the Secretary of State for Air (Sir Archibald Sinclair), secretly developed plans to requisition the airfield under wartime legislation – the Defence of the Realm Act 1914. The plans were stated to be designed to suit the considerable needs of long-range bombers, such as USAAF Boeing B-29s, but they were actually based on recommendations from professor Patrick Abercrombie for a new international airport for London. The project was headed by Harold Balfour (then Under-Secretary of State for Air, later Lord Balfour of Inchrye), who kept the true nature of it hidden from Parliament. January 1944: The decision and plans were finally revealed. The wartime legislation provided no obligation to pay compensation; Fairey Aviation was offered compensation at the 1939 farming land market rate of £10 per acre; that was rejected. Sir Richard wrote to his co-chairman of Fairey Aviation: The Air Ministry requisitioned the aerodrome, although the role that Fairey Aviation was fulfilling in the war effort meant the Ministry of Aircraft Production would only sanction the action if another site could be found for the test flights. Fairey moved to Heston Aerodrome, and stayed there until 1947, when it moved to White Waltham airfield in Berkshire. That proved especially inconvenient for the company, as the airfield was over from Hayes. As the aerodrome at Heathrow had been bought under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914, it meant the Government did not have to pay compensation when compulsorily acquiring land. Fairey sought compensation through legal proceedings that continued until 1964. Until their conclusion, the former Fairey hangar at Heathrow could not be demolished; afterwards it was used as Heathrow Airport's fire station. An attempt by the Air Ministry to take over the Perry Oaks sewage sludge works to fit in the top left corner of a ∇ layout of three runways caused furious exchanges with Middlesex County Council, who had to resist, as that would need first building somewhere else to treat the sewage sludge handled there, and building new connecting sewers, all in wartime. 12 February 1944: Winston Churchill objected to the usage of 3,000 men and much effort on the Heathrow project during the run-up to Operation Overlord. The Ministry of Agriculture objected to the loss of good farm and market garden land. April 1944: The Air Ministry requisitioned the airfield and surrounding farms, roads and houses, ostensibly to accommodate military bombers. (Harold Balfour (later Lord Balfour),