1.
Scottish Aviation
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Scottish Aviation Limited was a Scottish aircraft manufacturer, based at Prestwick in Ayrshire. The company were founded in 1935, originally a flying school operator, the company took on maintenance work in 1938. During the Second World War, Scottish Aviation was involved in aircraft fitting for the war effort and this included maintenance and conversion of the Consolidated Liberator bomber. The factory building of Scottish Aviation, which exists today, was formerly the Palace of Engineering at the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Bellahouston Park. The building was dismantled from its Glasgow site and reconstructed, post-war it built robust military STOL utility aircraft such as the Pioneer and larger Twin Pioneer. Much later the company built some Jetstream turboprop transport and navigational training aircraft following the collapse of the Handley Page Aircraft Company and it built Bulldog trainers after the demise of their original manufacturer, Beagle Aircraft Limited. In November 1958, redundancies affecting almost 800 of their 2,500 staff were announced, Scottish Aviation merged with the British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, and Hawker Siddeley Dynamics to form British Aerospace in 1977. Much of the former Scottish Aviation assets now belong to Spirit AeroSystems, Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Berry, P Prestwick Airport and Scottish Aviation Robertson, A Lion Rampant and Winged British Aircraft Directory listing
2.
City of Westminster
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The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough which also holds city status. It occupies much of the area of Greater London including most of the West End. It is to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and it was created with the 1965 establishment of Greater London. Upon creation, Westminster was awarded city status, which had previously held by the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. Aside from a number of parks and open spaces, the population density of the district is high. Many sites commonly associated with London are in the borough, including St. Jamess Palace, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, much of the borough is residential, and in 2008 it was estimated to have a population of 236,000. The local authority is Westminster City Council, the current Westminster coat of arms were given to the city by an official grant on September 2,1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had an identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington. The original arms had a portcullis as the charge, which now forms the crest. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England, in the mid-11th Century king Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct, Westminster briefly became a city in 1540 when Henry VIII created the short-lived Diocese of Westminster. Following the dissolution of Westminster Abbey, a court of burgesses was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, Jamess, Strand, Westminster, Pimlico, Belgravia, and Hyde Park. The Westminster Metropolitan Borough was itself the result of an amalgamation which took place in 1900. Sir John Hunt O. B. E was the First Town Clerk of the City of Westminster, the boundaries of the City of Westminster today, as well as those of the other London boroughs, have remained more or less unchanged since the Act of 1963. On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place on Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street and Old Palace Yard, five people - three pedestrians, one police officer, and the attacker - died as a result of the incident. More than 50 people were injured, an investigation is ongoing by the Metropolitan Police. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors, Westminster City Council is currently composed of 44 Conservative Party members and 16 Labour Party members
3.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
Bristol Aeroplane Company
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In 1956 its major operations were split into Bristol Aircraft and Bristol Aero Engines. BAC went on to become a component of the nationalised British Aerospace. Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1966, who continued to develop, the BAC works were in Filton, about 4 miles north of Bristol city centre. BAE Systems, Airbus, Rolls Royce, MBDA and GKN still have a presence at the Filton site where the Bristol Aeroplane Company was located. Additionally, key personnel for the new business were recruited from the employees of the Tramway Company, including George Challenger as chief engineer and works manager. These flying schools came to be regarded as some of the best in the world, the companys initial manufacturing venture was to be a licensed and improved version of an aircraft manufactured in France by the Societe Zodiac, a biplane designed by Gabriel Voisin. This aircraft had been exhibited at the Paris Aero Salon in 1909 and had impressed Sir George with the quality of its construction. One example was bought and shipped to England to be shown at the Aero Show at Olympia in March 1910, since the machine had been sold with a guarantee to fly Sir George succeeded in getting 15,000 francs compensation from Zodiac. Work was then begun on designing a successor, drawings were prepared by George Challenger for an aircraft based on a successful design by Henri Farman whose dimensions had been published in the aeronautical press. The drawings were made in little over a week, and Sir George authorised the construction of twenty examples, the first to be completed was taken to Larkhill for flight trials, where it made its first flight on 30 July piloted by Maurice Edmonds, proving entirely satisfactory. Many served in the flying schools and examples were sold to the War Office as well as a number of foreign governments. Both of these were exhibited at the 1911 Aero Show at Olympia, at this time both Challenger and Low left the company to join the newly established aircraft division of the armament firm Vickers. Their place was taken by Pierre Prier, the chief instructor at the Blériot flying school at Hendon. In January 1912 the Romanian engineer Henri Coandă was appointed as chief designer, also at this time a highly secret separate design office, the X-Department, was set up to work on Dennistoun Burneys ideas for naval aircraft. Frank Barnwell was taken on as the engineer for this project. Barnwell was to one of the worlds foremost aeronautical engineers. The Company expanded rapidly, opening a factory at the Brislington tramway works. Official War Office policy was to only aircraft designed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment
6.
