayes, Harlington, Heathrow Airport, Longford, London, Sipson, West Drayton and Yiewsley....
. It was owned and operated by the Fairey Aviation Company, for assembly and flight testing of Fairey-manufactured aircraft.
Construction 1929–1930
Since 1915, Fairey Aviation had been assembling and flight testing its aircraft from Northolt Aerodrome, but in 1928 the Air MinistryAir Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
gave it notice to cease using Northolt. Fairey Aviation needed an airfield for flight testing of aircraft designed and manufactured at its factory in North Hyde Road, Hayes
Hayes, Hillingdon
Hayes is a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon, West London. It is a suburban development situated west of Charing Cross. Hayes was developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries as an industrial locality to which residential districts were later added in order to house factory workers...
. Its chief test pilot, Norman MacMillan, recalled a forced landing and take-off at Heathrow in 1925. He had noted the flatness of the land, and therefore recommended the suitability of the area for an aerodrome. MacMillan flew aerial surveys of the site, that was then typically used for commercial market gardening. In 1929, Fairey Aviation started by purchasing four plots of adjoining farmland in the hamlet of Heathrow from four local landowners. The cumulative total was 148 acres (59.9 ha), at a cost of about £1,500, at the typical 1929 market rate of £10 per acre. The site was bounded to the north-east by Cain's Lane, to the south by the Duke of Northumberland's River
Duke of Northumberland's River
The Duke of Northumberland's River consists of two sections of artificial waterway. The older name: "Isleworth Mill Stream", or River, more accurately describes the economic motivation for their construction.-The western section :...
, and to the west by High Tree Lane. The airfield boundaries were south of the Bath Road, north-west of the Great South West Road
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
, and about two miles west of the western end of the Great West Road. The airfield was about three miles by road from the Hayes factory, and it was declared operational in June 1930. That year, an additional plot of 29 acres (11.7 ha) was purchased, and a single hangar was built.
Flight testing
On 25 November 1930, the maiden flight of the Fairey Night BomberFairey Hendon
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Crosby, Francis. The World Encyclopedia of Fighters and Bombers. London: Lorenz Books ISBN 0-75481-616-8* Gallop, Alan. Time Flies: Heathrow At 60. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-7509-3840-4...
(K1695) was the first major experimental activity at the Great West Aerodrome. On 15 March 1931, the aircraft over-ran the boundary at Cain's Lane during an emergency landing, requiring re-design of engine installations, major repairs and project delay. Other notable types flown from there included Fairey Fox
Fairey Fox
The Fairey Fox was a British light bomber and fighter biplane of the 1920s and 1930s. It was originally produced in Britain for the RAF, but continued in production and use in Belgium long after it was retired in Britain.-Fox I:...
, Fairey Gordon
Fairey Gordon
|-See also:-External links:* * *...
, Fairey Firefly II (biplane), Fairey Fantome, Fairey Swordfish
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...
, Fairey Albacore
Fairey Albacore
The Fairey Albacore was a British single-engine carrier-borne biplane torpedo bomber built by Fairey Aviation between 1939 and 1943 for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and used during the Second World War. It had a three-man crew and was designed for spotting and reconnaissance as well as delivering...
, Airspeed Horsa
Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces...
, Fairey Barracuda
Fairey Barracuda
The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo- and dive bomber used during the Second World War, the first of its type used by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm to be fabricated entirely from metal. It was introduced as a replacement for the Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Albacore biplanes...
, Fairey Battle
Fairey Battle
The Fairey Battle was a British single-engine light bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company in the late 1930s for the Royal Air Force. The Battle was powered by the same Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that gave contemporary British fighters high performance; however, the Battle was weighed...
and Fairey Firefly
Fairey Firefly
The Fairey Firefly was a British Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm ....
(monoplane). By March 1938, a second permanent hangar plus a temporary canvas Bessonneau hangar
Bessonneau hangar
The Bessonneau hangar was a portable timber and canvas aircraft hangar used by the Royal Flying Corps during World War I.-History:In about 1908, the Bessonneau hangar was designed and manufactured by the French rope and canvas manufacturer Etablissements Bessonneau, headed by Julien Bessonneau and...
had been erected.
Non-commercial uses
From 1935 to 1939, the Royal Aeronautical SocietyRoyal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...
(RAeS) held its annual garden party fly-ins at the airfield, at the invitation of Richard Fairey
Charles Richard Fairey
Sir Charles Richard Fairey MBE, FRAeS was a British aircraft manufacturer.-Early life:Charles Fairey was born was born on 5 May 1887 in Hendon, Middlesex and educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and later as an apprentice at the Finsbury Technical College where he studied City &...
, chairman and managing director of Fairey Aviation Company Ltd, and a past president of the RAeS. The events were aviation society gatherings combined with promotion and display of aircraft and their manufacturers, before the development of aircraft industry shows in Britain, from 1947. Richard Fairey, who started in business with model aircraft, also permitted weekend use of the airfield by model aircraft clubs.
Closure 1943–1944
In 1942, Richard Fairey was knighted as Sir Richard Fairey, and held the position of Director General of the British Air Mission, based primarily in Washington, DC. In 1943, the Air Ministry, headed by the Secretary of State for AirSecretary of State for Air
The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on 10 January 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force...
(Sir Archibald Sinclair), secretly developed plans to requisition the airfield under wartime legislation – the Defence of the Realm Act (1939). The plans were stated to be designed to suit the considerable needs of long-range bombers, such as USAAF Boeing B-29s, but they were actually based on recommendations from professor Patrick Abercrombie
Patrick Abercrombie
Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie ) was an English town planner. Educated at Uppingham School, Rutland; brother of Lascelles Abercrombie, poet and literary critic.-Career:...
for a new international airport for London. The project was headed by Harold Balfour (then Under-Secretary of State for Air, later Lord Balfour of Inchrye), who kept the true nature of it hidden from parliament. The decision and plans were finally revealed in January 1944.
In 1943, Fairey Aviation had purchased 10 more acres of land to add to the total of 230 acres (93.1 ha) acquired in 1929, 1930, 1939 and 1942. The company's intention was to relocate its production facilities from Hayes to the aerodrome. The wartime legislation provided no obligation to pay compensation; Fairey Aviation was offered compensation at the 1939 farming land market rate of £10 per acre, that was rejected. Sir Richard wrote to his co-chairman of Fairey Aviation:
After eviction notices in May 1944, demolition of Heathrow domestic and farm buildings, and removal of roads across the site, the new airfield was still under construction at the end of World War II. By then, the plans had already changed from tenuous wartime military use to overt development into an international airport. On 1 January 1946, ownership of the site was transferred from the (military) Air Ministry to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. On 31 May 1946, the newly-named London Airport was officially opened for commercial operations.
The legal dispute with the government was finally settled in 1964 in the sum of £1.6M. Fairey's 1930 hangar, in legal limbo for 20 years, and used as the Heathrow Airport fire station and as backdrop for an advertising billboard for BOAC
Boac
Boac may refer to:* Boac, Marinduque, a municipality in the Southern Philippines* Boac , an American rapper* British Overseas Airways Corporation, a former British state-owned airline...
, was then finally demolished.
External links
- Longford Residents' Association (thisislongford.com) archived copy at the Wayback MachineWayback MachineThe Wayback Machine is a digital time capsule created by the Internet Archive non-profit organization, based in San Francisco, California. It is maintained with content from Alexa Internet. The service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the Archive calls a "three...
- Aerial View (actually from the North-West) from the Imperial War Museum collection