As a kid I lived in Grange Road Hayes. My friends and I often cycled to Cranford Woods, adjacent to Heston airfield and I remember going to see a B17 on its belly near the end of the "runway". Can't imagine many other four engine aircraft willingly using the field. I learnt to swim in the summer of 1943 and from then made frequent cycle trips to Heston swimming pool, the journey taking us past the airfield. I seem to remember that most of the aircraft there were fairly boring types such as Cessna Bobcats and Fairchild Argus. In 1945 I went for my first flight from Heston in an Anson with the ATC.
Also in 1940 aged 9, we cycled to near Northolt to see where a Magister had crashed only to be disappointed as the wreck had been removed. However I did find a small piece of perspex with blood on it which stayed in my treasure box for a long time. Later in the war the road down the hill towards the Polish War Memorial, now the A4180 West End Road, had on its eastern side several small hangers disguised and painted like houses and we saw Spitfires being moved along the road to and from the airfield. Of course there are real houses there now! I like to think we were more adventurous than present day kids but most parents would now not allow their offspring to disappear for hours at a time.