Pall Mall, London
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Pall Mall /ˌpæl ˈmæl/ is a street in the St Jamess area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St Jamess Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road, the streets name is derived from pall-mall, a ball game played there during the 17th century. The area was built up during the reign of Charles II with fashionable London residences and it became known for high-class shopping in the 18th century, and gentlemens clubs in the 19th. The Reform, Athenaeum and Travellers Clubs have survived to the 21st century, the War Office was based on Pall Mall during the second half of the 19th century, and the Royal Automobile Clubs headquarters have been on the street since 1908. The street is around 0.4 miles long and runs east in the St Jamess area, from St Jamess Street across Waterloo Place, to the Haymarket, the street numbers run consecutively from north-side east to west and then continue on the south-side west to east. It is part of the A4, a road running west from Central London. London Bus Route 9 runs westwards along Pall Mall, connecting Trafalgar Square to Piccadilly, Pall Mall was constructed in 1661, replacing an earlier highway slightly to the south that ran from the Haymarket to the royal residence, St Jamess Palace. When St. Jamess Park was laid out by order of Henry VIII in the 16th century, in 1620, the Privy Council ordered the High Sheriff of Middlesex to clear a number of temporary buildings next to the wall that were of poor quality. Pall-mall, a game similar to croquet, was introduced to England in the early-17th century by James I. The game, already popular in France and Scotland, was enjoyed by James sons Henry, in 1630, St Jamess Field, Londons first pall-mall court, was laid out to the north of the Haymarket – St James road. After the Restoration and King Charles IIs return to London on 29 May 1660, Samuel Pepyss diary entry for 2 April 1661 records that he. Went into St. Jamess Park, where I saw the Duke of York playing at Pelemele and this new court suffered from dust blown over the wall from coaches travelling along the highway. In July 1661 posts and rails were erected, stopping up the old road, the court for pall-mall was very long and narrow, and often known as an alley, so the old court provided a suitable route for relocating the eastern approach to St Jamess Palace. A grant was made to Dan ONeale, Groom of the Bedchamber, the grant was endorsed Our warrant for the building of the new street to St Jamess. A new road was built on the site of the old pall-mall court and it was named Catherine Street, after Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, but was better known as Pall Mall Street or the Old Pall Mall. The pall-mall field was a place for recreation and Pepys records several other visits. By July 1665 Pepys used Pell Mell to refer to the street as well as the game, in 1662, Pall Mall was one of several streets thought fitt immediately to be repaired, new paved or otherwise amended under the Streets, London and Westminster Act 1662. The paving commissioners appointed to oversee the work included the Earl of St Albans, the terms of the act allowed commissioners to remove any building encroaching on the highway, with compensation for those at least 30 years old
7.
