Heathrow Engineering Hangars
The Hatton Cross Club was indeed the one upstairs at the Hatton Cross roundabout. Downstairs, at various times was the IT department, Staff travel offices and around the back was the BA Clubs Gardening society that used to sell things like bags of compost!. The Hatton Cross Club lasted until the building was torn down sometime in the late 1990s early 2000s from memory. By that time the Runway canteen and the small club adjoining that had already gone. Basically after all the office staff left the base and went to Waterside, there was a gradual winding down of the all the facilities on the base, as it was "only" Engineering staff left. We saw the closure of all the shops on base [in TBA] The banks and Bureau de Change and ATM all went. We lost the BA Ambulance and Fire service and then all the clubs and all the canteens apart from the one in TBJ/K were closed down. Facilities only started to suddenly re-appear after flight and cabin crew training were relocated from Cranebank to the Engineering base. Even now there is no canteen service at night, weekends or outside normal office hours for the Engineers on base...
As a final note the Barclays' Bank at Hatton Cross also closed a couple of years back, probably to do with the fact BA no longer uses Barclay's as it's bank, it uses Deutsche Bank. The Old Barclay's at Hatton Cross which has stood empty for a couple of years now, is allegedly going to be yet another hotel.
As a final note the Barclays' Bank at Hatton Cross also closed a couple of years back, probably to do with the fact BA no longer uses Barclay's as it's bank, it uses Deutsche Bank. The Old Barclay's at Hatton Cross which has stood empty for a couple of years now, is allegedly going to be yet another hotel.
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Ipswich
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That's substantially correct.
TBB was on the south side of what is now Envoy Road (currently a huge car park).
The original TBD (aka "East Hangar" or Bays 11-20, including workshope, engine test cell, etc in BEA days) was on the site of the current blast pen (you can still see the footprint of the building on GE). The designator TBD was later recycled for. I think, the BMI hangar.
TBE (aka "West Hangar" or Bays 1-10) is indeed the one to which the Cathedral hangar was bolted on (losing access to Bay 1 in the process). Bays 6-10 have been demolished together with the offices above. I have a feeling that what's left - the bit visible from the CTA - may be listed, which is perhaps why it still survives.
Other notable buildings to have vanished over the years include Speedbird House, Comet House, Viscount House (and extension) and, most importantly, the Runway and Hatton Cross canteens (I assume the one inside TBA survives).
TBB was on the south side of what is now Envoy Road (currently a huge car park).
The original TBD (aka "East Hangar" or Bays 11-20, including workshope, engine test cell, etc in BEA days) was on the site of the current blast pen (you can still see the footprint of the building on GE). The designator TBD was later recycled for. I think, the BMI hangar.
TBE (aka "West Hangar" or Bays 1-10) is indeed the one to which the Cathedral hangar was bolted on (losing access to Bay 1 in the process). Bays 6-10 have been demolished together with the offices above. I have a feeling that what's left - the bit visible from the CTA - may be listed, which is perhaps why it still survives.
Other notable buildings to have vanished over the years include Speedbird House, Comet House, Viscount House (and extension) and, most importantly, the Runway and Hatton Cross canteens (I assume the one inside TBA survives).
BOAC Wing Hangar
In September 1990 work was begun to protect the cable stays which had cracks appearing in the bitumen coating & to the underlying concrete encasement, with rust showing through. The hangar was demolished reputedly by explosives in the 1990s, alarming the local population, and is now a car park.
NB Originally built with door holes for Britannia/DC7C tails, the hangar had been extended both sides to cover VC10s, completed by 1963.
PS Thanks for the compliments from another, the book is still selling albeit in small numbers.
From my Book: Heathrow: From Tents to Terminal 5:
BOAC Wing Hangar
In September 1990 work was begun to protect the cable stays which had cracks appearing in the bitumen coating & to the underlying concrete encasement, with rust showing through. The hangar was demolished reputedly by explosives in the 1990s, alarming the local population, and is now a car park.
NB Originally built with door holes for Britannia/DC7C tails, the hangar had been extended both sides to cover VC10s, completed by 1963.
PS Thanks for the compliments from another, the book is still selling albeit in small numbers.
BOAC Wing Hangar
In September 1990 work was begun to protect the cable stays which had cracks appearing in the bitumen coating & to the underlying concrete encasement, with rust showing through. The hangar was demolished reputedly by explosives in the 1990s, alarming the local population, and is now a car park.
NB Originally built with door holes for Britannia/DC7C tails, the hangar had been extended both sides to cover VC10s, completed by 1963.
PS Thanks for the compliments from another, the book is still selling albeit in small numbers.
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: House
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The timeframe for its demolition (per GE) appears to be roughly the same as for TBD, Viscount House, etc - some time between January 2006 and March 2008.
