BOAC Sports Festival at Heston Airport
Speedbird 48,
I did not have the original photo of the D.H.Dragon G-ACIT so unable to identify the registration of the Hawk Trainer in the background, but it is definitely taken at Denham probably around 1950.
Your sighting of the swiss registered Beechcraft Bonanza at Heston might have been in connection with the sale of a Messerschmidt Bf108 Taifun HB-DUB (ex G-AKZY) which I witnessed flying near my home at Heston sometime in 1952 after reconditioning by Heston Aircraft. This was far from the last aircraft to fly from Heston, at least 5 others passed through the defunct Airport between 1952 and 1964 as noted in my forum "Miles Monoplane landing at Heston Airport ".
This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain, for which the BOAC Sports Festival was a part of the celebration. Even as a young observer aged 12 years who witnessed this fly-in unexpectedly, I am still surprised that there are no other persons still around who also experienced this unique airline venture of the time.