1/144 London Heathrow Airport

Kits-World - 1/144 London Heathrow Airport Size 675mm x 675mm

Early Days and the inter-war period

Today, one of the worlds' major airports, and the largest of the six airports surrounding London. Initially the site was located near the village of Heathrow and was known by several titles, the Great West Aerodrome, Heathrow Aerodrome (due to the nearby hamlet of Heathrow), or Harmondsworth Aerodrome (due to it being located in the civil parish of Harmondsworth). In 1928, the Fairey Aviation Company Ltd had been given notice to leave its test facility at nearby Northolt and it was deemed that the land around Heathrow (village) was ideal as a replacement site. In 1929, Fairey purchased areas of farmland close by, with construction of the airfield beginning the same year.

The airfield was opened in June 1930 initially as Harmondsworth Aerodrome with the name later switching to The Great West Aerodrome, or alternatively, Heathrow Aerodrome. At this point all Uk international traffic was handled by the now long defunct Croydon Airport. Fairey planned to use the site as a manufacturing base as well as a test facility although in the event, production stayed at their main factory at Hayes which was located nearby. Fairey did however sponsor annual fly-ins for the Royal Aeronautical Society between 1935 and 1939, and in 1935 the first airshow was held at Heathrow, the name which was, by this time, becoming more commonly used. The onset of the Second World War resulted in the last airshow being held in May 1939.

The Second World War

Interestingly, Heathrow was only used as a satellite airfield, mainly for Raf Northolt, during the war period with no actual units or squadrons being permanently based there. Fairey however were still hoping to relocate production from Hayes to Heathrow and additional land was bought in 1943 in planned anticipation. As mentioned earlier, this never eventually happened as in 1944 the (then) Air Ministry requisitioned the site from Fairey using wartime powers legislation with the cover story being that site would be ideal for stationing long range bombers and transport aircraft. In fact, the actual truth was that it was planned to develop the facility into London's new international airport following the war. Bitterly, Fairey Aviation was forced move its flight test operations to Heston Aerodrome where it remained until 1947 before moving to White Waltham. For this upheaval, Fairey only received compensation in 1964.

In 1944, areas surrounding the airfield including farms, housing and roads, were requisitioned and construction was begun.

Post war

The following two years saw the site extensively redeveloped and after transference from Air Ministry control to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in January 1946, London Airport, as it was now known, was officially opened to commercial flights in May of the same year, although it must be mentioned that the first international flight into London Airport was a Lockheed 049 Constellation of Brazilian airline Panair in April, with a joint service between Boac and Qantas also being operated around this time. The rest of the decade saw London Airport continue to expand and develop with new runways and building being constructed. More runways were added during the early 1950s bringing a total of six.

On February 6th 1952, Hrh King George VI passed away. Whilst they were staying in Kenya as part of an ongoing tour to Australia and New Zealand, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were informed of the Kings death. The following day, Princess Elizabeth arrived at London Airport aboard (Royal Flight) Canadair Argonaut G-ALHK Atalanta as Hrh Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1955, the Europa (now Terminal 2) and Queens Buildings were opened. These were the first of the major buildings, with the latter providing office space. Both incorporated roof gardens. During the same year a new control tower was opened replacing the old wartime structure. In addition, the Europa Building was renamed as Building 1 Europa, whilst an extension was built onto this and named Building 2 Britannic. A new check-in facility was opened in Kensington for Bea flights from London Airport, passengers being transported by BEA-marked Aec Routemaster buses towing baggage trailers. This building was known as the West London Air Terminal.

As air traffic began to increase towards the end of the 1950s, Bea Helicopters began to operate commuter flights to and from destinations between the airport and the city.

The '60s

In 1961, extension work was carried out on Runway 10R bringing it to 11,000 ft in total length, and in November of the same year, Building 3 Oceanic was opened for long-haul passengers. In 1965 the airport was passed over from the soon to be disbanded Ministry of Aviation to the newly established British Airports Authority.

In 1966, London Airport was renamed Heathrow Airport.

In 1968, Terminal 1 was opened, (formerly opened by Hrh Queen Elizabeth II in 1969), to handle short-haul flights and was the largest short-haul terminal in Europe. At the same time, Building 1 Europa and Building 2 Britannic were merged as one to become Terminal 2, or The Queen's Terminal. Building 3 Oceanic was also renamed as Terminal 3, and a new cargo terminal was built, connected to Terminals 1, 2 and 3 via the Heathrow Cargo Tunnel.

The 1970s, 80s, 90s and further expansion

In 1970, Terminal 3 was enlarged with the construction of a new arrivals building and moving walkways were added. Runways 10/28R and 10/28L (now 09L/27R and 09R/27L) were lengthened to allow for large aircraft such as the new Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10. At this time other runways were closed apart from Runway 23 which allowed for crosswind landings. This would would itself be closed in 2005 to eventually become a taxiway.

On January 1 1974, The West London Air Terminal closed its check-in facility, although the building still remained operational for Heathrow passengers until 1979 with the aforementioned bus service operating between the two destinations until then. The London Underground network adjoining Heathrow to the City of London was extended and between 1975 and 1977 passengers could connect directly with the city via Hatton Cross station using the Piccadilly Line.

