Croydon Airport Tour and Mini Bash

[treadigraph]

Hi

Following the discussion in the earlier Croydon Airport Movements (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=318439) thread, I have provisionally arranged with Dr Frank Anderson that 10 people can be given a tour of the old Croydon Airport Terminal (now Airport House) on 11th May at 13:30pm.

The guide will meet us in the Old Booking Hall in Airport House.

At the moment those interested are:

Treadigraph (+ 1 possibly)
PPRuNe Pop (+ 1 possibly)
WHBM
MerlinXX (+3 possibly)
Cricket23

That takes us up to ten!

If anyone else would like to join us, it may be possible to arrange a second sitting - please let me know as soon as possible!

There is a small charge of £2 per person.

Plan will be to enjoy a couple of pints and some aviation-type chat afterwards at the Airport Hotel (and possibly even before!).

Hope this suits everybody!

Cheers

Treadders

[PPRuNe Pop]

Yep! I'm in and possibly one other - I will confirm that later.

Well done Treadders.

PPP

[merlinxx]

'tis on me planner. The bar in the Hotel is slightly 'off range' as the ale is not that well kept, but what the hell, beer is beer even on Purley Way.

[Cricket23]

Thanks Treaders, it's appreciated. :ok:

Cricket.

[WHBM]

Bump ........ :)

[treadigraph]

Cheers WHBM, you read my mind (one of the world's shortest books)

[merlinxx]

Hi can you add a further 2 to mine SVP, maybe a 4th, so please plan on a 4th. Thks

PS. My Pappa would be turning in his grave as an old employee at Croydon pre/post War II.

Thks Merlin

[treadigraph]

MerlinXX, duly added. That give us a full house!

If the ale at the Croydon Airport Hotel proves sadly lacking, we could always think about a bus to Croydon. The Youngs Bitte at the Dog and Bull isn't quite what it was since the brewery move to Bedford, or so I am told (I drink highly modified apple juice), but I believe the Deuchars is very pleasant alternative!

[PPRuNe Pop]

Still on Treadders?

1330 - old booking hall - this coming Sunday (11th)? I am a def 2 now and looking forward to it.

We will be at the airport hotel at around 1300.

PPP

[treadigraph]

Yep, I'm still up for it and will also contact Frank Anderson today to confirm.

Looking forward to it, and hope the current weather prevails... Even if it is "if wet, in doors anyway"...

Cheers

Treadders

[merlinxx]

Plse scale mine back to 1 only, my other 2 now not able due scheduling/work
pressure. Thks.

[merlinxx]

Over the road from the Airport is The Collannades, the pub there is The Gypsy Moth. Loads of parking & outside seating. Inside not inspiring, but tried the beer & not too bad. Maybe an easy RV & just a walk across the road, rather than having to 'bus about' for a jar/glass/case/crate etc.

For those not local, check www.beerintheevening.com & check The Gypsy Moth, Croydon for a chart.

TTFN

[WHBM]

Any possibility of me now being +1 on Sunday ?

Regarding the watering holes, I'd be more than happy with the Airport Hotel for all its old history and associations, poking around it to see what is left from the old days. They seem quite proud of this and its featured on the hotel website. Apparently when there was an "event" at the airport everyone used to be admitted up onto the hotel roof (which I presume is flat !).

[PPRuNe Pop]

There is quite a lot to savour in the Aerodrome hotel and I am anxious to let my grandson get as much of it as possible. I am for that I think.

[treadigraph]

Ok, let's stick with the Airport Hotel then and see what it's like.

WHBM, no probs, I think we will be a max of 9 then: and my +1 has just arrived back from a business trip to Manila, so may cry off due to jet lag. I'll find out in the Dog and Bull tonight!

I've emailed Frank Gardner to confirm.

What time to people want to meet? The tour is at 1330; I can be there any time after 1200. Shall we meet in the bar at the hotel?

Treadders

[merlinxx]

Roger on the 1200 meet

[No comment]

Room for a little one on Sunday?

Having vaguely suggested a 'bash and then been absent from the forums (slap wrist), I wasn't aware how far it had progressed!!!

[treadigraph]

No comment I think there probably is... We are at least one light, so dust off your drinking trousers and preflight those moths...!

Frank Gardner will be our host on Sunday and has confirmed with me today.

Looking forward folks!

[Cricket23]

See you all at 13:30. I've a 'orrible cold, plus church, so can't make it beforehand.

Regards,

C23

[ThreadBaron]

Buggah! I only spot this on the day in question.:(

Tredders, put me down for the visit 2 if such can be arranged, please.

[treadigraph]

That's fine ThreadBaron!

Sorry to hear about the cold Cricket, darn things!

PMs sent to all.

Treadders

[Cricket23]

Hi Treadders,

Thanks for organising the event. Really good and informative, and nice to meet you.

Cheers,

Cricket.

[Mr_Grubby]

For the benefit of all of us who couldn't go, Treadders, I hope you will be posting a full and comprehensive report !!!!!

Clint.

[merlinxx]

Hey Treadders, excellent job old chap. Very enjoyable afternoon, and the few 'Nigerians' (needed the iron & vits). Good and informative talk, I even liked the 'syrup' (sorry couldn't resist that one). I was great to meet the folks.

A request, can you all PM with yr E-mail addss's SVP.

Cheers Merlin

[treadigraph]

For the benefit of all of us who couldn't go, Treadders, I hope you will be posting a full and comprehensive report !!!!!

Here it is: Hic!

A very pleasant afternoon which began in the Aerodrome Hotel with MerlinXX playing the preliminary round of "hunt the barman", an activity which was repeated several times.

