Feb. 22, 1964 - The Beatles flew home from what they called the “fabulous” United States today, and the London Airport manager warned them never to come on a weekend again. The roaring, screaming welcome from thousands and thousands of British teenagers was just too much for Manager F.L. Passmore, who is only used to handling the relatively unheralded arrivals of such people as the late President Kennedy, former President Eisenhower, President de Gaulle, and Queen Elizabeth.
“Never again,” he said, wearily wiping his brow. “I mean it. Next time the Beatles fly in or out of London Airport, it will have to be on a school day. We can cope with a few hundred truants, but this mob was really getting out of hand. It’s a miracle we got away with only one girl with a cracked skull in hospital.” The teenagers implored their idols, “Please, please never leave us again!”
“The fans swept through the whole airport like a hurricane,” one airport official said. Aviation officials estimated the crowd at between 8,000 and 12,000 persons, the largest ever seen at London Airport. Despite an icy wind, the hysterical fans, armed with banners and ticker tapes, began lining the roof garden of the airport two hours before the jetliner from New York was due. When the plane touched down, dozens of girls fainted or were crushed during a wild onslaught. A glass door shattered as the screaming fans battled their way through a police cordon to get onto the airport apron. It was a welcome bigger than any king, queen, or president.
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