I didn't visit there much after about 1976 as for the rest of my time with BA (other than the last couple of months) I was based in the Central Area (QB/T1/T3).
I didn't visit there much after about 1976 as for the rest of my time with BA (other than the last couple of months) I was based in the Central Area (QB/T1/T3).
The Hatton Cross Club was upstairs on the right side of Building 442. Downstairs was travel, and the IT support team called PCHQ.
Shown in the earlier photograph of Viscount House was also the flatter building(Viscount House Annexe) and a two story portacabin to the right, which went by the grand title of Viscount House Annexe Extension.
On the BA hangars theme, it seems that in yet another cost cutting 'brainwave' at BA someone decided the engineers had access to far too many hangars and have sold off [what was] the British Midland hangar that BA inherited when they 'absorbed BMi' and so yet another very useful hangar facility has been lost to BA. The hangar concerned was very flexible and could house one large widebody aircraft [all types apart from A380] or two/three smaller Airbus types.
It has been sold to United who have wasted no time in increasing their staff at Heathrow to take on much more work and have [allegedly] managed to poach approx 75 ex BA engineers with a better pay and conditions package.
It has been sold to United who have wasted no time in increasing their staff at Heathrow to take on much more work and have [allegedly] managed to poach approx 75 ex BA engineers with a better pay and conditions package.
Couple of Hatton Cross pix I took in 1962 as a young reggie spotter. I climbed to the top of the blast fence to snap the B707s and was ordered back down by a BOAC staff member. The aircraft in the hangar might be a DC-7C (freighter). Can't remember the exact location of the Comet pic, or why the BOAC logo had been painted over.
Nice pictures Doscorde, the just visible nose could be the apprentice training Argonaut G-ALHJ, it had been returned from lease with East African Airways in 1961.
Not sure about where the Comet is parked but it might be in front of the hangars that were in the process of being taken over by British Eagle, hence the deletion of the BOAC titles.
Not sure about where the Comet is parked but it might be in front of the hangars that were in the process of being taken over by British Eagle, hence the deletion of the BOAC titles.
Nice pictures Doscorde, the just visible nose could be the apprentice training Argonaut G-ALHJ, it had been returned from lease with East African Airways in 1961.
Not sure about where the Comet is parked but it might be in front of the hangars that were in the process of being taken over by British Eagle, hence the deletion of the BOAC titles.
Not sure about where the Comet is parked but it might be in front of the hangars that were in the process of being taken over by British Eagle, hence the deletion of the BOAC titles.
Concur with the other replies about the hangar being one of the old hangars that were sold to British Eagle. They are in the rough area of where the Virgin Hangar and [what was] the British Midland hangar are located. The last of these old hangars was taken down in the 1990s. Ironically the hangar with the painted out BOAC titles that went to British Eagle ended up going back into BOAC hands when British Eagle folded. One of the ex British Eagle engineers I knew told me of how he was at work ready to start a night shift when news came through that British Eagle had gone under. They were working on a Britannia in the hangar at the time and the foreman told them to pack up all their tools and make sure they took all their belongings as they would not be able to get back in after they went home. My friend was still in the process of packing up all his tools when into the hangar strolled a BOAC foreman from across the road and informed all the guys left in the hangar that BOAC had acquired the hangar and the aircraft inside, so anyone who wanted to work for BOAC was to report back to the hangar the next day to be signed on as BOAC staff, so he never actually finished packing up his tools and went on to work for BOAC and BA for another 25+ years.
These replies have jogged my memory in regard to identifying those hangars. In the mid-sixties my summer vac job was in the Air Canada Commissary building located near the Eagle hangars. Some pix here, including the grounded fleet late in '68. One lunchtime in the summer of '68 I took my camera along to snap aircraft struggling with a gusty wind landing on R23L. The four-bladed prop in front of the propliner in the BOAC hangar - a red herring? (The Argos had three-bladed props.) Or is it not a prop but another piece of kit?
On the BA hangars theme, it seems that in yet another cost cutting 'brainwave' at BA someone decided the engineers had access to far too many hangars and have sold off [what was] the British Midland hangar that BA inherited when they 'absorbed BMi' and so yet another very useful hangar facility has been lost to BA. The hangar concerned was very flexible and could house one large widebody aircraft [all types apart from A380] or two/three smaller Airbus types.
It has been sold to United who have wasted no time in increasing their staff at Heathrow to take on much more work and have [allegedly] managed to poach approx 75 ex BA engineers with a better pay and conditions package.
It has been sold to United who have wasted no time in increasing their staff at Heathrow to take on much more work and have [allegedly] managed to poach approx 75 ex BA engineers with a better pay and conditions package.
