We produce two different BW sets on this legendary period in aviation history.
Airliners at Croydon Airport 1938 Set BW1 of 12 6x4 Black+White prints
Before the appearance of terrorist hijackers, air travel was a civilised business, and this set of twelve prints goes back to the pioneering days at Croydon in 1938. Croydon Airport opened in 1920, using a WW1 field housing aircraft fighting the Zeppelins, and started overseas flights to Paris quite soon. We open with a De Havilland DH86 Express four engine biplane, EI-ABK Eire , which was the second plane owned by Aer Lingus. It was acquired in 1936, and inaugurated the Dublin-Croydon service. In the background is the 1928 Control Tower. Czechoslovakian OK-AIE on a flight to Prague was seized by the Nazis in a few months’ time. Next to it is a four engine DH86 and in the distance, GA-ENN, a DH89A Rapide owney by Olley Air Services. A Czech DC2, OK-AIC, Praha , is in the Sabena/KLM hanger as a Swedish DC3, SE-BAC Falken of 1937 sits on the tarmac outside. We take a close look at the Czech DC2 Praha , and a look at the nose and tail of Falken . An Air France Bloch-220 arrives and in the distance is a smoke wind direction indicator rather than the usual wind sock. The Bloch is F-AQNL Languedoc , new in July 1938. Danish Air Lines operated a single Ju-52/3, OY_DAL, Selandia . A view from the terminal shows Olley Air Services DH89A, G-AEPW in the foreground. G-ADWY is a DH85 Leopard Moth run by Croydon Air Taxis. D-ADIL is a DH60 Moth owned by Surrey Flying Services. DH89A EI-ABK is in the distance and to the left is G-AEWD, A Curtiss TS2 Condor of International Air Freight of Croydon. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.
Airliners at Croydon Airport 1938 Set BW2 of 10 6x4 Black+White prints
This set of 10 6x4 prints complements our Set BW-1 of twelve views. It opens with a portrait of the control towe qhich was the first purpose designed control tower in the UK and an iconic building during the twenties and thirties as it reflected a wholly new concept. The state of the art radio mast is interesting and the control tower was of course lacking the as yet unavailable radar. We see a Belgian owned Savoia S-73 and a Lufthansa Ju-52 just beyond the hardstanding on the grass. A portrait of the Belgian S-73 and the nose reveals the lines of this fixed undercarriage tri-motor plane of Italian design which was obsolete by the late 1930s. Belgium was the only major user outside Italy with a fleet of eighteen S-73s. As G-ACJJ Scylla , one of the only two Short Bros L17 quad motor biplanes built for Imperial Airways is in the hangar, G-AAUD, Hanno , a Handley-Page HP42W (W for Western) biplane is partly outside the Imperial Airways hangar. The HP42 had the unique record of not costing any civilian lives in airline service. Sister ship, G-AAXD Horatius is on the paved area in a rear view that shows the triple rudder layout. Our next view is of H42s G-AAUD Hanno and G-AAXD Horatius on the paved area, the latter with the covered ‘entrance’ used on the HP-42s! Passengers are boarding the 4.00pm flight for Paris. To the right is G-AFEO, a North Eastern Airways Ltd DH89A rapide probably on a Speke flight, with an airside coach between the two planes. Imperial Airways bought three Junkers 52/3m planes for the night mail flights, so the German built G-AERU is a most unlikely looking Imperial Airways plane! Our last two views show Ju-52s in more familiar guise, ans D-AXAT carries the Nazi emblem on the tail. It is named Rudolf Windisch , after a 1914-18 fighter ace with 22 victories. A flag is flown from the cockpit. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.