In 1929 the sleepy hamlet of Heath Row was disturbed by the development of the new Great West Aerodrome, which also became known as the Heath Row Aerodrome. A few years later (1936, to be precise) someone spent the month of May taking photographs in the Aerodrome and gathered them together in this album, which we were lucky enough to receive as a donation last year.

Now part of the site of Heathrow Airport, Richard Fairey originally purchased the land from the Vicar of Harmondsworth for a sum of £15,000 (approximately £900,000 in money today). Fairey Aviation Company Ltd. went on to use the airfield to assemble and test the aircraft they manufactured at their factory nearby in Hayes.

These unique images show a variety of early aircraft, with some in the process of construction within Heath Row aerodrome hangars.

The album also contains holiday snaps from the Isle of Wight, Shropshire and Denbighshire, as well as images of aircraft at Kenley Aerodrome, Surrey, on Empire Day in 1936. The album is now part of the Heathrow Archive held here at UWL Archives and is available to view.

For more information on the collections available to consult at UWL archives, visit our webpage: https://www.uwl.ac.uk/library/library-services/university-west-london-archive