now a treasure trove of aviation nerdery.
After the First World War, when the commercial flying ban was finally lifted, the then-London Airport
opened to the public in 1920. In its first year, it saw 2,000 passengers depart from its grassy airfield, with
royals and world dignitaries arriving in limousines from Victoria Station or in chauffeured vehicles direct
from their luxury homes and hotels.
Passengers used to sit on free-standing wicker
chairsFlying was hardly glamorous back then. Planes had wicker chairs that weren’t even bolted to the floor, there
was no pressurisation in the cabin, and the toilet would have been a bucket behind a curtain. The pilot sat
outside in an uncovered cockpit, and the planes would have to fly through the weather rather than above it.
In short, it was noisy, bumpy and wildly uncomfortable.
But Croydon saw a stunning evolution in air travel during its time, and by the 1930s the airport had become
a sophisticated operation, with Imperial Airways (now British Airways) using it as their base.
It was here that the world’s first modern airport was created, with a departure lounge, check-in desks,
airside gates, an airport hotel and an air traffic control tower. In fact, the entire concept of air traffic control
was developed here, and many of the protocols still used today were invented in Croydon. The mayday
distress call (from the French “m’aidez”, which means “help me”) was coined by Croydon’s own Stanley
Mockford.
By 1935, passenger numbers had increased drastically and as many as 130,000 people were departing from
Croydon annually, flying to destinations all over the British empire
Without the use of radio, air traffic controllers would communicate with pilots waiting to taxi by hanging
painted signs over the balcony of the control tower. If the sign had your airline’s initials on it, it was time to
head to the runway. When it was finally safe for take-off, an enormous bright lamp was shone in the
direction of the plane to indicate their turn. A crude method by today’s standards, this was revolutionary for
the industry at the time.
By 1935, passenger numbers had increased drastically and as many as 130,000 people were departing from
Croydon annually, flying to destinations all over the British empire from southern Africa to the far reaches
of Australia. The world’s longest international flight was launched here, too. You could fly from London to
Brisbane in two weeks, stopping in locations like the United Arab Emirates for luxurious desert-based