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Stansted Airport first became operational during World War II and was used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force as a bomber airfield. At the time the airports official name was Stansted Montfitchet but was simply known as Stansted in both written and spoken form. During the war years Stansted was home to the 344th Bombardment group who eventually moved their operations to landing ground at Cormeillies-en-vexin, France. As well as being an operational bomber base Stansted also acted as a maintenance and supply depot carrying out task such as overhauls and modications. In August 1945 after the war the Americans withdraw from Stansted and the airport was taken over by the Air Ministry and used once again for mostly maintenance. The Ministry of Civil Aviation finally took control of Stansted in 1949, but the US military returned in 1954 to extend the runway for a possible transfer to NATO. In the end the transfer to NATO did not happen and the airport returned once again to civil use in 1957 and was brought by BAA in 1966. During the 60s, 70s and early 80s Stansted became home to the Fire Service Training School and was based on the eastern side of the airfield. Training for all Aviation Fire Crew for UK Airfields as well as many overseas countries became the responsibility of the school.
Commerical operations began 1966 with BAA now running the airport, the main usage of the airport was for holiday charter operators wishing to escape the higher costs in regards to operating from Heathrow or Gatwick. From the very beginning of operations BAA and the British government had plans to develop Stansted into London's third airport. By developing Stansted this would relief congestion in the future on Heathrow and Gatwick, so with this in mind the first airport terminal building opened in 1969 which was expanded the following year to handle the growing passenger numbers. In 1984 Stansted airport would receive approval from the government to develop the airport in two phases both involving improvements to the airfield and terminal. By carrying out these improvement this will increase the airport's capacity to 15 million passenger per year.
Stansted airport terminal is unlike many other airports especially within the UK as the terminal design is that of an oblong glass structure which is seperated in to three areas, Check-in concourse, Arrivals and Departures. A great design feature is that there are no gates within the main terminal instead there are three seperate oblong satellite buildings in which the gates are located with a fourth proposed for the future. In regards to future expansion BAA have submitted a planning application for a second runway to be built and operational by 2017 plus expansion of the existing terminal. The expansion would increase the floorspace by nearly 5,900 square metres with a completion date of 2009. As part of that increase in floorspace new facilities will be added such as additional baggage carousels, a new immigration and passport control hall and a hypostyle arrivals hall with improved facilities.