Mapping the Aerodrome in the First World War

Roger Potten is one of our highly skilled archive volunteers who has been working on rebuilding the first Croydon Airport (1919-1927) on a platform called Sketch Up. This software enables the building of architecture to create sophisticated 3 dimensional reconstructions with intricate detail and texture.

First airport tower, 1923

When the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded Historic Croydon Airport Trust a grant to investigate the first world war origins of what became Croydon Airport, Roger turned his attention to 1916-1918. He began building up a reconstruction what started as an airstrip overshadowed by the farm on Plough Lane in 1916 to a large RAF training aerodrome, complete with bombing practice range, by 1918. In doing this Roger has found the photographs of Herbert Montgomery Martin, previously blogged, invaluable for building up an accurate picture of the layout of the airfield and aerodrome and the intricate details needed for the added texture. This blog shares the maps that Roger has pieced together of the airfield and aerodrome from 1917-1919.

By summer 1918 the training airfield had grown dramatically and surrounds the farm with a camp now on the farm side of Plough Lane. The Training Squadron was still growing.

Shortly after the war ended, the RAF (newly formed on 1 April 1918) was still using the airfield and aerodrome for training purposes and for taking civilians and politicians to Paris for the Versailles war treaty negotiations. The farm is now entirely overshadowed and Plough Lane is clearly a barrier in the aerodrome.

By 1920, the aerodrome was designated for civilian transportation and became an airport, i.e. having a customs and excises for duty on imported and exported goods.

Fighting for Air Volunteer Visit to the Local Studies / Museum of Croydon

In the last post, I detailed how six of us had a busy day last Tuesday as we visited the First World War (FWW) galleries at the Imperial War Museum, London; then went to see archival material at the Museum of Croydon. This time, I’ll write up some notes from the Museum of Croydon. . .

A ring around London: Beddington Aerodrome

Beddington Aerodrome was at first just meant to be an emergency landing field but public pressure after the Zeppelin air raids meant it became an aerodrome for fighter planes. It was one of a ring of ten aerodromes around London: Hounslow, Hendon, Hainault’s Farm, Sutton’s Park, Joyce Green, Farningham, Croydon, Biggin Hill, Wimbledon and Northolt.

Fighting for Air: Visit to RAF Museum, Colindale

On Saturday (18 November), some of the Fighting for Air team of volunteers went to the other side of London to visit the RAF Museum at Colindale or Hendon. We were there specifically to visit First World War in the Air galleries, which opened in 2014. The museum is on the site of a former aerodrome, that had itself been used as one of the ten defensive aerodrome bases encircling London in early 1916. Hendon itself had been used for years before the war and we heard about its early history, the history of the Grahame White factory and the general role of aviation in the war from the RAF Museum’s fantastic volunteer Sandra.

In the Foyer of the RAF Museum

Before we set off, one of the museum staff shared with us pictures of his dad’s cousin who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940 and had been stationed at Croydon. I wrote down the name as Henry Michael Ferris so hope that is right!

It was a very drizzly November day so this photograph does not do the exterior of the original Grahame White offices and factory justice. Sandra explained about the almost forgotten figure of Claude Grahame White, who pioneered civil aviation before the war, holding flying weekends known as the ‘Hendon Habit’ that attracted enormous crowds and were on a par with Henley Regatta or the Grand National. Grahame also warned about the dangers of the ‘war in the air’ in an article Wake Up Britain! But the government did very little.

Grahame White Factory and Offices

When war broke out, the factory and airfield at Hendon were taken into the control of the government. The factory continued to make Grahame White’ signature aircraft, the Avro 504K, which was a good training plane, from 1913 to 1918, but made many more parts of other planes or put aircraft together. The factory expanded to have a workforce of 6,000 and had a welfare scheme, days out etc and was in many ways comparable to the later (and short lived) National Aircraft Factory at Croydon. Sandra explained how the Factory was moved brick by brick from its original location, just behind to the land of the RAF Museum. The link above also takes you to a virtual tour of the recreated offices.

In the hangar itself, real and replica aircraft tell the story of the ‘War in the Air’ alongside exhibits of training equipment, uniforms, aviation gear, a hut for leisure and various maps. This was all incredibly useful to help us understand how the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) used Croydon / Beddington Aerodrome as air defences in 1916-17 and training from 1917 to the end of the war. The Gosport system and tools of training, such as a speaking tube so an instructor could speak to a pilot, developed by Major Robert Smith Barry enabled me to understand the significance of the photographs our project has just had digitised. These photographs show training at Gosport and are part of our Lansdowne Albums (more on that in future posts, but a sneak preview of a page below).

It was a fascinating trip and I urge people to visit. Various parts are closed, though the main hangar and the WW1 galleries are open. The new hangar for Battle of Britain and other areas is finished in 2018 to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force’s existence. Staff thought the opening would be July / August.

Aerodrome not Airport!

Strictly speaking this blog will not be about Croydon Airport for the next 10 months or so. We'll be sharing research from our Heritage Lottery Funded project Fighting for Air about the origins of the airport in the aerodromes - Waddon and Wallington or Beddington - in Sutton and Croydon and the impact of the war locally.

