Stansted Airport marks 80 years since opening as US airbase

Passengers, pictured in the 1970s, now fly to more than 200 destinations from Stansted

An airport that started life as a US military base during World War Two is marking its 80th anniversary.

London Stansted Airport opened as George Washington Field on 7 August 1943 and was home to four Martin B-26 Marauder squadrons.

It was handed to the Civil Aviation Authority and the first commercial flights took off in the 1960s.

Managers are planning a building extension in order to handle 43 million passengers a year, up from 26 million.

London Stansted Airport began life as a US Army Air Force World War Two base in 1943

Airport managing director Gareth Powell said: "It's amazing to look back and acknowledge those early efforts have ultimately culminated in the Stansted Airport we see today."

The airport is running a competition on social media offering eight people the chance to win £100 travel vouchers, to celebrate the landmark.

The site was home to the USAAF Eighth Air Force

The base was handed back to the Civil Aviation Authority after World War Two and was home to many of Britain’s charter airlines

The first commercial jets arrived in the early 1960s

Queen Elizabeth II opened the £400m new Norman Foster-designed terminal building in 1991, which increased the passenger capacity from two to eight million a year

Former US President Barack Obama flew in and out of Stansted

US President Donald Trump also flew into Stansted

London Stansted Airport is on the other side of the M11 motorway from Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, but within the Uttlesford district of Essex

Davide Sanclimenti and Ekin-Su Culculoglu, winners of the reality ITV2 show Love Island, were welcomed at Stansted in 2022

London Stansted Airport plans to build a new terminal building and increase capacity from 26 million to 43 million passengers per year