Originally Posted by vintage ATCO
Very unfair. Luton during this period was a manufactuer's airfield.
Doesn't this underline the point? Luton was opened pre-war as a civil airport, but after the War, as VA says it became primarily a manufacturer's site with the local council doing absolutely nothing. Compare this with say, Cardiff (Pengham Moors being replaced by Rhoose, now Cardiff/Wales, in 1954), Bristol (Whitchurch being replaced by Lulsgate, now Bristol Intl, in 1957) and Derby (Burnaston being replaced by East Midlands in 1965) and it's clear that there was very little forward-planning or enterprise coming from the council.
The fact that their idea of a 'modern' terminal building in the early sixties was a wooden shack again illustrates this lack of interest, planning and understanding.
