Editing Croydon Airport (section)

===Expansion===
[[File:Croydon Airport aerial view.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Croydon Airport in 1925]]
[[File:Jewish refugees at Croydon airport 1939.jpg|thumb|Unsuccessful forced deportation of Jewish refugees at Croydon Airport, 30 March 1939]]
Under the provisions of the Croydon Aerodrome Extension Act 1925, the airport was greatly enlarged between 1926 and 1928, with a new complex of buildings being constructed alongside [[Purley Way]], including the first purpose-designed airport terminal and air traffic [[control tower]], the world's first airport hotel, and extensive hangars. The development cost £267,000 (£{{Formatprice|{{inflation|UK|267000|1928}}}} in today's prices) {{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}. Plough Lane was closed permanently to let heavier airliners land and depart safely. The airport's terminal building and control tower were completed in 1928, and the old wooden air traffic control and customs building demolished.<ref name="controltowers.co.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.controltowers.co.uk/C/Croydon.htm|title=Croydon Airport & RAF Croydon Airfield|work=controltowers.co.uk}}</ref> The new buildings and layout began operations on 20 January 1928, and were officially opened on 2 May 1928 by [[Lady Maud Hoare]].

Croydon was where regular international passenger services began, initially using converted wartime bombers, and the Croydon–[[Paris–Le Bourget Airport|Le Bourget]] route soon became the busiest in the world. [[Air traffic control]] was first developed here, as was the "[[Mayday]]" distress call.<ref name="croydonairport.org.uk"/> [[Amy Johnson]] took off from Croydon on 5 May 1930 for her record-breaking flight to Australia. In 1927, [[Charles Lindbergh]] arrived in ''[[Spirit of St. Louis]]'', to be greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of over 100,000 people.<ref name="croydonairport.org.uk"/> [[Winston Churchill]] also took flying lessons.

On the morning of 11 July 1936, Major [[Hugh Pollard (Major)|Hugh Pollard]], and [[Cecil Bebb]] left Croydon Airport for the [[Canary Islands]] in a [[de Havilland Dragon Rapide]] aircraft, where they picked up [[General Francisco Franco]], taking him to [[Spanish Protectorate of Morocco|Spanish Morocco]] and thereby helping to trigger the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://randompottins.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html|title=RandomPottins|work=randompottins.blogspot.com}}</ref>

Imperial Airways used the [[Handley Page]] [[Handley Page H.P.42|HP42/HP45]] four-engined biplanes from Croydon, and the [[Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta]], which was the first monoplane airliner used by the airline, intended for use on the African routes. In March 1937 [[British Airways Ltd]] operated from Croydon, moving to [[Heston Aerodrome]] in May 1938. Imperial Airways, serving routes in the British Empire, and British Airways Ltd, serving European routes, were merged by the [[Neville Chamberlain|Chamberlain]] government in November 1938 to become [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]] (BOAC). Larger four-engined monoplanes, [[Armstrong Whitworth Ensign]] series (G-ADSR) came into service that year.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The airport also hosted a much-publicised visit by [[Gertrud Scholtz-Klink]], leader of the National Socialist Women's League (NS-Frauenschaft) and rumoured to be a spy; historians have speculated that she landed in Britain to cultivate German spies living here, in the run-up to WWII.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.historyextra.com/article/premium/when-hitlers-perfect-woman-came-call|title=When Hitler's perfect woman came to call|newspaper=History Extra|access-date=9 December 2016}}</ref>