EAW004181 ENGLAND (1947). Bristol Filton Airport showing the main runway being extended, Catbrain, from the west, 1947

Ironic that photographs get posted as the runway is closing down.

The new runway was 2,725 yards long and 100 yards wide. It was completed in March 1948 and was constructed by John Laing. It was needed for the Brabazon - a huge 4-engined airliner that dwarfed an Avro Lancaster and was seen as the future for trans-Atlantic passenger flight. It never saw commercial service. The project was cancelled in 1952 and the prototypes scrapped. Apparently '..the Minister of Aircraft Production decided to have it built, without asking who wanted it, or who was prepared to use it .. a somewhat strange piece of forward planning'. [Lord Brabazon, 1956]. [A situation somewhat akin to the High Speed 2 rail line today, some might argue]. The runway, which involved the destruction of most of the village of Charlton, survives.

[Source: Graham M Simons, Bristol Brabazon, The History Press, 2012]