Oct 3 2010
The Stansted Story
Its a very busy airport these days, but it wasnt always the way for Stansted airport.
In world war 2, airports were in short supply and being attacked daily. Britain needed airports and runways to launch their attacks on the enemy in Europe and also to train new pilots. 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.
After opening, the airfield became a base for both British and American aircraft, housing the USAAF Eight air Force as a heavy bomber airfield, but it doubled up as a maintenance and supply depot, helping rebuild broken and damaged planes that had returned from action. Its use was short lived however as the D-Day successes lead to most of these operations being moved to France, but the base carried on as a supply storage area.
With many changes since, Stansted looks a lot different with its 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, cinemas, bars and of course the direct train service from London.
As well as being a busy airport, Stansted has also featured the rich and famous with films, tv shows and adverts all being filmed at the airport including Flight 93 and Last Chance Harvey.
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