Amazing pictures show what was at Heathrow before the sprawling airport was built

There was a time when the word “Heathrow” conjured up images of farmland, orchards, small nurseries, and a quiet lifestyle.

Because Heathrow has not always been a sprawling airport, one of the most important hubs in the world – it was a hamlet on a country road.

Heathrow Terminal 2 was the location of the Heathrow Farm.

CONTINUE READING: The 1963 “Big Freeze” in London when it “snowed for 3 months” and people were left without water because “water pipes were frozen”.

There was also a Heathrow Hall and a Heathrow House in this sparsely populated housing estate, which is now an airport nearly five square miles in size.

The first mention of Heathrow that we know of was in 1410, La Hetherewe – a simple lane that separates heather and farmland.

Its aviation association began in 1915 when aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation began assembly and flight testing just a few miles north of what is now Heathrow.

Then, in 1925, RAF officer Norman Macmillan had to perform an emergency landing and take off in the hamlet of Heathrow.

He noted that the land may have been underutilized as it was being used for growing wheat as the flatness would make a wonderful airfield.

In 1929 what we now know as Heathrow began as a small airfield.

It wasn’t until 1944 that the development of a much larger airport began – but even then it was only intended for long-haul military flights.

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So the area remained calm, and essentially the landscape – with no inkling of the global pounding it would soon be home to.

The end of World War II seemed to bring a touch of optimism to the government, and with Heathrow nearing completion, the British government decided to continue development.

It was supposed to become an airport for the people: London Airport.

The official opening was in March 1946, and in 1966 the hamlet it essentially crushed gave its name.

The airport, of course, began to accommodate traveling celebrities – and the pictures show a level of security that seems astonishingly weak today.

The Queen returned to Great Britain in 1952 as Queen Elizabeth II, in the area of ​​the airport where the Heathrow Renaissance Hotel now stands.

When the Beatles arrived from Sweden in 1963, the press, photographers and screaming fans could run straight towards them – the only barrier was a couple of police officers.

This was a time when the romcom cliché of the romantic flight to the airport was actually possible.

Heathrow is almost like a district in itself.

In pre-pandemic times, Heathrow handled nearly 81 million passengers annually.

And it was one of the busiest airports in the world.

What a transformation.

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