In the early 1940s, the Air Ministry requisitioned land in the rural Vale of Glamorgan to set up a wartime satellite aerodrome and training base, named RAF Rhoose, for Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfire pilots. Construction started in 1941, and the airfield officially began life on 7 April 1942 when it was taken over by No 53 Operational Training Unit. After World War II the airfield fell into disuse and was abandoned. In 1951, the Bridgend-born Minister of Civil Aviation, David Rees-Williams, called for a commercial airport to be built in South Wales. He told the House of Lords that "a decision had to be taken whether to do nothing at...or whether Pengam Moors, the existing airport for Cardiff, should be improved at a cost of some millions of pounds, involving the alteration of the course of the Rumney River or, thirdly, whether an entirely new airport should be constructed or acquired in the vicinity of the capital of Wales." Lord Ogmore thought diverting the river at Pengam would be a problem, and feared that the tall chimney stacks of the nearby East Moors Steelworks could pose a safety hazard to aircraft. The Welsh Civil Aviation Consultative Committee then proposed the abandoned RAF airfield at Rhoose as a possible alternative. On inspecting it, Ogmore found it "in a poor condition, with a large number of bombs stacked on the runways, and buildings in an extreme state of dilapidation". However, he considered Rhoose could be suitable for civil aviation "if the necessary money and time were spent upon it". The government accepted his proposal, and the Ministry of Aviation began to convert the abandoned airfield into a civilian airport. In October 1952, the new Rhoose Airport was opened by Rees-Williams's successor as Minister of Aviation Alan Lennox-Boyd. In 1952, Aer Lingus started a service to Dublin. Civilian flights from the old Cardiff Municipal Airport at Pengam Moors were transferred to Rhoose on 1 April 1954. A new terminal building followed, along with flights to France, Belfast and Cork. An increase in holiday charter business resulted in passenger throughput exceeding 100,000 in 1962. On 1 April 1965, the Ministry of Aviation handed over the airport to Glamorgan County Council, and it was renamed Glamorgan (Rhoose) Airport. The council started a five-year plan to develop the airport, including a new control tower, terminal building and a runway extension. In the 1970s, the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions. These were limited by the length of the runway, meaning it could only land lightly loaded, and only take off without passengers and with a minimal fuel load. In the 1980s, the airport's name was changed to Cardiff-Wales Airport. 1986 saw a further extension of 750 ft (229 m) to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting new-generation jet aircraft to the airport. Transatlantic links were developed, with charter flights to Florida, in addition to the previously-established links with Canada. The runway extension, enabling the airport to handle 747 jumbo jets, was instrumental in attracting the British Airways maintenance facility to the airport. The maintenance hangar is one of the largest in the world at 250 m × 175 m (820 ft × 574 ft), providing heavy airframe and engineering maintenance for the British Airways fleet and third party carriers. In April 1995, as a result of planned local government reorganisation in Wales, the airport company was privatised; the shares were sold to property and development firm TBI plc. In December 1995, Heli-air Wales began training helicopter pilots from the airport. It moved operations to Swansea Airport in 1999. The airport is home to a purpose-built maintenance base for British Airways, maintaining its wide-bodied, long-haul aircraft. It is also home to a variety of aerospace-oriented firms and colleges, such as CAVC International Centre for Airline Training.