Today we will look at a proposed airport in the center of London that could have changed how people travel to and from the United Kingdom forever. The striking design involved developing a pinwheel-like system of runways and taxiways located at Kings Cross station, then (and now) a busy railway hub in the center of London. The plans came at a time when the commercial aviation industry was just starting to grow.
London's first proper airport was Croydon Airport, which opened in 1920 before eventually being replaced by Heathrow. In 1929, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) was known as the Great West Aerodrome, a small airfield built on farmland southeast of a hamlet called Heathrow. Two years later, in 1931, British architect Charles Glover proposed creating an elevated airport above the railway sidings at Kings Cross station - in practice, this would have been a convenient transport superhub, enabling train passengers to seamlessly switch to air travel.
However, the plan never got off the ground for a variety of reasons that we will explore below. The airport was designed in the shape of a pinwheel Designed in the shape of a pinwheel, Glover's plan called for an elevated network of taxiways and runways built over aircraft hangars and terminal buildings. At the time, London had no skyscrapers like it has today, and planes would have been able to land and take off in any direction.
The circular design attracted much fanfare at the time and, in theory, would have allowed for more effi.
