T he time, 1am. The place, Heathrow - the richest, and busiest airport in the world. In this early hour of the morning, a special consignment of gold bullion is being unloaded from a giant 747 and a crack team of Airport Police are on 'baby-sit' duty. Some of the best trained police to safeguard £3 million.

The strength of the British Airports Authority Constabulary in 1966 was 201 across the four airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Prestwick. The BAAC at Stansted Airport consisted of one Sergeant and nine Constables in 1966. This was increased by an Inspector in 1971 and a Police Dog and Dog Handler by 1972 and decreased by a Constable by 1974. In 1972, they were moved to larger quarters nearby that remained in use as the operational police station at Stansted Airport until 1992. The disposition of Officers at Gatwick included two Inspectors and thirty Officers, including CID, under a Superintendent.

Although not a Home Office force, from May 1968 onwards, all Officers attended Home Office approved training schools. This was also the case for continuation training. Each Constable had to satisfactorily complete a two year probationary period that started from the day of appointment. The period of probation could be reduced or waived for those with prior Police Service. An initial ten week Training School course together with other Home Office forces took place at Bruche, Lancs; Ryton on Dunsmore, Yorkshire; and Eynsham Hall, Berks. Continuation Training was at Dishforth, Yorkshire and Nutfield, Surrey. Constables to be based at Scottish Airports attended a four week initial course at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan.

There was the opportunity to take the qualifying examination for promotion to Sergeant as well as to branch out into specialised departments after completing the probationary period. CID Courses were at Liverpool, Lancs and Bishopgarth, Wakefield, Yorkshire with Scenes of Crime (SOCO) and Photographic with the Metropolitan Police in London. The Driving School at Chelmsford, Essex was also attended. The German Shepherd handlers of the Dog Section went to the British Transport Police Dog Training School at Elstree. Additional training was also available in Crime Prevention, Instructor Courses and Traffic Law.

A daily eight hour period of duty was worked with a reasonable amount of overtime to be expected from time to time. The latter was compensated by time off or an overtime payment. A total of 160 hours was required to be worked in each four week period during which there were eight rest days that did not necessarily fall on a Saturday or Sunday.

The BAAC was a predominantly male Force but did endeavour to recruit women. By 1969, there were fifteen female members within the Constabulary. To increase this number, following in the steps of the Metropolitan Police, a new uniform was introduced for women in September of 1969 coupled with a recruiting campaign tailored toward attracting female recruits. The new uniform was issued for use in January 1970.

The Officers who served under the British Airports Authority Constabulary were a professional force of dedicated Officers who often worked in extreme conditions, particularly when dealing with aircraft disasters and the aftermath that ensued. The dramatic scenarios referenced in BAAC recruitment adverts were not without a basis in reality. Although dramatised for effect, they were based on actual events that shaped the days of members of the Force. In December 1967, a four-engined Argosy Cargo Plane crashed after take-off at Stansted Airport. The crew of three were taken to hospital. Stansted Airport was also later the scene of a protest sit-in by more than 100 passengers diverted to Stansted from their original destination of Manchester Airport. The Airport Police were among those negotiating with the passengers to continue on by coach for the remaining 200 miles of their journey. In November of 1971, the General Aviation Services (GAS) dispute at Heathrow effectively turned into a riot and brought the Airport to a virtual standstill. Also in 1971, BAAC Constable Ross Balfour (aged 22) along with another Constable were called to a disturbance at London Airports' Number One Terminal. A man with a gun, cornered in a lavatory, raised his pistol and threatened the two unarmed Officers but Constable Balfour told him not to be 'daft', jumped him and disarmed him. For the incident, Constable Balfour received the British Empire Medal for Gallantry from the Queen at Buckingham Palace 13 March 1973.

In April of 1968, Officers from the BAAC were tasked with the sombre job of removing bodies from an aircraft and sifting through tons of charred baggage in the Northside Police Station Gym. On the 8th of the month, a few minutes after take off from Heathrow Airport, the number two engine on a Sydney bound BOAC Boeing 707, G-ARWE, caught fire. The engine subsequently fell from the wing into the Staines Reservoir and the aircraft attempted to make an immediate return to Heathrow. About two and a half minutes later the aircraft made an emergency landing on one of the shorter runways. The fire on the port wing intensified and started spreading to the fuselage, as passengers and crew took to the emergency chutes. Unfortunately, the rear chute twisted as it was deployed and became unusable so the crew were forced into evacuating passengers from the other remaining chutes. Despite the brave efforts of the crew to evacuate everyone, six people, including some children and stewardess Jane Harrison, lost their lives. Their bodies were removed by the BAAC Officers to the old KLM warehouse on Northside, which was set up as a temporary mortuary and used for the subsequent post mortems. Jane Harrison was posthumously awarded the George Cross by the Queen for saving many passengers lives.

