Hallo Lawrence.. I've purchased and checked Air Pictorials from Autumn 1955 and 1956 for mention of the Miles at Heston without any luck so far....I haven't got Dec 1955 or 1956 which would cover reports from October of those years....could be in the airfield reports, or 'Journal of a Roving Spotter' or the letters pages.... I think it was heading for Croydon in the fading light or the pilot said he thought it was Croydon (possibly humorously) but where I got these notions from I'm not sure
Re gravel ...I'd love to see a pic of those strange Ham River sand and Gravel Trucks....by 1968 a co. called Hall and Ham River were taken over by Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) a multinational with interests in many Thames Valley land deals (I think Thorpe park was one of theirs)
Another Heston thread I came across searching for 'Heston Airport Bar' was the presence of the USAF 3903 Radar Bomb Scoring Unit.... SAC the USN and the RAF did simulated runs in the area at altitude ....Don Decker the airman who posted the message thought he remembered barges moving the gravel in the pits....I can only remember the temporary rail system serving the eastern pit fed by the Ruston Bucyrus crane... the gravel was processed then transported in the Ham River Co. lorries down New Hyde Lane and Vicarage farm Rd...maybe the barges were used on the western pit near the old Heston Aircraft hangar
Re Steve Remington Collectair pages, I sent him rather a lot of maps
but was able to correct him on the size of Heston airfield....I in turn found that the house I thought had been destroyed in Gaston Riggs fatal Mustang crash was the wrong one(there was also a derelict house corner of New Heston Rd and Vicarage Farm Rd opposite Bens newsagent and Dr Lloyds surgery until about 1954)...I was able to photograph the correct site (the M4!! ) early last year.
I am puzzled by the ATC cadets account.... their is also a similar account by a young girl I think on one of the BBC's People at War web projects I think.... has anybody attempted to list all the crashes at Heston in WWII?
Regards to all on Pprune...I like what i've seen so far and I intend to contribute to the Heathrow thread soon....Mick