I had so much information on the bombing of Croydon Airport (RAF Croydon) and the neighbouring factories and houses that I had to spread it out.
If you are interested
in a particular person you might want to start here;
when you find the person’s name, go to the top of that list and you will find a
clickable link that will take you to eyewitness accounts specific to their
location (if available).
You can also see a map
of all the locations and aerial photos from the time here.
You can click here
for a little historical context and general eyewitness statements.
Finally, there is a
two-minute British Pathe film of the scenes in the factory estate about an hour
after the attack happened which you can view by clicking here (remember to use
full-screen). If you click here
I have tried to match stills from the film to 21st century Google
Street Views.
Acknowledgements
While events were
still in living memory, Douglas Cluett, Joanna Bogle and Bob Learmouth wrote a
book called “Croydon Airport and the Battle of Britain” – without this a lot of
the eyewitness statements and details would have been lost.
Anton Rippon for his
diligence to find the fascinating details about Croydon in the local newspaper
in Exeter!
Books I have quoted
from:
Joshua Levine “Voices
from the Blitz and the Battle of Britain”
Bob Ogley “Surrey at
War”
Berwick Sayers “Croydon
and the Second World War” including the Roll of Honour, the list of people from
Croydon who were killed between 1939 and 1945 or who died in the borough
Kaye Webb (editor) “Lilliput
Goes to War”
Ben Wicks “Waiting for
the All Clear” – the original motivation for this whole work was when I read someone
recalling that 300 girls had been killed at a scent factory next to Croydon Airport. While that turned out to be ‘fake news’ the
real story was a fascinating one.
Websites:
Commonwealth War Graves
Commission (CWGC)
Find My Past – generally I find
Ancestry easier to use but FMP has an invaluable facility to search the 1939
Register by address
Home
Front Legacy 1914-1918 – their diligence in photographing the 1917 railway
platform, a relic of the National Aircraft factory, still visible on Princes
Way was my big break in working out where the British Pathe film had been shot
Kenley Revival
for the information about a survivor of the bombing at Bourjois
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