From Bomber Airfield To Third Busiest Airport
Its a very busy airport these days, but it wasnt always the way for Stansted airport.
During the Second World War, airports or to be more precise, runways were at a premium. Britain needed every last bit of long tarmac it could get, not only to launch offensives in Europe but to help train the many new recruits flooding in to help the war effort. It also needed maintenance depots and that’s where RAF Stansted Mountifchet (as it was known originally) became an important and strategical part of Britain’s air defence.
The air base was used by both American and British air forces, with the Eighth Air Force of America being based here and it ran its usual job of maintenance and supply, repairing aircraft damaged in the war effort. Once victory was secure in Europe howeber, Stansted (as it was always known) saw these operations moved to France, but it carried on as a supply stage.
Stansted looked a lot different back then, obviously without a terminal building, airport parking facilities or the impressive Stansted airport hotels on the modern era and it would be some time before it came close to resembling what it has become today. In fact, between 1945 and 1966, the airfield had somewhat of a chequered period, housing German prisoners of war between 1946 and 1947 to being the base for all training of Fire Service personal for all British airport right up to the mid seventies.
When the first charter holiday flights began in 1966 it was clear that the owners and the British government wanted this to be more than a simple way of escaping the ever busy Gatwick and Heathrow airports and fully intended to turn it in to Britain’s third airport. By 1969, the first terminal building was completed and underwent further expansion just a year later.
Through the eighties and nineties, expansion continued until more than 15 million passengers used the airport. It had grown beyond even the governments expectations and by 1988 a new terminal building was proposed, beign finished 3 years later along with the other buildings that have sprung up including the Stansted Hotels, car parks, restaurants and the close by train service.
Not just content with being a busy airport, the site has also hosted the rich and famous through films like Flight 93 and Last Chance Harvey as well as many TV shows including Eastenders.
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Very good points made here. I agree totally on where the go...