It's been a while since I've been hunting planes, and now with Heathrow just a hop, skip and a jump away, why not have a gander at the movement of heavy aircraft at Europe's busiest international airport. Today we hunt down the largest airliners flying at present, with a myriad of Boeing's and Airbus' making their approach to Britain's main gateway. Since my last visit the tables have turned more in favour of the Airbus, and many Boeing aircraft types have disappeared almost completely. In earnest, only British Airways operates a sizeable fleet of Boeing 747's at Heathrow, with a few operated by Virgin, whilst the rest of the Boeing examples come in the form of large Boeing 777 and 767 variants which saw off many ageing Boeing 747's. Airbus however easily holds sway, with a majority of domestic flights being operated by Airbus A320 family members and larger international flights being flown by the enormous Airbus A380, of which several examples were present today. It is expected that the Airbus A380 will begin to see off many of the older Boeing 747's in the British Airways fleet, whilst the Boeing 787 and newer 777 variants plan to take over from the aged Boeing 767's, which have since gone out of production. The location for today's shoot is near the end of Runway 27R at the former site of the Heathrow Level Crossing, where the East Perimeter Road used to cross the main apron of the British Airways Maintenance Centre, with traffic controlled by railway style level crossing lights and gates. However, due to major congestion caused whenever a slow moving aircraft was taxied across the road, the level crossing was closed in 2005 and the road diverted further to the east. Today however, the level crossing lights remain in place although fenced off. Heathrow's history dates back to 1930, where an area of 71 acres was purchased near the hamlet of Heathrow to create the Harmondsworth Aerodrome, later to be known as The Great West Aerodrome, and finally Heathrow Aerodrome, which was used for the testing and assembly of aircraft for the Fairey aviation company. During WWII, the aerodrome was the additional base for several Hurricanes of 229 Squadron based at the nearby RAF Northolt as a reserve in case attacks by the luftwaffe rendered Northold inoperable. It was during this period that plans were considered for turning the Great Western Aerodrome into an International Airport and by 1946, the airport had been equipped with 3 runways in a triangular pattern. Later that year, the airport opened as London Airport, with its first operations being carried out by BOAC, and later Panair and Qantas. Throughout the 1950's various parishes and hamlets surrounding the rapidly expanding airport were demolished in order to allow for the construction of a further 3 runways and by 1953 the airport had served 1 million passengers. In 1955, the first permanent passenger terminal building was constructed (which is now Terminal 2), as well as the 127ft control tower. In 1959, Croydon Airport (the original International Airport for London), was closed, and traffic transferred to Heathrow and Gatwick. As the 1960's rolled in, the east-west runways were extended to 9,300 and 11,000ft whilst the diagonal runways were put out of use. As the Jet Age took shape, more terminals and runway extensions took place, with the additional capacity of Terminal 3 being added, a new cargo terminal being built to the south of Runway 27L, and the two runways themselves being extended to their current length of 12,000ft to accommodate the newly built Boeing 747. In 1977, the Piccadilly Line was extended to Heathrow Central, located underneath Terminals 1, 2 & 3, and by 1980 the airport was serving 30 million people. This huge volume of passengers resulted in the construction and opening of Terminal 4 to the south in 1986, with connections to the rest of the airport via the Piccadilly Line. The 1990's saw the heyday of aviation (to my mind), with hundreds of airlines and thousands of aircraft serving Heathrow, including the prestigious Concorde and it's 3 hour supersonic, Trans-Atlantic flights to New York JFK being the triumph of the airport. 1997 saw plans drawn up for Heathrow Terminal 5, and a year later the Heathrow Express opened to Terminals 1, 2, 3 & 4, connecting London Paddington and the Airport in 15 minutes. In the 2000s and 2010s, Heathrow has continued to see massive change. Heathrow Terminal 5 opened in 2008, and Terminals 2 and 3 have been rebuilt for greater capacity at the expense of space on the apron. However, now the airport's future hangs in uncertainty, with either the prospect of major expansion to the north with Heathrow Terminal 6 & a Third Runway, or full closure of the airport in favour of a new airport being built in the Thames Estuary. As of October 2014 both plans have been shelved, although with capacity continuing to be required, the needs to satisfy more air traffic is a problem that will not go away. Enjoy!

• published: 21 Oct 2014
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