Before their memories of the fate of the BOAC flight could fade, Officers from the BAAC were again given the grim task of removing remains, this time of the crew, grooms and eight horses from what was left of another aircraft. On the 3rd July 1968, BKS Airspeed Ambassador G-AMAD "Alpha Delta" was on final approach to land on Runway 28R at Heathrow. It had recently been purchased from BEA and converted to a horse box carrier. As it was about to land, a rod controlling the port flap suffered metal fatigue and sheared off. This caused the aircraft to swerve off to the left of the runway, with the port wing and landing gear hitting the grass. With the crew desperately trying to climb and keep the aircraft stable, it continued heading towards the new Terminal 1 which was under construction. Still airborne as it approached the taxiway of Terminal 1, it struck the tail of the parked and ill-fated BEA Trident, "Papa India", shearing its tail off as it passed. It then struck another Trident, cutting it in half, as passengers from the aircraft were just leaving the stand on an airside bus. It continued onto a BEA Viscount, slicing the undercarriage off, before finally cartwheeling upside down and crashing through the blast screens and the boiler house of Terminal 1, causing a large explosion.

Six of the eight people on board, including the crew and some grooms were killed. The devastation also included the gruesome destruction of eight horses along the entire taxiway as the aircraft broke up. A number of people along the taxiway were also injured by debris and suffered from shock. The old KLM warehouse on Northside, was put into use for the second time that year.

BAAC officers got accustomed to hearing the daily calls of various types of aircraft emergencies come over their radios, such as Local Standby, or Full Emergency or even the occasional Aircraft Ground Incident. They took it all in their stride dealing with whatever was put their way, in a cool professional manner, using their considerable experience of working airside on the blocks, taxiways and runways. However, nothing would compare or quickly sink to the pit of their stomach upon hearing the sudden call,

That is how it started for Officers on a fateful Sunday afternoon on the 18th June 1972.

The BEA Brussels bound Trident GARPI "Papa India" had just taken off from Heathrow and was three minutes into its flight. Suddenly, it went into an unrecoverable stall, crashing into a field just off the Staines By-pass, short of the main town. 118 people died in the crash, whilst one person was technically recovered alive, but died shortly afterwards.

The subsequent enquiry put the crash down to the pilot having a suspected heart attack and the inexperienced co-pilot not reacting to the aircraft's altitude. As a result of the crash, voice box recorders were fitted in the cockpit of all commercial aircraft. The KLM warehouse on Northside, together with another, was filled to bursting. Officers from the BAAC lent their expertise to the Met in not only recovering the bodies, but also conducting the many hours of post mortems.

The threat of a terror raid caused increases in the policing at Heathrow in 1973. Between 1 January and August, Heathrow's Police Force was increased by 52 to 325. During the same period, BAA's Force, covering Heathrow, Gatwick, Prestwick, Stansted and Edinburgh was strengthened by 80 to 443.

Recruiting opportunities for BAAC employment expanded in 1974 to also include a limited number of positions for male and female civilians to train as Police Radio/Telephone Operators at Heathrow Airport. They were trained to operate a radio console, a 5 x 25 PMBX manual switchboard, a teleprinter and public address system.

Uniform change for female Officers also came about in 1974, the result of discussions between Senior Officers, BAA management, the manufacturers and the female Officers who were to wear it. The uniform introduced in June was comprised of a dark navy, three-button box type jacket and a pleated skirt made of worsted and terylene, the jacket worn over a white cotton roll-collar blouse. The most popular item from the previous uniform, the hat, was carried over. The new uniform was issued at all five airports, with the only difference being the cap badge worn. A star shaped cap badge surmounted by a crown was worn in Scotland and a circular badge surmounted by a crown at airports in England.

As the dangers involved with airport policing continued to grow, it became apparent the BAAC was not setup to deal with the threats. It was not an armed Police Force and the BAAC turned down an offer to grant them a licence to hold stocks of arms and ammunition. However, six Webley .38 revolvers were retained in the front office in a locked metal cabinet together with belted holsters and approximately 100 rounds of .38 standard ammunition. From 1968 onward, it is believed these were only issued on one occasion, when a famous robber was thought to have been taking refuge on the then BA Engineering base around 1970. A second occasion may have been when Leila Khaled and the other hijackers landed at Heathrow. Given they were armed and had used a hand grenade which had failed to go off, it is highly likely they were issued again.

