Why Croydon Airport is the unsung hero of British aviation

British Airways may be marking 100 years since its first commercial flight with all-singing, all-dancing celebrations at Heathrow, but the true hero of UK air travel is actually in south London

I don’t make a habit of hanging around on industrial estates in Croydon. But there is one I just have to keep coming back to.

Not because it’s known for more of this south London town’s love-it-or-hate-it Brutalist architecture, but because, unassumingly plonked on Purley Way, among a Chinese hypermarket and a drive-thru Costa Coffee, is London’s first ever international airport.

It might seem a tall order for Croydon to be home to such an integral part of an industry that is today worth over £2 trillion. But from the 1920s until 1959 it was, and the white Art Deco building that remains today is 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.

Flying 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.

Croydon airport is where the UK's aviation industry blossomed (Lottie Gross) (Photography by Lottie Gross)

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 dinners and fabulous overnight stays.

Passengers used to sit on free-standing wicker chairs (Lottie Gross)

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).

Numerous 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.

Before Heathrow, 130,000 passengers passed through Croydon annually (Lottie Gross)

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.

Come the first Sunday of every month, though, you can relive the golden age of air travel with volunteer guides from the Croydon Airport Society, who’ll show you around the old departures hall and take you up to the air traffic control tower where original equipment has been preserved. If that’s not a good reason to hang around a Croydon industrial estate, I don’t know what is.

The great and the good all flew from Croydon (Lottie Gross)

Travel essentials

Croydon Airport is open to visitors every first Sunday of the month; it’s free to enter but donations are welcome.