Abstract
Before the Second World War there were few airfields in Great Britain with paved runways.The grassed flight strips of the pre-war years could carry the wheel loads of the aircraft then in use with little maintenance, other than grass cutting and rolling clinker or stone into local soft patches. From 1939 onwards, the increasing weight of aircraft, and more intensive flying, made it necessary to construct airfields with paved runways to permit operation in all weathers.From 1939 to 1945, 444 airfields were constructed with paved runways for the Royal Air Force at a cost of £200,000,000, excluding the cost of building construction. Since 1945 the emphasis has been upon airfields for civil use, and the great airfields at Idlewild, Boston, Johannesburg and London Airport have been built.
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