In order to start this blog off on that theme, I thought we'd share some photographs of

Wellington or Beddington Aerodrome 1918

Wallington, also known as Beddington, aerodrome that Historic Croydon Airport Trust have copies. These belonged to a Royal Flying Corp (then Royal Air Force) officer Herbert Montgomery Martin. These photographs were scanned in by Cross and Cockade from a descendant of Martin some years ago.

This is just a short post to wet your appetite for the research and information to come from our project. . .

Waddon Camp

Bristol M1C crash landed in field at Beddington gasworks

Flying Through the 30s: A one day symposium on air travel and interwar Britain.

16 April 2016

The Aerodrome Hotel, Croydon Airport

London

Programme

9:45 – 10:15 Coffee and Registration

10:15 – 10:30 Welcome Address

Peter Skinner (Croydon Airport Society): ‘History of Croydon Airport and the Jimmy Jeffs' Collection’

10:30 – 11:30 ‘Flying into the Unknown’

Luke Seaber (UCL): ‘“Upon its glittering lake /Lie Europe and its islands”: The     “Groundmindedness” of Auden and Others in the ’30s’

Daniel Kilburn (UCL): ‘A pilot’s perspective on the formation of modern airmindedness through the 1930s’

Henry K Miller (Cambridge/Anglia Ruskin/Slade): ‘Lumière Comes to Croydon’

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee and Tea Break

Jacky Pett will introduce her display of archival material and book about her father’s work with Imperial Airways in the 1930s.

11:45 – 12:45 ‘Aviation Fever’

Rebecca Harrison (UEA) and Rachel Kapelke-Dale (UCL): ‘Sweethearts of the Skies:     

Gender, National Identity and the “Aviatrix”’

Kathryn Simpson (Cardiff Metropolitan University): ‘Taking Flight: The Literal and Literary          Flights of Lady Mary Heath and Virginia Woolf’

Francis Dyson (UEA): ‘Egypt and Back with Imperial Airways: Ruth Stuart's Passion for Air         Travel’

12:45 – 13:45 Lunch

13:45 – 14:30 Tour of Croydon Airport and Museum

14:30 – 15:45 ‘Tension in the Air’

Derek Ryan (University of Kent): ‘Bunny in the Air: David Garnett, Flight and Animality’

Sarah Fill (Royal Holloway): ‘The Aerial Vision of Paul Nash’

Simon Goulding (Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust): ‘Look to the           Skies! Orwell, Warner and the Coming New War’

John Higgins (University of Stirling, retired): ‘A Novelist's View of Flying for Fun’

           

15:45 – 16:00 Coffee and Tea Break

16:00 – 17:00 ‘Flying Business’

Michael McCluskey (UCL): ‘Croydon Calling: The Documentary Aerodrome’

Nicola Darwood (University of Bedfordshire): ‘Flying Dangerously: Elizabeth Bowen’s To the       North’

Guy Woodward (Maynooth University): ‘A Solar Emperor: Robert Byron Flies East’

17:00 – 17:30 Roundtable Discussion

All presenters and audience members are invited to speak about the day, share memories and stories of Croydon Airport, make connections between papers, and consider ideas for future collaborations.

Registration

£35 Standard

£30 Speakers

£25 Students

Registration fee includes three-course lunch, coffee and tea breaks, and tour of the Croydon Airport Museum.

To register: http://onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk/   (Search: Flying through the ’30s)

How to get here:

The symposium will be held at The Aerodrome Hotel (part of the Hallmark Hotel chain), Purley Way, Croydon, CR9 4LT

The hotel is just next to the Croydon Airport Visitor Centre.

By Train

Waddon is the nearest station and a 10 minute walk to the hotel/airport. We have found this to

be the most direct route from London. Trains leave from Victoria, and Oyster cards are acceptable to Waddon and on return. Out of Waddon Station turn right then turn left onto Purley Way. The Aerodrome Hotel will be on right.  The 289 bus also goes from Waddon Station to Croydon Airport.

Purley is 10 minutes from the airport/hotel by 289 bus.

East Croydon is 20 minutes from central London and then 15 minutes to the airport/hotel by the 119 bus.

By Bus

Bus routes that serve Croydon Airport are the 289 and 119. Buses stop outside Croydon Airport/TheAerodrome Hotel or across the road at The Colonnades.

Organisers

Dr Michael McCluskey (UCL)

Dr Luke Seaber (UCL)

Dr Amara Thornton (UCL)

Dr Debbie Challis (Croydon Airport Society)

Questions?

flyingthroughthethirties@gmail.com

Olley Air Services and Geoffrey Keating

Captain Gordon P. Olley seated at his desk

The photograph to the right was taken by Geoffrey Keating, staff photographer for The Daily Sketch, in 1937. The Society's archive include a letter from Keating accompanying the photographs to Captain Gordon P. Olley. They were commissioned to promote Olley's new airline Olley Air Services shortly after it began business. The photographs below give a wonderful view of air travel in the 1930s and, among other things, passengers on a Olley Air Services' plane; a passenger being weighed at check in; Captain J.F.D. Scott reading the weather; a pilot preparing for take off; the Misses Boakes (sisters) cleaning the plane.

