Remarks: The World Cup football nose machine is well at home being set against the demolition of Heathrow's Terminal 2 after England's hopes were comprehensively demolished in South Africa. Unlike the team who put in a series of performances ranging from inept to insulting, T2 served the airport well since it became Heathrow's first terminal to be constructed. For a brief period the terminal served long haul flights with the airport's first non-stop flight to California departing there in 1957 but once the "Oceanic" terminal (T3) was built T2 became London's main terminal for serving short haul destinations. Architect Frederick Gibberd was also responsible for designing the old control tower while the original "Central Terminal Area" also included construction of the famous Queens Building (see Central Terminal Area and Control Tower... (Click Here)). This section is perhaps the most significant factor in spawning 'plane spotting' as we know it today when, immediately after the war years, hoards of people were bussed into the building as a family day out partly to redirect the negative perceptions of aircraft prevalent at the time. It didn't take long for people to start collecting registration numbers and for the first fleet lists to appear while the following decade saw remarkable scenes when the Queens Building would get overrun with screaming girls waving homemade banners when acts such as The Beatles arrived in London from worldwide tours. The complex was opened by HM The Queen in 1955 with the section bearing her title being demolished in 2009. The T2 redevelopment is due to be completed in 2013 and is set to serve the Star Alliance airlines with up to 20 million passengers a year before expanding into the current T1 area and handling up to 30m passengers by 2019.