BAC One-Eleven
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The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner used during the 1960s and 1970s. It was the second jet airliner to enter service, following the French Sud Aviation Caravelle. The aircraft was produced under license in Romania during the 1980s as the Rombac One-Eleven. The One-Eleven was intended to replace the earlier turboprop-powered Vickers Viscount on short-range routes, the One-Eleven made it to market ahead of rivals such as the Douglas DC-9-10, which gave it a temporary edge on the market. As of 2013, two remain in service as testbeds for Northrop-Grumman. Several aircraft manufacturers raced to release their own passenger jets, including those aimed at the short-haul market, in July 1956, British European Airways published a paper calling for a second generation jet airliner to operate beside their existing turboprop designs. This led to a variety of designs all of the major players in the British aerospace industry. Hunting Aircraft started design studies on a replacement for the successful Vickers Viscount. Around the same time, Vickers started a development of a 140-seat derivative of its VC10 project. Many other aviation firms had produced their own designs. In 1960 Hunting, under British government pressure, merged with Vickers-Armstrongs, Bristol, the newly formed BAC decided that the Hunting project had merit, but that there would be little market for a 30-seat jet airliner. The design was reworked into the BAC107, a 59-seat airliner powered by two 7,000 pounds-force Bristol Siddeley BS75 turbofan engines, BAC also continued development of the larger, 140-seat VC-11 development of the Vickers VC10 which it had inherited. Other competing internal projects, such as the Bristol Type 200, were abandoned following the absorption of Hunting into BAC. The revised design was redesignated the BAC111, with BAC abandoning the VC11 project to concentrate on the more promising One-Eleven, test flying was conducted by Squadron Leader Dave Glaser. On 9 May 1961 the One-Eleven was publicly launched when British United Airways placed the first order for ten One-Eleven 200s, on 20 October Braniff International Airways in the United States ordered six. Mohawk Airlines sent representatives to Europe seeking out a new aircraft to bring them into the jet era, other orders followed from Kuwait Airways for three, and Central African Airways for two. Braniff subsequently doubled their order to 12, while Aer Lingus ordered four, Western Airlines ordered ten aircraft but later cancelled. The CAB also stopped Frontier Airlines and Ozark Air Lines from ordering One-Elevens, although allowing Ozark to order the similar Douglas DC-9, the CAB had also unsuccessfully tried to block Mohawks orders
8.
BAC TSR-2
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The TSR-2 was designed to penetrate a well-defended forward battle area at low altitudes and very high speeds, and then attack high-value targets in the rear with nuclear or conventional weapons. Another intended combat role was to provide high-altitude, high-speed stand-off, side-looking, radar and photographic imagery, some of the most advanced aviation technology of the period was incorporated in order to make it the highest-performing aircraft in the world in its projected missions. Only one airframe flew and test flights and weight rise during design indicated that the aircraft would be unable to meet its original stringent design specifications, the design specifications had been reduced as the results of flight testing. The TSR-2 was the victim of ever-rising costs and inter-service squabbling over Britains future defence needs, the replacements included the Blackburn Buccaneer and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, both of which had previously been considered and rejected early in the TSR-2 procurement process. Eventually, the smaller swing-wing Panavia Tornado was developed and adopted by a European consortium to fulfil broadly similar requirements to the TSR-2, the introduction of the first practical jet engines in the late-World War II period led to calls for new jet-powered versions of practically every aircraft then flying. Among these was the design of a replacement for the de Havilland Mosquito and this high-speed approach was extremely successful, and a jet-powered version would be even more difficult to intercept. The winning design, the English Electric Canberra, also dispensed with defensive armaments, just as importantly, the designs long, straight wing gave it the lift needed to operate at very high altitudes, placing it above the range where even jet powered fighters were able to operate. This high-speed, high-altitude approach was effective until the late 1950s, sAMs had speed and altitude performance much greater than any contemporary aircraft. The Canberra, and other aircraft like the V bombers or United States B-52 Stratofortress, were extremely vulnerable to these weapons. The first aircraft to fall victim to the Soviet S-75 Dvina SAM was a Taiwanese RB-57, the solution was to fly lower, since radar operates in line-of-sight, detection of an aircraft flying at low altitudes is significantly hindered, thereby reducing time for enemy counter measures. In practice, trees, hills, valleys and any other obstructions reduce this range even more, the Canberra was designed for medium- to high-altitude flight and was not suitable for continuous terrain-hugging flight, this would require a completely different aircraft. Low-level strike aircraft, or interdictors, grew into a new class of their own during the late 1950s, aware of the changing operational environment, the Ministry of Supply started work with English Electric in 1955, attempting to define a new light bomber to replace the Canberra. These early studies eventually settled on an aircraft with a 2,000 nmi ferry range, a crew of two was required, one being the operator of the advanced navigational and attack equipment. The bombload was to be four 1,000 lb bombs, the operational range was to be 1,000 nmi operating off runways of no more than 3,000 ft. The TSR-2 was able to operate at 200 ft above the ground at speeds of Mach 1.1 and this viewpoint was vigorously debated by the aviation industry and within the MOD for years. Senior RAF officers argued against the White Papers premise, stating the importance of mobility, and that the TSR-2 could not only replace the Canberra, in addition to the argument over the need for manned aircraft, additional political machinations had the effect of complicating the project. In September 1957 the Ministry of Supply informed the heads of the companies that the only acceptable proposals would be those issued from teams consisting of more than one company. Another political matter that did not help was the mutual distrust between the various services, at the time that GOR.339 was being defined, the Royal Navy was in the midst of its NA.39 project, which would eventually become the Blackburn Buccaneer
9.
