to 1939: The airfield was first called Harmondsworth Aerodrome, then The Great West Aerodrome, and sometimes Heathrow Aerodrome. One prewar map labels it "Airport". A hangar was built. Fairey planned to relocate its factory at Hayes to the site. The Great West Aerodrome was used for aircraft assembly and testing. Commercial traffic used Croydon Airport, which was London's main airport at the time. 1935 to 1939: The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) held its annual garden party fly-ins at Heathrow airfield, at the invitation of Richard Fairey, chairman and managing director of Fairey Aviation Company Ltd, and a past president of the RAeS. The events were aviation society gatherings combined with promotion and display of aircraft and their manufacturers, before the development of aircraft industry shows in Britain, from 1947. Richard Fairey, who started in business with model aircraft, also allowed weekend use of the airfield by model aircraft clubs. More people were said to visit Heathrow on that one day than they did for the rest of the year. 5 May 1935: The first Fairey's airshow. A description in The Aeroplane magazine (8 May 1935) calls the place "Heathrow Aerodrome, Harmondsworth". 19 June 1936: A meeting of the Aerodromes Committee of Middlesex County Council, among other things, discussed and rejected an idea to have an aerodrome in the Heathrow area "at Harmondsworth near the Perry Oaks sludge works", with later extension by 300 acres: reasons against were the presence of the Perry Oaks sewage sludge treatment works and of Fairey Aviation's aerodrome, and the Ministry of Agriculture objecting to loss of first-rate farmland: see Heathrow (hamlet). 14 May 1939: The last Fairey's airshow. Its brochure calls the place "Great West Aerodrome, near Hayes", and no mention of Heathrow. 1940s What became the airport was used by the RAF during the Second World War, but only for diversions. 1940: No. 229 Squadron Hurricanes from RAF Northolt were sent to the Great West Aerodrome while there was a threat of enemy attack on Northolt. 1942: Richard Fairey was knighted as Sir Richard Fairey, and held the position of Director General of the British Air Mission, based primarily in Washington, DC. 1943: Fairey Aviation bought 10 more acres of land to add to the total of bought in 1929, 1930, 1939 and 1942. The company planned to move its factory from Hayes to the aerodrome at Heathrow. 1943: The Air Ministry, headed by