Croydon Airport opened in 1920 and soon became the UK’s main international airport, playing a major role in aviation after becoming the birthplace of air traffic control. In 1924, Imperial Airways, Britain’s first national airline, was formed at Croydon Airport, with routes to Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and South Africa.
In 1930, Croydon Airport made history again when aviator Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from Croydon to Australia in 19 days. During World War 2, the airport became an RAF base, but it later returned to civil airline use. However, Croydon struggled with expansion issues, and it closed in 1959 after Heathrow was designated London’s international airport. The airfield remained abandoned for 41 years before reopening as a museum and historical landmark in 2000. I decided to visit the historic airport, which is open to the public on the first Sunday of each month, and I was amazed by how well-preserved the building is.
The airport building feels frozen in time, with original furniture, passenger luggage and other travel items dating back to 1920 still sitting in the terminal.
Original tickets from Imperial Airways show that return fares from London to Paris were £10, and included a hotel stay in London the night before the flight.
A menu from August 1935 shows some of the options passengers were offered on board, including mock turtle soup, veal and ham pie, and lamb cutlets.
Visitors can also see the scale that was used to weigh passengers before each flight, as weight limits were very strict due to the small size of the aircraft.
In the early 1920s, commercial aeroplanes used wicker and rattan chairs as passenger seats because they were extremely lightweight, and the ones used by Imperial Airways on its planes are also on display.
Visitors can explore the world’s first air traffic control tower, with the original desks, flight books, and navigation devices used by air traffic controllers at the time.
The item that shocked me the most was the airline’s dress code booklet, which included “Hints for Lady Passengers”. Airlines used to provide passengers with an etiquette booklet during the golden age of early commercial flying, and I couldn’t believe there was still an original copy from the early 1920s at Croydon Airport.
Airlines would share specific wardrobe advice, such as requiring an overnight bag alongside their luggage, with items like “lightweight pyjamas”. Other etiquette rules required husbands to leave the weighing room while their wives stepped on the scale.
Some of the guidelines stated that while “it is not necessary at all to have any extra clothes made for travelling by air”, it is recommended to wear “a warm coat, a linen hat,” and pack “plenty of underwear”. Of course, most ladies “will like to pack an evening dress to dine in hotels along the route”.
Outside the terminal building, visitors can admire a real de Havilland Heron propeller-driven airliner, the aircraft that operated the last scheduled passenger flight from Croydon Airport in September 1959.
The airport is also known for being the place where the ‘Mayday’ emergency call originated. In 1923, Croydon’s Senior Radio Officer F.S. Mockford conceived the distress phrase “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”, which is the phonetic equivalent of the French word “m’aidez” (“help me”).
Historic Croydon Airport explained: “’Mayday, Mayday, Mayday’ was subsequently approved by the Air Ministry as the required radio procedure to be used in an emergency. In 1924, the UK promulgated its approval and use through the publication of The Air Pilot: Great Britain.
“Adopted by the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington in 1927, ‘Mayday’ became the international standard distress phrase. The ‘Mayday’ distress call still saves lives today.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
