The First Heathrow EGLL - c.1953.

[Deleted]

I attach screenshots of work in progress on classic scenery for London Heathrow as it was c.1953. Stephen O'Leary's fine Sopwith Pup from 2004 (apart from being a delight, it flies low and slow) takes off on Runway 08L. Just behind a taxying DC3 is the control tower and the public viewing area in front of it. Behind that are currently library buildings but beyond them are groups of custom prefabricated huts and a blue hangar type structure. These are based on a photograph of this area available here:

exceptthekylesandwesternisles.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/heathrow-in-1950s-60s.html

You will need to scroll a long way down the page to see it. As it is in monochrome I had to guess the colour and it was probably not deep blue, but it looks well. In the second shot the Pup climbs away to the south-east. The scenery fits within the Just Flight photographic scenery for the UK. The buildings in the central area are shown as being under construction, as are the BOAC hangars visible in the foreground of the third shot. Currently the BEA hangars are represented by more library buildings, but I intend doing a custom version of them. The scenery is based on the Afcad which comes with the existing CalClassic scenery for Heathrow and has been (heavily) modified with Tom's kind permission. He has pointed out to me that even the 1958 Cal Classic traffic will overwhelm the available parking spaces and this is doubtless so if it is run at 100%. Running AI at 43% it currently seems to be ok. Lack of parking was a critical problem at Heathrow before the opening of the central terminal in 1955 and BEA operated entirely (I think) from nearby Northolt, while there are photographs showing that the eastern part of R28R was used for parking. I have thought of replicating this, but the photos show aircraft parked much nearer to each other than FS9 readily allows. The area to the north of the early terminal was intended in the pretty grandiose plans of 1947 to be occupied by two runways, plans which were abandoned in the early 1950s to the delight of the local population. This, rather ironically, is the area which may be used for the currently projected Heathrow third runway.

     I have got fairly interested in all this, which seems to me to have been in some ways a sort of heroic age, largely as a result of the link given above. I can provide references to articles in Flight between 1946 and 1955 and to video material should anybody be interested, but I am aware that such interest may not be extensive. Stephen's Pup is available on Flightsim,

Ken

[Tom/CalClassic]

Thanks, Ken, looks like a nice project.

[Defender]

Hi Ken,

One of the modifications and additions I've made to Wolfgang's EGLL is to change the airport's name in AFCAD to "London Airport" and the comms etc list to "London Tower", London Approach" etc and if you put a copy of that AFCAD bgl in Scenery/World/Scenery, it will show as London Airport in the scenery list and ATC will call it London, as it was called (LAP to us enthusiasts) before taking up the Heathrow name (again) in the mid 60's. Gatwick was just called "Gatwick" instead of the current London Gatwick.

Bill


 

[Deleted]

Hello Bill,
Many thanks. I will try doing as you suggest. I have seen a photograph of a board on the perimeter fence from the 1950s which describes it as 'The London Airport'. The 1947 plans, if I remember rightly, were for 12 runways, and I think there may have been an idea for a time that it was simply going to be the only airport serving London. Perhaps the abandonment of plans to build the two runways north of the A30 more or less coincided with the development of Gatwick,
Ken

[jwh]

There is a book available called "Time Flies - Heathrow at 60" by Alan Gallop. Has some good period photographs for the early 50s and runway diagrams. It is also a great read on the airport's history.

John

[Deleted]

Many thanks, John. It is available from Abe Books for 60 pence plus postage, and I have ordered a copy,
Ken

[Al]

Hi Ken,

I love this period as well and would love to get a copy of this when completed. What you have done so far looks great.

[Deleted]

Thanks Al,
I intend that it will be available sooner rather than later, when all the necessary checks have been run. I shall look at the possibility of diverting BEA flights to Northolt, as in real life, but this will mean altering the Afcad of the currently available Northolt scenery and getting the permission of the people who made it. Let me know if you would like to try a beta at some point It would simply be a matter of adding it to Add-On Scenery in FS9 and making sure that the 1961 CalClassic version is not enabled,
Ken

[Al]

Sure Ken I would love to beta test it as I am retired and have the time. I have the Northolt scenery as well so may want to try the same of modifying the 57 traffic for this. I have thought of doing more backdating of traffic files to the early 50s but it always seemed so daunting but maybe starting here and doing a little at time would be interesting side project when we feel the need to step back a few more years. you can email it to me at avpingel at gmail dot com or let me know where to download it.

Cheers

[Deleted]

I'll look forward to doing that Al. It won't be just yet - it is the first scenery I have done and I am still finding ways to produce buildings which look attractive but at the same time are not too heavy on frame rates,
Best wishes,
Ken

[Al]

no worries, look forward to it when your ready.

[Deleted]

Although there doesn't seem to be much doubt about it, I would be grateful if anyone has any thoughts on the following. I have now received Allan Gallop's book on Heathrow, which was recommended by John. According to this, the first east-west runway - then eventually 10L-28R, now 9L-27R - was no less than 100 yards wide. It does look as wide as that on early photographs and in films of aircraft taking off, and this explains why the eastern part of it could have aircraft parked on both sides. It can still be seen on modern aerial photos of this runway, with the modern 50 metre wide runway in the centre of it. Given this width, and contrary to what I said originally, it will be possible to replicate this runway parking in FS9 should I want to. Presumably 28L and 10R were used for all landings, which would mean a long taxi to the terminal. I suppose, given the length of the runway, the western part of 28R might have been used for take-offs.
Ken

[Defender]

Ken,

At the time you're interested in, mid 50's, LAP had 6 runways in use, all concrete as were the taxiways and aprons. I've a chart showing lengths, widths, TO/landing availability and lighting. I got it from the PPrune site I think and I'll try to find the link.

I'll get back.

Bill

[Defender]

Here you go, post #143.

www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/337032-how-did-heathrow-used-look-8.html

Best to sharpen it up with Photoshop.

Bill

[Deleted]

Bill,
Many thanks indeed. I took it as a screenshot and then increased the contrast with Photoshop, which makes most but not all of it legible. It is particularly valuable in giving the precise size of the runways - 28L-10R was 300 feet wide as well and slightly longer than 28R-10L. The other four were only available for certain purposes - 15L is marked as take-off only, day only. Perhaps of most interest 10L-28R is marked as 'Normally restricted to W take-off and E landing'. Perhaps this is because even in 1957 they were still using the eastern part of this runway for parking, or it was a legacy of the days when they had,
Best wishes,
Ken