Man's ability is incomprehensible, this film, 31 years after the first powered flight is very difficult to appreciate fully! Thank you very much for further enrapturing us!
My Grandfather used to go to Croydon airport to watch these planes take of and land in those days..Imagine, he was a little boy watching this and ended up flying on Concorde to NYC and died aged 93 four years ago. Lived through a War and was evacuated to South Africa as a child. What history he saw in one lifetime
My mates and I used to cycle to Croydon Airport to watch the planes when we were about 9 or 10. It isn't far from where we lived - five, maybe six miles? The Heracles' and Fokers were a bit before our time, but I remember seeing SCHEDULED South African Airways DC-3's landing and taking off and the lovely DH Dragon Rapide which briefly appeared alongside one of the big HP's. There was never a paved runway there, but a paved run up or turning area was and still is. The main airport building is still preserved and evoke good memories still.
We don’t think of you as old. Certainly not old. We think of you more as a treasured antique… or beloved relic. Oh dear, that didn’t come out right. I had better stop now. Anyway, cheers from here, Santa Monica, ancestral home of the Douglas aircraft factory.
Fabulous piece of historical film. I was an Air Traffic Controller at various airfields from about 1970 onwards, so missed out on this pioneering era, although a lot of the 'jargon' (e.g. Q codes) was still in use even then. As a boy, I used to cycle from my home in Fulham to Heathrow to watch the airliners from the low roof of ' The Queens Building', one of the passenger terminals. Happy days of relative unsophistication. International travel is all so intense now, but at 75 years of age I still have a pilot's licence and fly myself around the South of England regularly.
I remember my late father telling me how it was a fun day out for him and the other kids in his street to set forth either on foot or on basic manual scooters from Earlsfield (Wandsworth) to Croydon Airport (or Air Port as it seems to have been known then) to watch these exciting aeroplanes. This would have been in the period 1929-33 and would have been just over eight miles each way. I expect the more responsible members of the gang would have saved a penny or two to catch the tram home across Mitcham Common and save their legs a bit! Forty years later I would have followed his example for a good day out except that this time I was using a succession of buses from Worcester Park to Heathrow Airport (and with very little legwork involved!). Croydon Airport Terminal Building looks very prestigous to match the incomes of those who could afford to fly back then. The Handley Page airliners look (slightly) dated but magnificent in 1935 compared to the Douglas. I would imagine that the sheer joy of riding in such a craft may have been a little tempered by the bumpiness and noise. Thank you for posting this impressive clip.
I lived a few roads away in the 1970s and 1980s as a kid and I worked on the airdrome buildings, I was at the last air show there commemorating Amy Johnson and the big concrete estate was still up, after demolition it’s now houses. But the main build in still looks good I wish the runway could be replaced, also when I was 7-10 years old we played in air raid shelters and we felt like we were being watched also ghost stories were all about then
Great Film. I lived about 10 miles from the Airport and before WW2, I remember seeing the Lufthansa JU 52s that flew low over our back yard to land at Croydon. Probably taking photos as they flew.
It's worth mentioning that much of the airport, which only closed in 1959, still exists and there is a museum and a couple of planes there. It's worth visiting.
My late Mother worked for Mr. & Mrs. Rollason pre-War at Croydon, and would have recognized the sites and scenes in this fascinating film. I remember my Mother telling me she was at Croydon in 1930 when Amy Johnson returned from her famous solo flight. Imperial Airways, KLM, Lufthansa (complete with swastikas on the their tail fins) etc, all familiar to those who frequented Croydon Airport in those days. I visited the Airport building and Control Tower, on one of the 'open' Sundays, a few years ago, and found the experience and knowledge of the guides excellent. Thanks for uploading this film.
4:30 - "Cargo, consigned to Cairo, Bagdad, Singapore, Surabaya and Brisbane ..." and these days our postal services need two weeks to occasionally deliver the Speccie to me here in Oslo, Norway. That's progress. 5:05 - I do like the little, retractable flagpole, it lends an air of the ocean liner ... You should fit one on your Aeronca -- a tiny one :-)
Great film, fab history, wonderful planes, but... I kept thinking of the Goon Show episode "Wings Over Dagenham", and thinking of "Ace" Bluebottle and his sidekick "Ginger Beer" Eccles in the cockpit...😉
What an excellent memento of how well developed air transport was then, still poised between the biplanes of its infancy,albeit large like the magnificent Handley Page, and the metal monoplanes of today. And the degree of infrastructure organisation is impressive. Wonderful,thank you
I once read a comment that an HP42 at Croydon was airborne before it had even left the apron (for the grass strip). It had such lift available and with a good wind... they never lost a passenger but the survivors went in WWII. I would love to fly in "ponderous majesty" (Jeffrey Quill) even in a retro one!
