Bill O'Neill continues his piece on tha National Aircraft Factory No. 1 at Croydon here:
NAF No1
 |
first of the DC9s nearing completion
March 1918
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The building of the factory nearly didn’t happen, at least not
in Waddon. Originally, the proposed site was Watford, but this was
not approved by the Air Ministry. Waddon was preferred because it
provided:
- A 200 acre site with space not just for the factory buildings but for test flights also.
- Good transport facilities as it was close to both tram and rail links (a spur line was built into the factory from the Croydon – Epsom line).
- An available workforce. Croydon had a population of 170,000 with no similar factories in the area.
