What was the pre-war reluctance with hard runways at the "major" airports of the time ? The significantly worse performance you get operating from grass really affected the low-powered types then around. 40% extra factor when operating off grass ? Could they not handle any crosswind and thus needed a circular field to give a landing/take-off in any direction ? Did fragile undercarriages need extra resilience ? Croydon had a hard apron but not runways.
Gatwick spent money on a new terminal and train station in 1936, only to have the whole lot become unusable due to waterlogging in the winter, and all the operators moved away.
I don't know if the runways were inadequate for DC3s and the like of the time; Croydon was 4,000 feet, and DC3s have operated effectively on comparable tasks from shorter strips. Tempelhof in Berlin was the grand new airport of Europe at the time, they had 5,500 feet and later operated 727 and One-Eleven jets out of there, and Comets to the Mediterranean, in the 1970s. Hard runway of course. I'm sure DC3s would get off in half that length.
Last edited by WHBM; 23rd Nov 2009 at 10:14.