The RAF took over the HP42s and painted them in camouflage. They didn't last long, some being wrecked in gales, and all that's left is a propellor from the one that made a non-fatal forced landing on a golf-course.
There used to be special post boxes in central London painted light blue where you could post your airmail letters. These were taken directly to Croydon Airport for their onward journey.
A very interesting film of Croydon when it was THE London Airport. I was born on the estate the other side of Purley Way and my Father ran the fuel flow bench at Fields Aviation. My brother worked for Rollason on Tigermoth re builds and Druine Turbulent production. We were there during the period when the field closed and everyone in the area was sad to see the end of it.
I think that it became the Roundshaw estate in about 1968. When I was working in London in about 1981 As a quantity surveyor I was involved in preparing estimates to repair a high rise flat building which was badly constructed. I recently saw a TH-cam video of it being demolished. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
Further to my earlier comment, I checked the registration and found that it was for a Fokker XXII that had an unfortunate accident on Tuesday 9 June 1936, so not long after the Croydon film was made.The Fokker F.XXII, named "Lappland", crashed into a house during an emergency landing. Three of the four engines had lost power during taking off. Two of the eleven passengers were killed.
Excellent film thank you for posting. In the 50's we lived under the flight path and lying in bed sometimes I wondered if we were going to lose a chimney! We would cycle to the airport and sometimes were able to sneak in, those big hangers were intriguing but inpeneterable to us but staff were very tolerant of small enthusiastic boys. I think Rollasons was the company most in evidence then. I was very disappointed when it was closed, weirdly I did a teaching practice once in a school on the Roundshaw estate that was later built over much of it.
Very interesting thank you for posting, the British seemed to be the last ones operating Biplanes in public transport operations, I guess the the HP 42 was very safe in operations, and very slow too.
The terminal building shown in the video is still there on the Purley Way and is used as a business centre. There are a couple of remnants of airport infrastructure and maybe some bits of the old Waddon aircraft factory hanging on. I think some were demolished in the last few years.
First visited in the early 1980s whilst I was working in the old control tower at Liverpool. Derelict and boarded up. Went again in the summer of 2018, terminal and tower restored and very recognisable. Museum was open and staffed by enthusiasts one weekend a month. Excellent day out. Great story from the guide we had, that Goering turned up unannounced for the 1937 coronation and was sent home. On my way home received news on the car radio of the Ju-air JU52 crash in Switzerland…….
I worked at bournemouth air traffic in 1970 and my shift leader ( Lucky ) Craven , started his career at croydon. I was surprised by a couple of items in the video , the first was the instruction boards , being slid ot of thier container to pass simple messages . The other thing was the rather polite captain asking for a postion (fix) . I thought they would have just used Morse q codes ( QDM = magnetic course to steer ) as they were in use from the first world war , and are still in (fairly) common use today.
At 20:21 the Swastika marked aircraft (remember this was filmed in 1934) has the registration D-AMIT. They were aware of future events even then .............😮 Thank you for posting this amazing film stock ! ❤
The Handley-Page H.P. 42 is one of the most Miyazaki airplanes ever. Look for a brief flyby of one early in the opening credits of Kiki's Delivery Service.
HP42 looks ancient compared to the DC2 and the Fokker Trimotor. However, it could carry 24 in style compared to the DC2's 14 and the Trimotor's 12. Not sure which one I would go on to fly from Croydon to Australia! The morse key that the air traffic communications operator is using looks like it might be a Marconi PS 213. Surprised to see this as I thought it was used only by Post Office maritime coast stations. Goniometer dial also looks like Marconi.
LOL indeed , but I'm sure these passengers felt like flying in a concord given the time needed to sail to Australia by comparison. What I found incredible was the painstaking maintenance of those engines with the engineer in charge looking like a surgeon in his neat white coat. If a modern airline had to go through that kind of maintenance they'd go broke quickly.
The interiors of those HP42s were something else, too- not that much different to a Pullman railway carriage. And wonderful to note the importance of string in the development of air traffic control. Heres another short film from 1937, showing the amount of logistics needed to maintain the Empire air routes to the Far East: th-cam.com/video/253vJ6uYpq4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=CTopBfqeeGJHZcKy Such days...
Marvelous stuff. Note how we glorious Brits were still using biplanes when the French, the Germans, the Dutch and the Swiss were already on monoplanes, some with retracts, egad!
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair Absolutely, the old HP42 and its ilk had a majesty and grace that the new-fangled DC2 could never match, for all its speed and efficiency.