By the turn of the 1980s it was evident that further improvement and expansion of Heathrow would be need to accommodate the sheer number of passengers transiting the airport every year. A new terminal, to be named Terminal 4 was proposed. This would be connected to Terminals 2 and 3 via the Heathrow Cargo Tunnel and would be opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales on April 1 1986. Construction of a tube connection to Terminal 4 beginning in 1984, was opened on April 12 1986 and adjoined the existing network. Also in 1986, the final phase of the M25 motorway was opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and allowed a direct vehicular motorway link to the airport.

On April 20 1984, Heathrow suffered a terrorist attack when a bomb exploded in the baggage area of Terminal 2, injuring 23 people. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the now defunct anarchist far-left group The Angry Brigade Resistance Movement. However, it is thought more credible that the incident was down to Libyan-backed terrorists due to that firstly, Terminal 2 was used by Libyan Arab Airlines, and secondly that the event took place three days after the murder of Wpc Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy in London.

In 1994, Heathrow suffered another terrorist incident when between March 9 and 13, the airport was targeted by the Provisional Ira using crude 'home made' mortar bombs. A total of twelve rounds were fired, the first attack on March 9 consisted of five rounds and was carried out from the nearby Forte Excelsior Hotel, although all of these failed to detonate. The second attack took place on March 11 when four rounds were fired at the airport from a nearby wood. Again, no rounds exploded. The final incident occurred on March 13 when previously buried mortars were discovered, but again, did not detonate.

By now, Heathrow was handing some 30 to 40 million passengers a year and it was clear that even with the vast facilities available, more was needed. Proposals for a new terminal building were first raised in 1989, and after much consultation and public inquiry, in May 1997 plans were laid down for a new building named Terminal 5, to be built. The following year, the Heathrow Express was completed and this provided passengers a direct link to Paddington Station in London as part of the Great Western Main Line.

Into the 21st Century

From 2000 onwards, the history and continued evolution of Heathrow Airport is rather complex, with improvements and/or new buildings added or existing buildings demolished to make way for updated structures.

Construction of Terminal 5 was begun in September 2002 and involved the re-routing of sections of the Longford and Duke of Northumberland's Rivers, plus alterations to the Western Perimeter Road and A3044 dual carriageway. A new underground link was also provided for this new terminal with the line at Terminal 4 being closed whilst this work was carried out. Terminals 1 and 3 underwent improvement with an extension being built to the former and the latter incorporating the new Pier 6 to allow for the upcoming introduction of the Airbus A380 airliner which made its maiden test flight into Heathrow on May 18 2006.

By early 2008, Terminal 5 was complete and was opened by Hrh Queen Elizabeth II on March 14 of that year, with the terminal opening to passengers on March 27. The first Singapore Airlines passenger A380 flight arrived from Singapore on March 18. The aircraft, 9V-SKA ,was scrapped in November 2019. Construction of Terminal 2B also began in 2008. The Queens Building dating from 1955 was demolished in 2009 and British Airways relocated their operations from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5, with Terminal 5C officially opening in June 2011. The original Terminal 2 was closed in 2009 and was demolished the following year, with a the first phase of new Terminal 2 opening in June 2014. In June 2015, Terminal 1 was closed for demolition to make way for the second phase enlargement of (the new) Terminal 2 which was completed in 2019.

Today, the airport continues to be one of the worlds major and busiest hubs, handling millions of people and thousands of flights each year. Practically every country in the world operates to, from or through Heathrow airport. Naturally, it would be a time consuming process to name every airline or carrier that has used Heathrow, but a selection from today and past years appears as follows:

British Airways, BOAC, British European Airways, British Caledonian, British Midland International, Flybe, British Eagle, British Mediterranean Airways, British South American Airways, Hunting-Clan Air Transport, Bks Air Transport, British Airways Helicopters, Bea Helicopters, Air UK, Virgin Atlantic, Manx Airlines, Panair, Etihad Airways, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Air Algerie, KLM, Pan American World Airways, TWA, Turkmenistan Airlines, Iberia, Air Astana, Delta, Air New Zealand, Qantas, Gulf Air, Middle East Airlines (MEA), Azerbaijan Airlines, Eurowings, Eva Air, Thai Airways, Royal Brunei, Vueling, Aer Lingus, Germanwings, Tarom, Egypt Air, Avianca, Tarom, Brussels Airlines, Air China, Air Canada, Emirates, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, American Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, United Airlines, SAS- Scandinavian Airline System, Vietnam Airlines, Lufthansa, Jet Airways, Finnair, Biman Bangladesh, Air Serbia, Cathay Pacific, Saudia, Philippine Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, Aegean Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Arik Air, Tap Portugal, Kuwait Airways, South African Airways, Aeroflot, Air Mauritius, Croatia Airlines, Kenya Airways, Aeromexico, Air France, Lot Polish Airlines, Oman Air, Alitalia, Icelandair, Austrian Airlines, Asiana, Japan Airlines, Air Malta, Tunis Air, El Al, Iran Air, Bulgaria Air, Uzbekistan Airlines, ANA, China Eastern, Nigeria Airways, Cyprus Airways, Olympic Airlines, Sabena, Air Jamaica, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, Cityjet, Libyan Arab Airlines and AirBridgeCargo.