Heston Aerodrome
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Heston Aerodrome opened in 1929 after being built by the company owned by Nigel Norman and Alan Muntz called Airwork ltd.
It operated very succesfully for Private Flying, Military Operations, Commercial Operations, Flight Record Attempts and Resident Aircraft Manufacturers. Along with Garden Parties, Air Displays and Public Demonstrations of New Aircraft.
After the 2nd World War the airport was closed in 1947.
The video on the left shows Neville Chamberlain the prime minister on his return from Germany to Heston Aerodrome after signing the Munich Agreement on the 30th of September 1938
During the Munich Crisis of 1938, when Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain visited Nazi Germany three times in an attempt to avert war.
On 30 September he returned to Heston Aerodrome with an agreement which removed the imminent threat, while allowing Hitler to annexe parts of Czechoslovakia. He brandished a statement signed by the two leaders which said the agreement was “symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again”. Speaking at Downing Street a short while later he said it promised “peace for our time”. This optimism was short lived, as the Munich Agreement was broken within a year and Britain went to war over the Nazi invasion of Poland.
In 1929 the Kings Cup air race was run from Heston and was won by R.L.R Atcherley
In 1931 the Kings Cup air race was run from Heston and was won by E.C.T Edwards
The map below shows the location’s of the following two plane crashes
The photograph on the left shows a captured German Junkers JU88 which was being operated by the RAF’s Enemy Aircraft Evaluation Unit that crashed on the junction of North Hyde Lane and Fern Lane after taking off from Heston Aerodrome on the 15th October 1945.
The British pilot who survived the crash phoned in from the phonebox in front of the bystander to report the accident.
A six month old baby who was reported to be asleep in the house was unharmed, as were all other residents.
Gaston N Riggs
FATAL PLANE CRASH
An American airman was fatally injured on Monday afternoon when a fighter aircraft he was piloting got into difficulties and crashed in North Hyde Lane, Heston, opposite Grange Farm. In its descent the aircraft struck and demolished a corner of the farmhouse, which is in the occupancy of Woodason Aircraft Models. No one was in the demolished section of the building at the time. The aircraft caught fire on crashing. The pilot was extricated, badly injured and suffering from and died on the way to hospital. Contingents of the National Fire Service, wardens from a nearby headquarters and the Civil Defence Rescue Service were quickly on the scene.
The above item refers to another plane that crashed on the 26th of February 1945.
The text is from The Middlesex Chronicle dated Saturday 3rd of March 1945.
The photograph shown left is the house he possibly crashed in to