G'day, Great stuff ! Thanks for posting this little Time Capsule... It's a wonder they didn't call it "British Imperial Biplanes - World's Finest Edwardian-themed Airline Travel & Transport...!" Leading off with the cunning Plot-device of showcasing the Carrying capacity of the HP-42 as 42 Passengers, plus Baggage & Cargo..., before passing over - fleetingly, the Cantilevered Dutch, French, German and US-built Monoplane Airliners..., all of which carried less than 42 Passengers... Another bit of Stage-Magic was the suggestion that the venerable HP-42 went all the way to Brisbane ; when as I underconstumble matters. QANTAS Flying-Boats ran a Relay with Imperial, the Passengers "changing horses" somewhere in India (?). Probably not too wicked, as regards the Nationalism & Propaganda being routinely built into Film-making at the time ; and this was made by the the British Branch-Office of the (Royal Dutch) Shell {Game} Corporation..., hence outlining the route to Batavia - while competing with Lenni Reifenstahl covering the Olympics, as she was doing in Germany that year. An excellent little Window into the Past...; showcasing the year my mother was born - whereas at the time my father was the local Agent selling & servicing English Electric Whippet Cars, which featured Wood-framed Bodies with Fabric covering - to add more Lightness... Like the Biplanes in this Video, Fabric-over-Wooden Coachbuilding was in the act of fading from use ; while still being presented as the height of elegant Design Sensibility...! One wonders what sort of a Sink-Rate the HP-42 produced, if one Engine stopped propelling and windmilled, instead...(?). It was probably another 10 years before anybody enforced the idea that nothing multi-engined was considered Airworthy - unless it were so very overpowered as to be able to climb out at max. T.O. weight, after losing one powerplant.... 1936 was a different World. Such is life. Have a good one..... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
@@blissy1 Croydon had an NDB as well, for aircraft equipped to receive signals. The Lorenz landing system wasn’t installed until 1936. Will be mentioned in a future film.
@@thomaserpingham2798 Radial engines have been built since c.1900. I don’t believe the Bristol Jupiter was invented at all; like most technology, the radial engine was under constant development.
It's too bad that so many historically significant airports (e.g., Croydon, Hendon, Roosevelt Field, etc.) have fallen to alternative development.....alas.
Great film. Great airport. Sadly Croydon has disappeared totally now. In typical British fashion everything important and historical needs to be removed.
Coller and tie on engine fitters 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Not at Rolls Royce today My daughter was married at this airport in the hotel that stands their today On the otherside of the road is the main termil building still their
^ Back when England really WAS England & not the 3rd World "dump" it has tragically become today I recently bought the Handley Page H.P.42 from AIRFIX in the old 'Type.3' Red-Stripe packaging Would LOVE to have a time machine, so I could go back to when England was worthwhile
Man's ability is incomprehensible, this film, 31 years after the first powered flight is very difficult to appreciate fully! Thank you very much for further enrapturing us!
My Grandfather used to go to Croydon airport to watch these planes take of and land in those days..Imagine, he was a little boy watching this and ended up flying on Concorde to NYC and died aged 93 four years ago. Lived through a War and was evacuated to South Africa as a child. What history he saw in one lifetime
My mates and I used to cycle to Croydon Airport to watch the planes when we were about 9 or 10. It isn't far from where we lived - five, maybe six miles? The Heracles' and Fokers were a bit before our time, but I remember seeing SCHEDULED South African Airways DC-3's landing and taking off and the lovely DH Dragon Rapide which briefly appeared alongside one of the big HP's. There was never a paved runway there, but a paved run up or turning area was and still is. The main airport building is still preserved and evoke good memories still.
Emotional as always, sniff! Love the fact staff were smart and up for doing there best
A marvelous bit of our history. Thank you.
That DC-2 makes everything else look ancient indeed! (and many thanks for giving us this bit of history)
Was thinking the same thing..all metal monoplane, retractable gear, de-icing.
@@boots_n_coots I flew the C47 Dakota (military version of the DC3) in commercial service. Makes me feel old!
We don’t think of you as old. Certainly not old. We think of you more as a treasured antique… or beloved relic. Oh dear, that didn’t come out right. I had better stop now. Anyway, cheers from here, Santa Monica, ancestral home of the Douglas aircraft factory.
.............for all that, it only took 14 passengers!
@ 🤣🤣
A real joy to watch, thank you for posting 🙂
Great film, thank you for uploading.
Fabulous piece of historical film. I was an Air Traffic Controller at various airfields from about 1970 onwards, so missed out on this pioneering era, although a lot of the 'jargon' (e.g. Q codes) was still in use even then. As a boy, I used to cycle from my home in Fulham to Heathrow to watch the airliners from the low roof of ' The Queens Building', one of the passenger terminals. Happy days of relative unsophistication. International travel is all so intense now, but at 75 years of age I still have a pilot's licence and fly myself around the South of England regularly.
So fab! Will have to look up those engines on the H.P.42. Love the overhaul footage.
