Croydon Space
WHBM, you seem to forget that the aircraft operating from Croydon in the 50's had nowhere near the performance of those at "stol port".
Not only that but Croydon sits in a "bowl", and whilst a runway would have helped it was never going to built after Gatwick was improved.
Even the RAF did not bother in improving facilities to any great extent,so i suspect with transport aircraft getting larger and heavier the writing was on the wall even then.Croydon could only have extended across the "Purley Way",but as this was a main route out of London,and on quite a slope, what was the point.With Heathrow,and Gatwick emerging as the future, Croydon was only ever going to continue as a club/light charter field,but no one was going to subsidise that with land in the area being eagerly sought for industry and housing.
Croydon has a proud history and at least is still a relatively open space,plus we have the terminal building and the Airport Hotel to remind us of its past glory in setting standards well ahead of its time.
Two world wars and the birthplace of our organised civil operations sounds a pretty good record to me,and is in good company with Kenley just up the road.
Pobjoy