Crazy London airport on a bridge over the River Thames that was nearly built next to Big Ben
LONDON was nearly home to a central airport that would have been built on the Thames – with planes right by Big Ben and Parliament.
With the city currently home to six airports, the previous designs would have predated them all.
Put forward in the 1930s, the airport would have put it right next to the Houses of Parliament.
It was thought that the location was the best spot on the river, being one of the straightest parts.
Images of the designs were published in Popular Science Magazine in January 1934.
The plans showed the entire structure spanning the river between Westminster Bridge to Lambeth Bridge, which had just opened at the time.
Planes would take off from the top deck, which would be more than 300ft high.
A lower deck would be where planes were stored, with an airplane elevator taking them between levels.
And below this was open space to allow ships to still pass through the airport without hitting it.
A passenger lift would be in the columns on either side of the river, allowing them to travel up from the ground to the top deck.
The article says: “Building a monster landing field above the River Thames is now being advocated before officials of the city of London, England, as a means of providing the city with an airport close to it’s business center.
“The bridge-like structure, according to one plan put forward, would be high enough to clear the tallest masts of ships and would include an upper deck for landing and a lower deck with hangar space for planes.”
Sadly, the ambitious design was never built.
While the reasons are unknown, it was likely to be scrapped due to its proximity to the government building, with noise complaints as well as vibration damages likely.
It would also been difficult to expand the airport if it ever reached capacity limits.
Even if it had been built at the time, it likely would not have been in use today as a large airport, with longer runways now needed for larger aircraft.
It wasn’t the only ambitious airport plan for the capital city.
Put forward in 2013, London Britannia was a six-runway airport to be built on an island just outside the city.
Also dubbed both Thames Hub Airport and even Boris Island, the £50billion airport would allow flights to operate 24 hours a day.
As many as 110million passengers were predicted to use it, when it opened in 2029.
It was scrapped in 2014 over fears for the nearby environment as well as predicted costs that could see it hit £100billion.
And Kings Cross Station was even nearly turned into an airport.
Top 15 busiest airports in the UK
Here are the 15 busiest airports in the UK by passenger numbers in 2023
- London Heathrow – 79.2 million
- London Gatwick – 40.9 million
- Manchester – 28.1 million
- London Stansted – 28.0 million
- London Luton – 16.4 million
- Edinburgh – 14.4 million
- Birmingham – 11.5 million
- Bristol – 9.9 million
- Glasgow – 7.4 million
- Belfast International – 6.0 million
- Newcastle – 4.8 million
- Liverpool – 4.2 million
- Leeds Bradford – 4.0 million
- East Midlands – 3.9 million
- London City – 3.4 million
The circular design was rejected due to financial fears as well as concerns planes could fall off the edge of the runway.
Here’s an abandoned UK airport that was once the world’s biggest – and is now an attraction.