Bristol Cars
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Bristol Cars is a manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered on Kensington High Street, London, England. After the Second World War, the car division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company was formed, unlike most speciality automakers, Bristol does not court publicity and has only one showroom, on Kensington High Street in London. Nevertheless, the company maintains an enthusiastic and loyal clientele, Bristol has always been a low-volume manufacturer, the most recent published official production figures were for 1982, which stated that 104 cars were produced in that year. The company suspended manufacturing in March 2011, when administrators were appointed,22 staff were made redundant, in April 2011, a new company was formed by the administrator to sells the original assets to Kamkorp. Since 2011, the company has been restoring and selling all models of the marque while a new model was being developed, the company returned to the automotive business in 2015 with an all-new model, called the Bullet, initially dubbed Project Pinnacle. The car was first revealed to the public on 26 July 2016, the British aircraft industry suffered a dramatic loss of orders and great financial difficulties following the Armistice of 1918. On the outbreak of World War II, Sir George Stanley White, the company now employed 70,000 and he knew he must plan for the time when the voracious wartime demand for Bristol aircraft and aircraft engines would suddenly end. The company began working with AFN Ltd, makers of Frazer Nash cars and British importer of BMWs before the war, on plans for a joint venture in automotive manufacture. As early as 1941, a number of papers were written or commissioned by George S. M. White, Sir Stanley’s son and it was decided to purchase an existing manufacturer for this purpose. Alvis, Aston Martin, Lagonda, ERA and Lea-Francis were considered and it led to the immediate take-over of Frazer Nash by the Aeroplane Company. Aldington and his two brothers had marketed the Frazer Nash BMW before the war, and proposed to build an updated version after demobilisation and this seemed the perfect match for the aeroplane company’s own ambitions to manufacture a high quality sports car. With the support of the War Reparations Board, H. J. Aldington travelled to Munich, by July 1945, BAC had created a car division and bought a controlling stake in AFN. A factory was established at Filton Aerodrome, near Bristol, the Bristol Car Division became an independent entity. Bristol Cars was sold after its parent joined with other British aircraft companies in 1960 to create the British Aircraft Corporation, the car division originally merged with Bristol Siddeley Engines, and was marked for closure, but was bought in September 1960 by George S. M. White the chairman and effective founder, White retained the direction of the company, but sold a forty per cent shareholding to Tony Crook, a leading Bristol agent. In September 1969, only a month before the unveiling of the new Bristol 411 at the Earl’s Court Motor Show, the car was only superficially damaged, but he suffered severe trauma. As time passed it became clear that he would never regain his health sufficiently to return to full-time work, to safeguard the future of his workforce, he decided in 1973 to sell his majority shareholding to Crook. As the ties with the White family were severed, British Aerospace requested the company to move its factory from Filton Aerodrome, the showroom on Kensington High Street became the head office, with Crook shuttling between the two in Bristols light aircraft
10.
Concorde
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Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde is a British-French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet airliner that was operated until 2003. It had a speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued flying for the next 27 years and it is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially, the other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which was operated for a much shorter period. Concorde was jointly developed and manufactured by Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation under an Anglo-French treaty, twenty aircraft were built, including six prototypes and development aircraft. Air France and British Airways were the airlines to purchase. The aircraft was used by wealthy passengers who could afford to pay a high price in exchange for Concordes speed. In the UK, any or all of the type are known simply as Concorde, the type was retired in 2003 after the crash of Air France Flight 4590, in which all passengers and crew were killed. The general downturn in the aviation industry after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The group met for the first time in February 1954 and delivered their first report in April 1955, at the time it was known that the drag at supersonic speeds was strongly related to the span of the wing. The team outlined a baseline configuration that looked like an enlarged Avro 730 and this same short span produced very little lift at low speed, which resulted in extremely long take-off runs and frighteningly high landing speeds. In an SST design, this would have required enormous engine power to lift off from existing runways, based on this, the group considered the concept of an SST infeasible, and instead suggested continued low-level studies into supersonic aerodynamics. Soon after, Johanna Weber and Dietrich Küchemann at the RAE published a series of reports on a new wing planform, the vortex will lower the air pressure and cause lift to be greatly increased. This effect had been noticed earlier, notably by Chuck Yeager in the Convair XF-92, Weber suggested that this was no mere curiosity, and the effect could be deliberately used to improve low speed performance. Küchemanns and Webers papers changed the nature of supersonic design almost overnight. Although the delta had already used on aircraft prior to this point. Such a layout would still have good supersonic performance inherent to the span, while also offering reasonable take-off. It would also need to have landing gear to produce the required angle of attack while still on the runway. Küchemann presented the idea at a meeting where Morgan was also present, test pilot Eric Brown recalls Morgans reaction to the presentation, saying that he immediately seized on it as the solution to the SST problem
11.
