Grass runway length and Ju88 crash
Glad that between us we've put the Ju88 on record here - and glad, to be honest, to have confirmation I didn't dream it.
The grass runway at Heston was 1000 yards long in 1939, as shown on the Air Ministry plan, p153 in Tim Sherwood's "Coming in to Land" - but by 1945, according to an aerial photograph I have, the eastern boundary (only) had extended to the pre-war planned "superstandard airport" line, i.e., to the present line of North Hyde Lane. Scaling one against the other, it looks as though the final run may have been about 3,850 feet. Anybody know for sure? Yes, larger aircraft did use Heston intermittently but presumably not with full ordnance loads in the case of the bombers. What was inaccurate about the quotation was the statement that "Heston Airport was close by and always busy with Flying Fortresses taking off and landing", giving the impression it was a bomber base.
Incidentally, "Winkle" Brown tells us, in "Wings of the Luftwaffe", that wheel brakes on WWII German aircraft were generally very poor. His first Ju88 test flight (the "Chivenor" Ju88-A5) surprised him in revealing efficient brakes for once - but, of course, by the time Junkers reached the G-6 night fighter variant, the Ju88 was a much heavier beast. I also wonder whether the general brake inefficiencies he found were due to one of the raw material shortages the Third Reich chronically suffered from - something absent from their brake pad compositions perhaps? Anyway, it would be interesting to know whether failing brakes on a heavy machine caused the Heston accident, or was it pilot error, wet grass or exactly what? Oh dear, I've started another hare running!