The BAA Fire Service cap badge has undergone 3 changes, the latest being its Fire & Rescue badge title, this is the 1st pattern cap badge worn from 1966 to 1986 & is a one piece cap badge.
Heathrow Airport situated in West London on the borders of 3 counties, is the busiest airport in the U.K & Europe handling the most passenger traffic, a Category 10 Airport on the worlds airport scales, not too far away from its smaller sister Gatwick Airport in West Sussex. Both airports are controlled by B.A.A & the fire service is run as one!
It has 1 main command station, Building 450 on the Northern Perimeter Road of the airport & 2 fire stations are situated on east & west sides of the airport. It has an impressive “arsenal” of firefighting vehicles, 4 six wheel drive major foam tenders, 2 four wheel drive light foam tenders, 2 Scania domestic pumping fire tenders, 2 Mitsubishi Shogun command vehicles, Scania hose laying lorry & 42m aerial ladder, personnel carriers & reserve foam tenders. Also supported by local authority fire crews on every incident, Hayes fire station at Shepiston Lane is the closest & has a hose laying lorry”, also Feltham Fire Station in Faggs Road, Feltham Village on the outskirts of Heathrow Airport has a London Fire Brigade Foam Tender close by.
The airport was originally a Royal Flying Corps airfield in the first world war, bought in 1930 by famous British aviation engineer Richard Fairey. He bought approximately 150 acres from the Vicar of Harmondsworth Villiage for £15,000 to build a new private airfield to test his aircraft. He was using R.A.F Northolt but his factory producing the aircraft was in North Hyde Road, Hayes, he built a single runway & a small number of buildings. It became known as Faireys Great West Aerodrome. In world war 2 (ww2 1939 to 1945) the government requisitioned the land, once the ancient village of Heath Row,
B.A.A Heathrow/ Gatwick Airport Fire Service Cap
£5.00Price
- taking in Fairey’s Aerodrome & intended using it as an R.A.F base for long range troop carrying aircraft, it became R.A.F Heston!
On 1st January 1946 the government handed the land back to the Air Ministry & designated it to be used to build London’s new major airport, prior to that had been Croydon.
The airport devel oped quickly, its 1st commercial flight was made by a converted Lancaster Bomber named “starlight” to Buenos Aires in Argentina. From 1946 Fairey’s 1930 aircraft hanger was home to the fire station & was finally demolished in 1964 after a long running legal battle between Fairey & The Government over the famous hanger, eventually paying him a large sum in settlement.
The first pattern cap badge was worn from 1966 to 1986 when British Airport Authorities was created. It changed to the 2nd pattern in 1986 when B.A.A changed hands & renamed BAA.
A genuine used condition cap badge, this cap badge is complete with both cap fixing lugs intact to the rear, it has seen better days but is genuine & complete.