Heathrow Airport
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Heathrow Airport is a major international airport in London, United Kingdom. In 2016, it handled a record 75.7 million passengers, Heathrow lies 14 miles west of Central London, and has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres. London Heathrow is the hub for British Airways and the primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic. In September 2012, the UK government established the Airports Commission, in July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow and the government approved a third runway in October 2016. Heathrow is 14 mi west of central London, near the end of the London Borough of Hillingdon on a parcel of land that is designated part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The airport is surrounded by the areas of Harlington, Harmondsworth, Longford and Cranford to the north and by Hounslow. To the south lie Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough in Berkshire by the M25 motorway, Heathrow falls entirely under the TW postcode area. As the airport is west of London and as its runways run east–west, for a chronicled history of Heathrow Airport, see History of Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport originated in 1929 as an airfield on land south-east of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name. At that time there were farms, market gardens and orchards there, there was a Heathrow Farm about where Terminal 1 is now, a Heathrow Hall and a Heathrow House. This hamlet was largely along a lane which ran roughly along the east. Development of the whole Heathrow area as a much larger airport began in 1944. But by the time the airfield was nearing completion, World War II had ended, the government continued to develop the airport as a civil airport, it opened as London Airport in 1946 and was renamed Heathrow Airport in 1966. Heathrow Airport is used by over 80 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 84 countries, the airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four terminals and a cargo terminal. Of Heathrows 73.4 million passengers in 2014, 93% were international travellers, the busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New York, with over 3 million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2013. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram, from the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways
12.
Vickers VC10
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The Vickers VC10 is a long-range British airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent hot. Although only a small number of VC10s were built, they provided long service with BOAC. They were also used from 1965 as strategic air transports for the Royal Air Force, the type was retired from RAF service on 20 September 2013. It has been succeeded in the aerial refuelling role by the Airbus Voyager, vC10K3 ZA147 performed the final flight of the type on 25 September 2013. Although privately owned, Britains aviation industry had been government-managed in practice, during the 1950s, the government required the aviation industry to consolidate, in consequence only two engine makers were left by 1959, Rolls-Royce and Bristol Siddeley. In 1951, the Ministry of Supply asked Vickers-Armstrongs to consider a military development of the Valiant V bomber with trans-Atlantic range as a successor to the de Havilland Comet. The concept interested BOAC, who entered into discussion with Vickers, in October 1952, Vickers were contracted to build a prototype which they designated the Type 1000, followed in June 1954 by a production order for six aircraft for the RAF. The planned civil airliner was known as the VC7, development was prolonged by the need to meet the RAFs requirements for short take-off and a self-loading capability. Work started on the prototype but by 1955 the aircrafts increased weight required a powerful engine. In 1955, the government cancelled the RAF order in a round of defence cuts, though BOAC had ordered modified Comet 4s, it viewed the type as an intermediate rather than a long term type. In 1956, BOAC ordered 15 Boeing 707s, several companies proposed a suitable replacement. De Havilland offered the DH.118, a development of the Comet 5 project while Handley Page proposed the HP.97, based on their V bomber, after carefully considering the routes, Vickers offered the VC10. Crucially, Vickers was the only firm willing to launch its design as a private venture, the VC10 was a new design but used some production ideas and techniques, as well as the Conway engines, developed for the V.1000 and VC7. The onboard avionics and flight-deck technology was advanced, a quadruplicated automatic flight control system was intended to enable fully automatic zero-visibility landings. Capacity was up to 135 passengers in a two-class configuration, Vickers calculated that it would need to sell 80 VC10s at about £1.75 million each to break even so, apart from BOACs 25, another 55 remained to be sold. Vickers offered a version, the VC11, to BEA for routes like those to Athens and Beirut. Vickers revamped its plans to try to achieve break-even point with 35 sales at £1.5 million each