The increase in terrorist violence against civil aviation necessitated the Policing of Airports Bill, 1974, and spelt the end of the BAAC. The Bill enabled the regular police to take over the policing of UK civil airports. It applied to the whole of the UK but grew out of emergencies at Heathrow the previous Christmas and with a bomb that went off in the Terminal 1 car park 19 May 1974, injuring four.

Every international alert meant that Scotland Yard provided the necessary armed support at Heathrow and the Special Patrol Group were put on almost continuous duty at the airport. It was decided security required the permanent presence of the Metropolitan Police. The powers of the Bill were first exercised at Heathrow with the Met taking over responsibility for all policing at Heathrow airport on 1st November 1974, thereby replacing the British Airport Authority Constabulary at Heathrow. It was not a criticism in any way of the standard of BAAC but it was felt they could not hope to develop the specialist skills or have the reserves or resources needed to tackle these new threats. The strength of the CID at Heathrow was only sixteen which could not conceivably be considered adequate. BAA requested to retain its own Police Force at Heathrow for duties other than measures against hi-jackers, saboteurs and terrorists but this was refused by the Government. BAA was instead advertising for Airport Security Guards for Heathrow in November, 1974, looking for applicants with previous security experience or an armed forces/civil police background. Average earnings were £48 per week.

With the change in policing arrangements at Heathrow, a large percentage of the BAAC officers based at Heathrow were offered posts in the Metropolitan Police, and most of those who accepted continued to be based at Heathrow. Those who did not want to transfer were offered posts at other airports that continued under the control of the BAA. Some Officers also accepted early retirement. The removal of 326 men from the total strength of 520 also meant there were no career prospects for the men stationed at Prestwick, Gatwick, Stansted and Turnhouse airports. The change at Heathrow was objected to by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Robert Mark, who already faced a critical manpower shortage at the time. Without the absorption of Officers from the BAAC, the Metropolitan Police would have ended 1974 with 310 fewer men than in 1973.

BAA began talks with Sussex Police to take over Gatwick and, in October 1974, a conference took place with Essex Police about Stansted. Ayrshire Police were asked for their views about policing Prestwick Airport and Edinburgh Police about Turnhouse Airport. With these discussions, similar arrangements to those at Heathrow Airport expanded outward to the remaining airports under the control of BAA in 1975. Policing authority continued to be transferred from the British Airports Authority Constabulary to local policing units. For policing purposes, Gatwick Airport was placed under the authority of Sussex Constabulary on 1 April 1975 with Traffic Wardens and civilian staff under the BAAC transferring to the employment of the Sussex Constabulary. The duties were undertaken by a new police subdivision with an establishment of 156 Policemen - twice the previous number of Officers at the Airport - and 23 civilian staff including Traffic Wardens. The change ensured some armed Officers would be on duty at all times. At the time, Gatwick handled more than six million passengers a year.

All members of the BAAC at Stansted were offered and accepted to transfer to Essex Police under the Policing of Airports Act 1974, with responsibility for the Airport being assumed by Essex Police on 1 April 1975. Policing of Prestwick Airport was transferred to Ayrshire Constabulary. Ayrshire Constabulary offered the BAAC officers a transfer to the Ayrshire Force but at a salary of £20 less a week than they received from BAAC and for positions with Ayrshire Constabulary that involved poorer conditions that included three-shift work instead of two and more onerous duties.

Aberdeen Airport had its own uniformed police force from 1 December 1975. The Force was a detachment from B Division of Grampian Police at Bucksburn and consisted of a detachment of Sergeants and Constables commanded at the Airport by Inspector Jim Henderson. The move was agreed at Government level and approved by Parliament. The Chief Constable of Grampian became responsible for efficient policing at the Airport. The Unit had the assistance of specialist departments when necessary and the cost was borne by BAA.

Years later, in 1989, for a brief period, a return of the British Airports Authority Constabulary was considered, but not followed through on, after security breaches at Heathrow Airport were revealed involving Journalists who had escaped vetting to secure jobs with Heathrow cleaning firms.

It was then from late 1975 that the local police units took up the last of the policing of the BAA controlled airports and the former calling of the British Airports Authority Constabulary - Guarding Royalty, Presidents and visiting VIP's is all in a day's work for the men and women of the Airport Police. They're ready to handle any emergency, anytime - day or night. It's demanding work calling for initiative, quick-thinking and close teamwork ... that's why we'll give you a really thorough training. That's right, we're inviting you to join us. It won't be easy - this is no 9-5 desk job. Instead, it's the kind of career that'll stretch all your talents and bring you face-to-face with real-life action.