Academic Symposium on Croydon Airport in the 1930s

The first academic symposium on Croydon Airport (that we know of anyway) is going to be held on 16 April 2016 at the original Aerodrome Hotel (Croydon Hallmark) next door to the airport. We are very excited about this as it is an opportunity to explore the history of the airport across lots of different areas with expert minds.

At the Museum of Croydon

Today a volunteer Ian (our faithful courier) and myself delivered the Croydon Calling pop up exhibition to the Museum of Croydon where it will be on display until Saturday 9 January 2016. Museum Opening times are Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 5pm and they are located in the centre of Croydon in Croydon Clocktower on Katherine St - see the website for more

The model of Hengist

information. The exhibition itself is in the research room and around the museum area rather than in the actual museum itself.

The Museum of Croydon does boast a model aircraft hanging from the ceiling to represent Croydon Airport and its importance in the local area in the 1920s and 30s. The model is that of Imperial Airways Handley Page (HP) 42 Hengist. These aircaft (HP 42) would have been seen regularly flying to and from Croydon Airport on the European (or West) route and the African and Indian (or East) routes for Imperial Airways Limited. There is more about the HP42 in this post from August.

Halloween at Croydon Airport

We are open for Museums at Night tonight 6-9pm (last admission 8.30pm) and here is a ghost story I shall tell to wet your appetite: 

A former member of Croydon Airport Society, Margaret White was a pilot at the airport in the 1950s. Leaving the airport late at night by the fur tree (still up the road) near what was then Merton Air Services' hangar, she quickened her pace as the night was 'dark and stormy' and she could hear thunder in the distance. A flash of lightning crackled through the rain. A brilliant green beacon came on and Margaret saw the clear outline of a pilot, dressed in 1930s gear. It went dark again and the pilot was gone.

Margaret's vision of a pilot on a dark and stormy night took place near to where the ghost of a Dutch pilot was seen, who was filled in the fog after taking off from Croydon (probably in the 1935 KLM Fokker crash). Various stories were told of seeing this pilot, though few were as odd as a British pilot who was warned from behind him not to take off due to the foggy weather; when the pilot turned round it was the dead Dutch airman in his flying kit.

Strangely, though, there are not many recorded ghost stories about Croydon Airport. If any one knows of some we'd love to hear them.

Exhibition Tours Sutton Libraries

Our exhibition based on this blog went to Wallington Library today and will be there until Saturday 24 October. It'll be transferred to the Phoenix Centre library on the Roundshaw estate on Tuesday 27 October, just in time for a dance performance, until Monday 1 November.

The Flight of Dance at the Phoenix Centre (part of Sutton's Imagine festival) will take place on Tuesday 27 October at 10.50, 11, 11.20 & 11.40 and is a performance by pupils from Forresters' primary school. They're using some of Amy Johnson's cinefilm from Croydon Airport Society's archives as backdrop. You can book free tickets here.

The exhibition will then go to the Europa Gallery at Sutton Central Library from Tuesday 3 November to Monday 9 November.

Brief Coda to the Visit of King Amanuallah

U3A member Mike Holmewood has previously blogged about the visits of VIPs and foreign

royalty to Croydon, particularly the visit of King Amanuallah of Afghanistan. As a coda to that blog, here is a photograph of Captain Walter Rogers with the King that is in the file on Rogers in the Croydon Airport Society Archive. (Rogers also flew Josephine Baker back to Paris after her performance on 29 January 1929.) The King was sio impressed by Rogers and the airport that he awarded him a medal. Unfortunately though, the pilot was also commanded by Buckingham Palace only to wear the medal on certain occasions as stipulated by the letter below.

Why Josephine Baker flew in and out of Croydon in a day.

Last Thursday, attendees at the Museum of Croydon were treated to an account of why Josephine Baker made a mad dash to Croydon Airport and then to London to attend a charity performance by Dr Gemma Romain. We have blogged before about the remarkable photographs of Baker that Croydon Airport Society has in its archives (one that has not previously been blogged is below). It was on the basis of these that we invited Dr Romain, curator of Spaces of Black British Modernism (Tate Britain October 2014 - 5 October 2015), to research and present a talk for us.

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: 

Living near the Airport: The Aerodrome's Location

U3A member Peter Day writes on the disturbance caused by living near Croyon Airport:

In 1915 a small aerodrome was established at Beddington, one of a ring of such aerodromes built to protect London from Zeppelin raids. In 1918 another small airport, Waddon, was opened on the other side of Plough Lane to be used for test flights from the National Aircraft Factory No1. Plough Lane is the road running north from Russell Hill on this old map (on the left).

After the First World War these two aerodromes were combined (and Plough Lane eventually disappeared - though initially traffic was stopped to allow aircraft to arrive and depart) to become Croydon aerodrome, which opened in 1920. The buildings you can see now were part of a later development and the aerodrome entered a second phase in 1928.