dinners and fabulous overnight stays.
Flying became more glamorous over the years, with the invention of purpose-built airliner seats and the
launch of Imperial Airways’ Silver Wings service, which involved a three-course, silver-service dinner on
the Croydon to Paris route. The airport really was the centre of the British empire, and became a hub for
the likes of KLM, Air France and even Lufthansa (up until the first day of the Second World War).
Before Heathrow, 130,000 passengers passed
through Croydon annuallyNumerous celebrities flew from here, too, with Rita Hayworth, Charlie Chaplain and politicians like John
F Kennedy among many on the passenger lists. Even famous pilots came through Croydon. Charles
Lindberg stopped off here after completing the first ever solo flight from the US to Europe. It ended in Paris
but he detoured to Croydon on the way back to meet crowds of over 100,000 people lining the streets and
waving from the airport’s spectators gallery on the rooftop. It was the biggest reception for an aircraft until
The Beatles landed at Heathrow in 1963.
Now-famous aviatrix Amy Johnson took off from Croydon in 1930 as a nobody, but by the time she landed
back here after her record-breaking flight to Australia she too was greeted by hundreds of thousands of
people.
The airport’s heyday was short-lived, sadly, as the creation of Heathrow took away most of the international
air traffic from 1946. Croydon played second fiddle to the new airport and eventually closed its doors in
1959, so today most of its property has been sold off and turned into an industrial estate, and the Grade II-
listed departures building is now an office block.
The great and the good all flew from CroydonCome the first Sunday of every month, though, you can relive the golden age of air travel with volunteer