I liked the old map of the Heathrow area. I grew up in Stanwell 1957-1973 and lived 100yds from the prominantly featured Wheatsheaf PH. Not sure why thats highlighted as there were several pubs in Stanwell and Wheatsheaf was the smallest.
Used to ride bke from there to Cains Lane Bedfont which is shown on the map on the Heathrow side of the A 30 but at that time only the section east of the a30 survived. A great spotting spot and a popular one. If on Easterlies a much nicer place to watch the world go by was in Stanwell between the longford river and the duke of northumberlands canal which were diverted from the courses shown on the map to run parallel to the southern perimeter road which ran throw open countryside that was the SW corner of LHR down by the 10R as it was hold and 'block 79' where 10L originally started before the extension .
Happy days really quite a rural area in those days pre cargo village.
Oddly enough hardly ever went to the central area- a long long way round ona bike or a really poor bus service to Hounslow and thena connection to the north side and then another connection to the central area.
As to the runways 23R was often used for take offs witha strong SW wind -not uncommon and the flight path was just to the west of my house-some fantastic views as it was not ovr long and the big props didnt climb too quickly- exhausts flaming in the evening sky looked very dramatic. 08L also used quite a bit for landings and also great views .
Can remember 08r being used for take offs- smultaneous with 10R .
The SE -NW runways however seemed to hardly ever be used and were the first to disappear. I do remeber seeing a few landings on the more easterly one -perhaps around 1961 but never saw any landings from the NW.
So from my recollection LHR may have had six runways but it very seldom used more than 4 ( the two 10/28s and the 05/23 pairing.
I later flew numerable times from LHR but only once used anthing other than the main pair and that was returning from my honeymoon in a freezing March 1977 where our Trident 3 landed on 05R.
Bit of a ramble but for me a very interesting thread and one to reflect on just how much that little part of England changed in my life-the Wheatsheaf is still there though!
PB