Great West Aerodrome

Fairey Aviation’s Great West Aerodrome morphed into the justification for the construction of Heathrow Airport.

Prototype Hendon bomber flying over the Great West Aerodrome (1935)

The expansion of this aerodrome led to the creation of Heathrow Airport.

In the photo we can see Heathrow Road straggling from top to right, Cain’s Lane is the straight road in the foreground and High Tree Lane the other visible road.

Credit: User unknown/public domain

Since 1915, Fairey Aviation had been flight testing aircraft at Northolt Aerodrome. The aircraft were designed and manufactured at the Fairey factory in North Hyde Road, Hayes.

In 1928 the Air Ministry gave it notice to cease using Northolt. Fairey’s chief test pilot, Norman Macmillan, recalled an earlier forced landing and take-off at Heath Row in 1925. He remembered the flatness of the land, and recommended the area as suitable for an aerodrome.

Macmillan flew aerial surveys of the site - then used for market gardening.

Fairey Aviation moved here on 4 March 1929 after being evicted from Northolt Airport. The company bought 71 acres to establish an airfield for flight testing. Later purchases gradually enlarged the aerodrome to about 240 acres.

The aerodrome was some three miles by road from Hayes and it was declared operational in June 1930. That year, a hangar was built.

In time it was called the Great West Aerodrome.

In 1943, the Air Ministry secretly developed plans to requisition the airfield under the Defence of the Realm Act (1939). The plans were stated to suit the needs of long-range bombers but they were actually based on recommendations for a new international airport for London. The project was headed by Harold Balfour who kept the true nature of it hidden from parliament.

Fairey Aviation had, that year, bought 10 more acres of land to add to the airfield since it intended to relocate its production facilities from Hayes. The wartime legislation provided no obligation to pay compensation and indeed didn’t.

After eviction notices in May 1944, the new airfield was still under construction at the end of the war. By then, the plans had already changed from wartime military use to overt development into an international airport. On 1 January 1946, ownership of the site was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. On 31 May 1946, the newly named London Airport was officially opened for commercial operations.

Fairey’s 1930 hangar was used as Heathrow Airport’s fire station before being finally demolished.

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence

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Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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British Airways Concordes gathering to sniff the back of a freshly-built one, deciding whether to let it into their group TUM image id: 1682600283 Licence:	Heathrow Hall (1935) This was farmed by the Philp family and was demolished in 1944. It was one of the main farms of the Heathrow area. It would nowadays be located on top of the northern road tunnel into the airport. TUM image id: 1503231819 Licence:	The 19th century “Plough and Harrow” public house, Heathrow. Heathrow Road was a little rural lane running through market gardens between the Bath Road and Perry Oaks. Halfway way along its length was the Plough and Harrow pub. In the 1930s it was run by a Mr Basham, an ex-policeman. It was demolished in 1944 as plans were drawn up for a larger airport to replace the existing London Airport at Croydon. This is possibly one of the most altered locations in the London area - you can experience the site of the pub by visiting WH Smith in the Arrivals area of Heathrow Terminal 2. TUM image id: 1503013172 Licence:	A pre-war map of the village of Heathrow, Middlesex, showing the Fairey company’s Great West Aerodrome, which was hugely expanded post-war to become London Airport. The ’r’ of the label ’Heathrow’ marks the modern site of Terminal 2. TUM image id: 1503239496 Licence:	Charles Glenie inspects his dairy herd (1900s) The depicted farm - Cain’s Farm - disappeared under the building of Heathrow Airport in 1944. TUM image id: 1644596013 Licence: CC BY 2.0
Cain’s Lane Mission Church (1935) This was a Baptist chapel built in 1901, disappeared in 1944 under Heathrow Airport. TUM image id: 1644338593 Licence:	Shrub End, Cains Lane, Heathrow (1943) David Wild standing with his wife Naomi, children Elizabeth and James with their nurse. The family was evicted in 1944 and their house demolished. Credit: W.Wild TUM image id: 1644856503 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Cain’s Farm Dairy milk float (1900s) This photo is evocative enough but the southern runway of Heathrow was built over the top of Cain’s Farm in 1944, obliterating the farm, its dairy herd and the previous life in the small hamlet of Heath Row, Middlesex TUM image id: 1669241071 Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

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The 19th century “Plough and Harrow” public house, Heathrow. Heathrow Road was a little rural lane running through market gardens between the Bath Road and Perry Oaks. Halfway way along its length was the Plough and Harrow pub. In the 1930s it was run by a Mr Basham, an ex-policeman. It was demolished in 1944 as plans were drawn up for a larger airport to replace the existing London Airport at Croydon. This is possibly one of the most altered locations in the London area - you can experience the site of the pub by visiting WH Smith in the Arrivals area of Heathrow Terminal 2.
Licence:

A pre-war map of the village of Heathrow, Middlesex, showing the Fairey company’s Great West Aerodrome, which was hugely expanded post-war to become London Airport. The ’r’ of the label ’Heathrow’ marks the modern site of Terminal 2.
Licence:

Charles Glenie inspects his dairy herd (1900s) The depicted farm - Cain’s Farm - disappeared under the building of Heathrow Airport in 1944.
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Cain’s Lane Mission Church (1935) This was a Baptist chapel built in 1901, disappeared in 1944 under Heathrow Airport.
Licence:

Shrub End, Cains Lane, Heathrow (1943) David Wild standing with his wife Naomi, children Elizabeth and James with their nurse. The family was evicted in 1944 and their house demolished.
Credit: W.Wild
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Cain’s Farm Dairy milk float (1900s) This photo is evocative enough but the southern runway of Heathrow was built over the top of Cain’s Farm in 1944, obliterating the farm, its dairy herd and the previous life in the small hamlet of Heath Row, Middlesex
Licence: CC BY 2.0

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