At the appointed hour we met up with our host for the afternoon who gave us a very informative tour of the old terminal building, covering the history, the architecture and, of course, the flying. There are a lot of artefacts and models on display including a real Tiger Moth which appears to be sagging slightly - well the left lower wing's trailing edge looked a bit odd, though it may have been the angle! There is also a magnificent 1/200 model of the terminal and hangar area.

We then had a look out the back; the original vista of apron, a huge greensward and distant trees is sadly replaced by walls and factory units, while any ghostly nostalgic impressions of burbling Gipsy Queens and Bristol Jupiters are drowned out by local yobs drag racing their kiddy-moto-cycles up and down Imperial Way.

Then it was the Tower fer us – up several flights of stairs and the danger of nose bleeds. More artefacts and memorabilia, and the piece-de-résistance, the control room itself, complete with original kit or replicas thereof, and explanations of how it all worked.

A fascinating tour, and much thanks to The Croydon Airport Society!

They open the building on the first Sunday of each month, and you can book special tours by appointment. I think you can also look around the booking hall at other times if you are sampling the delights of the Rayon D'Or bar.

Then it was back to the bar I’m afraid to take up where we left off in the search for the barperson. I wandered back up the A23 several hours later in something of sun and alcohol-induced state of befuddlement…

Great to meet a few more PPRuNers; it was good fun!

(Oh, and by the way, Merlin ain’t referring to my challenged foliage! :p)

Treadders

[PPRuNe Pop]

It certainly was a lovely sight to behold when in the 'terminal' building. The mind was full of what the atmosphere was like in those days. Radio nav was pretty basic but entirely adequate it seems. The tower and radio room were as left, with a few added artefacts to tickle the taste buds.

Plenty of models, and if you let your imagination run free it was a flight of fantasy.

My grandson enjoyed it very much too.

Well done Jools.

PPP

[Mr_Grubby]

Thanks for that report guys !

All this talk about artefacts, ghostly nostalgic impressions, memorabilia,
basic radio nav equipment and original kit in the control room itself reminds me of the Ops room at West Drayton until we moved down to Swanwick last year!!

Sounds like a good day out.

Clint.:D

[No comment]

Thanks again Treadders, was a very interesting afternoon out and was great to meet you and the other Ppruners in attendance!

Lot of history there, what a strange moment walking out onto the former apron...

Looking forward to my next overseas jaunt, its such a shame that I'll be trying to get to Heathrow in the rush hour rather than a half-hour walk to Croydon through the cornfields!

[WHBM]

Just some ancillary comments to add on a most pleasant afternoon.

Treadders did some good organising of us all, an activity inevitably akin to herding cats, but which had a good outcome in that we all got there on time and enjoyed the whole experience. Many thanks for pulling it all together.

Both the Aerodrome Hotel (which seemed distinctly empty, aiding initial recognition – not too difficult when there is only one group in the bar) and the Old Terminal next door are interesting for their old photos, wall posters, punctured but genuine 1930s main wheels (!), and some typical thirties caricatures of personalities round the airfield were on the wall as well, making us glad we live in times where we can escape such parody.

Frank Gardner, our Historical Society host and guide, told of a difficulty he once had in doing little presentations to the local primary school, but that can really have been nothing compared to us lot. “Bet no one can identify that aviation flag”, he opened. Flag is instantly identified along with all the occasions it had seemingly ever been flown in the past 50 years. “There was a small airshow here in 1978”. Frank finds he is addressing the first display pilot to have landed at it. And on it went. Poor Frank. And, of course, many thanks to him for his fascinating and well-informed commentary, and handling all those questions and comments.

As we had been on our best behaviour up to this point we were allowed into the radio room, normally kept behind the glass, where we made appropriately pithy comments about much of the equipment. The radio set, with valves the size of milk bottles sticking out from it, is apparently still somewhat serviceable (possibly after about 3 hours warming up), so maybe we should call them up one Sunday afternoon and ask for a QNH.

An example page on display from a movement log in the 1930s, a whole day’s movements on one page, showed that life for the FISO in those days was a simpler task.

Various references to “radio” along the way but I suspect that much of it would actually be “wireless”, ie Morse Code. Which of course is a word that has now come back into technology. What goes around comes around.

There were kids beyond the fence on mini-bikes racing down pretty much what was the old 04/22 runway alignment, now an industrial estate. Some of them probably got up in a couple of seconds to more than an HP.42 take-off speed.

I wonder how many PPRuNe bashes have had a mid-session interval for a fancy dress parade ? I think we may have achieved a first here, especially the guest appearance by Ali G.

Among the various commercial uses for the buildings nowadays is the Rayon D’Or restaurant. Now the Rayon D’Or was the name of the Air Union (Air France predecessor) deluxe in-flight dining service from Croydon to Paris in the 1920s (Farman Goliaths for the technically minded), so one entered full of expectation. Alas, this was to be short-lived. A misunderstanding somewhere round the back led to us being served a child meal by mistake. Now we may give BA some stick for T5, or scrapping Concorde, or whatever. But in many a flight I don’t think they have even come close to serving me the UM’s meal.

[WHBM]

I'm going to stick some photos on Flickr and will PM when done, but please give me a day or two to get round to it as I've somehow ended up in Fort William in Scotland at the moment :)

[treadigraph]

Thanks guys; WHBM clearly either has a far more retentive memory than I, or perhaps his abstinence later in the afternoon paid dividends! :ok:

Looking forward to the pics.

[merlinxx]

I don't remember him talking pics either, 'twas the sun & Nigerians, a bit tropo perhaps. Thks WHBM for the pics anyway, look forward to seeing them.