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Staines Urban District

Borough of SpelthorneDistricts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894History of SurreyHistory of local government in Middlesex
Staines-upon-ThamesUrban districts of England
Staines 1971
Staines 1971

Staines was a local government district from 1894 to 1974 named after the English town of Staines.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Staines Urban District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Staines Urban District
Staines By-Pass, Borough of Spelthorne

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Wikipedia: Staines Urban DistrictContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.44 ° E -0.51 °
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Staines By-Pass

Staines By-Pass
TW18 4AX Borough of Spelthorne
England, United Kingdom
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Staines 1971
Staines 1971
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British European Airways Flight 548
British European Airways Flight 548

British European Airways Flight 548 was a scheduled passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels that crashed near Staines, England, soon after take-off on 18 June 1972, killing all 118 people on board. The accident became known as the Staines air disaster. As of 2023, it remains the deadliest air accident (as opposed to terrorist incidents) in the United Kingdom and was the deadliest air accident involving a Hawker Siddeley Trident. One passenger initially survived the impact but died of his injuries soon after. The aircraft suffered a deep stall in the third minute of its flight and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing a busy main road. The public inquiry principally blamed the captain for failing to maintain airspeed and configure the high-lift devices correctly. It also cited the captain's heart condition and the limited experience of the co-pilot, while noting an unspecified "technical problem" that the crew apparently resolved before take-off. The crash took place against the background of a pilots' strike that had caused bad feelings between crew members. The strike had also disrupted services, causing Flight 548 to be loaded with the maximum weight allowable. Recommendations from the inquiry led to the mandatory installation of cockpit voice recorders in British-registered airliners. Another recommendation was for greater caution before allowing off-duty crew members to occupy flight deck seats. Some observers felt that the inquiry was unduly biased in favour of the aircraft's manufacturers.

Staines-upon-Thames
Staines-upon-Thames

Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around 17 miles (28 kilometres) west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Staines is close to Heathrow Airport and is linked to the national motorway network by the M25 and M3. The earliest evidence of human activity in the area is from the Paleolithic and, during the Neolithic, there was a causewayed enclosure on Staines Moor. The first bridge across the Thames at Staines is thought to have been built by the Romans and there was a settlement in the area around the modern High Street by the end of the 1st century CE. Throughout the Middle Ages, Staines was primarily an agricultural settlement and was held by Westminster Abbey. The first surviving record of a market is from 1218, but one may have taken place near St Mary's Church in the Anglo-Saxon period. The industrialisation of Staines began in the mid-17th century when Thomas Ashby established a brewery in the town. Improvements to the local transport network in the mid-19th century also stimulated an expansion of the local population. The current Staines Bridge, designed by George Rennie, was opened in 1832 by William IV and the first railway line through Staines opened in 1848. The town became a centre for linoleum manufacture in 1864, when Frederick Walton established a factory on the site of the 13th-century Hale Mill. At the end of the 20th century, Staines became infamous as the home town of the fictional film and television character, Ali G. Although many local residents felt that the town's reputation was suffering through its association with the character, Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of Ali G, praised Staines for being a "lovely, leafy, middle-class suburb... where swans swim under the beautiful bridge". Partly in response to the reaction to the character, Spelthorne Borough Council voted in 2011 to add the suffix "upon-Thames" to the name.