[Oh and isn’t MAN in Cheshire??]
Indeed it is!
And, give or take a couple of zeroes on the end of the numbers, the reasons why a Thames Estuary airport isn't going to happen are the same as the reasons why CF International won't either.
Exactly, and this thread is very much like the Thames airport "Silver Island" thread: original poster v. everyone else.
As has also been said hindsight is the only exact science, Heathrow would not have been built where it was, Manchester and Liverpool would have built on the former 5 runway USAAF base at Burtonwood and Yeadon would not be the airport for Leeds but there it is and despite your desperate wish for it to change it won't.
Yes it would have been built there, in 1946 it was ideal. The problem is not the location: on flat land, 20 mi. west of London, 6 rwys already there (built by the RAF), on a trunk road, room for expansion, etc., etc.
With hindsight, the rwys should have been parallel not intersecting, but in 1946 no one foresaw that future aircraft would be able to land and takeoff in cross winds, or that LHR would become so busy. Also in hindsight, much more of the open land around LHR should have been safeguarded, and new rwys built sooner.
"If most people already think you are stupid, then its best not to say anything least it might confirms their views"
Brilliant quote isn’t it!