at Whitchurch, circa 1941 In late August 1939, the airport was requisitioned by the
Air Ministry, and was declared a Restricted Area. Starting on 1 September 1939, 59 aircraft belonging to Imperial Airways and
British Airways Ltd were evacuated from
Croydon Airport and
Heston Aerodrome to Whitchurch. The two airlines, which were in the process of merging to form
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), became the nucleus of
National Air Communications (NAC), formed to undertake wartime air transport work. Airport security was increased, with barbed wire fencing and Air Ministry police posts. During the next two years, an east–west tarmac runway and taxiways were constructed. In late 1939, civilian flights resumed. From September 1940, six aircraft of the Dutch airline
KLM, which had escaped to Britain after the German invasion of the Netherlands, were also based at Whitchurch. These aircraft with their Dutch crews operated flights to
Lisbon in neutral Portugal, under
charter to BOAC. The
Air Transport Auxiliary established
No. 2 Ferry Pilots Pool ATA (FPP) at Whitchurch during 1940. No. 2 FPP was mainly concerned with ferrying
Blenheims,
Beaufighters and
Beauforts built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company at
Filton;
Hurricanes built by the
Gloster Aircraft Company at
Brockworth, Gloucestershire and
Whirlwinds and
Spitfires produced by
Westland Aircraft at
Yeovil in
Somerset. The unit was disbanded in 1945. During 1942–1943, civil services were developed to
Shannon Airport and an extension of the Lisbon route to
Gibraltar, with Lisbon and Shannon providing connections to the United States. Famous passengers who used these services included
Bob Hope,
Bing Crosby,
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and
Eleanor Roosevelt. On 1 June 1943,
BOAC Flight 777 was shot down en route to Whitchurch from Lisbon, with the loss of four Dutch crew and 13 passengers, including the actor
Leslie Howard. In November 1944, BOAC moved out to
Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, because the runways there were capable of accommodating larger aircraft, and the success of the
Invasion of Normandy had lessened the danger from the
Luftwaffe. ==Post war==