Living Near the Airport: Accidents

U3A member Peter Day continues his post on the sometimes dangerous consequences of living near Croydon Airport:

Nothing was more likely to raise a storm of complaint, though, than an aeroplane crashing close to the airport, especially if it collided with a nearby house - such events were not infrequent: 

Date	Operator	Events	Distance from Airport	Fatalities
July, 1928	Imperial Airlines	Crashed and caught fire	3 miles	4
Nov, 1928	Surrey Flying Services	Crashed onto roof of house	2 miles	0
Nov, 1929	Deutsche Lufthansa	Crashed into trees and caught fire	7 miles	7
Nov, 1929	RAF	Mid-air collision, fell on houses	1 mile	0
April, 1930	German cargo flight	Crashed and caught fire	10 miles	2
June, 1930	Private plane	High speed crash	Less than 1 mile	2
Sept, 1930	Belgian Airmail carrier	Forced landing then burst into flames	Less than 1 mile	2
April, 1931	Private flying	Stunt flying, crashed near a Church	2 miles	2
April, 1931	Imperial Airways	New pilot, failed take-off, caught fire	0 miles	0
Aug, 1931	Air Union	Misjudged landing in fog, crashed through perimeter fence crossed and blocked road	0 miles	0
Sept, 1932	Air Union	Crashed into grounds of Selsdon Park Hotel	3 miles	1
May, 1934	Air France	Petrol failure, forced landing onto cricket ground interrupting match in progress	0 miles	0
May, 1934	French cargo/mail service	Struck wireless mast in fog, struck houses beside aerodrome	0 miles	2
Dec, 1935	Sabena	Heading for Croydon, misjudged position in fog, stalled and crashed	8 miles	11
May, 1936	Commercial Air Hire Co.	Crashed shortly after take-off	Less than 1 mile	1
Aug, 1936	Imperial Airways	Crashed into houses after take-off	Less than 1 mile	4
Dec, 1936	KLM	Crashed into houses after take-off	Less than 1 mile	15
Nov,1937	Lufthansa	Crashed into hangars after take-off in fog	0 miles	3

Following the crash of the Belgian flight carrying air mail in September 1930 it was suggested at the Inquest that trees around the aerodrome constituted a danger to planes. The Council immediately moved to register a strong protest with the Air Ministry against any suggestion that trees in the vicinity of the aerodrome should be cut down and that pilots should be required to circle within the aerodrome perimeter whilst gaining height before crossing residential areas, and the same process in reverse while landing. It was felt that removing trees would exacerbate the low flying problem that already existed.

Inquests proved to be another route for protest. In the inquest into the deaths of two men in April 1931 the Doctor called to give evidence about the deaths, Dr Cressy, said he was a long-term resident of the area and that he wished to make a strong public protest against stunting and low flying being carried out over houses in the district.

In September 1931, following the incident where the Air Union plane crashed through the fence and blocked Stafford Road, the Wallington & Carshalton Times carried a leader column entitled "Aerodrome Menace" strongly critical of the very existence of a Continental Aerodrome in a residential suburban area and called for the removal of the aerodrome to some open space, high up, away from residential parts. Two weeks later another Air Union plane crashed into the grounds of Selsdon Park Hotel! At the inquest into that crash the jury said there should be someone in charge at the aerodrome to instruct pilots to turn back when fog made landing dangerous.

The Council and the Ratepayers Association and concerned individuals continued with their protests and petitions and letters to the press - though for every letter objecting to the airport there seemed to be at least one in support. It was all to no avail, in 1937 the Air Ministry announced plans for further investment at Croydon to improve the landing ground and that protestors should hold out no hope that the Aerodrome could be given up. The only olive branch on offer was that as other airports opened Croydon might become less busy. In fact the Second World War intervened, commercial flying was largely stopped and the RAF took over at Croydon.

Perversely, not long after commercial flying returned to Croydon after the war, it became evident that the lack of opportunity to expand meant there was no real future as a major commercial airport and that steps would be taken to close it down. There were howls of protest from the Council, the Chamber of Commerce and others and for a short while even a proposal that the Council should purchase the airport and continue to operate.

Peter Day