Originally Posted by chris18london
Unless i'm mistaken, until they decommissioned runway 23 at LHR, they used billboards to tell the pilots which one was Heathrow and which one was Northolt after a couple of errors
. I think they may still even be there..
Yep, in 1960 a PanAm 707 landed at Northolt mistaking it for LHR. There was a gasometer(s) on the final approaches to both airports to confuse things further. I read that after this incident, on the one near Northolt they painted, "NOT LHR" on it.
Rumour has it the 707 had to be stripped of all interior fittings such as galleys, seats etc to fly it back out of Northolt.