I remember my late father telling me how it was a fun day out for him and the other kids in his street to set forth either on foot or on basic manual scooters from Earlsfield (Wandsworth) to Croydon Airport (or Air Port as it seems to have been known then) to watch these exciting aeroplanes. This would have been in the period 1929-33 and would have been just over eight miles each way. I expect the more responsible members of the gang would have saved a penny or two to catch the tram home across Mitcham Common and save their legs a bit! Forty years later I would have followed his example for a good day out except that this time I was using a succession of buses from Worcester Park to Heathrow Airport (and with very little legwork involved!).
Croydon Airport Terminal Building looks very prestigous to match the incomes of those who could afford to fly back then. The Handley Page airliners look (slightly) dated but magnificent in 1935 compared to the Douglas. I would imagine that the sheer joy of riding in such a craft may have been a little tempered by the bumpiness and noise.
Thank you for posting this impressive clip.
I lived a few roads away in the 1970s and 1980s as a kid and I worked on the airdrome buildings, I was at the last air show there commemorating Amy Johnson and the big concrete estate was still up, after demolition it’s now houses. But the main build in still looks good I wish the runway could be replaced, also when I was 7-10 years old we played in air raid shelters and we felt like we were being watched also ghost stories were all about then
Great Film.
I lived about 10 miles from the Airport and before WW2, I remember seeing the Lufthansa JU 52s that flew low over our back yard to land at Croydon. Probably taking photos as they flew.
Naughty huns and their sneaky cameras!
It's worth mentioning that much of the airport, which only closed in 1959, still exists and there is a museum and a couple of planes there. It's worth visiting.
Fantastic film, thank you.
fantastic! what a slice of history. the airport looks like a "thunderbirds" set from time to time! most odd. thank you for this.
My late Mother worked for Mr. & Mrs. Rollason pre-War at Croydon, and would have recognized the sites and scenes in this fascinating film. I remember my Mother telling me she was at Croydon in 1930 when Amy Johnson returned from her famous solo flight. Imperial Airways, KLM, Lufthansa (complete with swastikas on the their tail fins) etc, all familiar to those who frequented Croydon Airport in those days. I visited the Airport building and Control Tower, on one of the 'open' Sundays, a few years ago, and found the experience and knowledge of the guides excellent. Thanks for uploading this film.
It's interesting to note that all the aircraft mechanics wore neckties.
4:30 - "Cargo, consigned to Cairo, Bagdad, Singapore, Surabaya and Brisbane ..." and these days our postal services need two weeks to occasionally deliver the Speccie to me here in Oslo, Norway. That's progress.
5:05 - I do like the little, retractable flagpole, it lends an air of the ocean liner ... You should fit one on your Aeronca -- a tiny one :-)
With the Cornish flag, of course.
Progress lies in what you are willing to pay for speed.
You can easily have your letter - or even package nowadays - in three days.
@@michaelselmes Ahem, Kernow flag?
So full of hope for the future, so self congratulatory on our "modern" ways & all true conquests, too. Astounding....
A great piece of history.Just shows how much air travel has changed in the last 90 years!
Great film, fab history, wonderful planes, but...
I kept thinking of the Goon Show episode "Wings Over Dagenham", and thinking of "Ace" Bluebottle and his sidekick "Ginger Beer" Eccles in the cockpit...😉
@@chrismaguire3667 🤣🤣
What a great and informative vid! And the Hercules, lots of wings, struts and prop engines... It doesn`t get better than this, ever...
Best print I've seen of this film,many thanks !
What an excellent memento of how well developed air transport was then, still poised between the biplanes of its infancy,albeit large like the magnificent Handley Page, and the metal monoplanes of today. And the degree of infrastructure organisation is impressive. Wonderful,thank you
terrific video!
Love seeing the old aircraft.
Very enjoyable, as always. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes from Wichita, Kansas.
Fascinated by the engine external starting on the HP42!
@@Rover2430 Yes, compressed air from a donkey engine 👍🏻
I once read a comment that an HP42 at Croydon was airborne before it had even left the apron (for the grass strip). It had such lift available and with a good wind... they never lost a passenger but the survivors went in WWII. I would love to fly in "ponderous majesty" (Jeffrey Quill) even in a retro one!
The RAF took over the HP42s and painted them in camouflage. They didn't last long, some being wrecked in gales, and all that's left is a propellor from the one that made a non-fatal forced landing on a golf-course.
@@None-zc5vg Yes, landed on Tiverton golf course in Devon.
@@johnjephcote7636 one was lost somewhere between India and Oman.
I seem to remember that the narrator, Carleton Hobbs, was an actor who played Sherlock Holmes on the radio.
Carlton
@@acjdf Actually, his name was indeed spelt with an 'e'. 😃
What a great film, thanx for posting
There used to be special post boxes in central London painted light blue where you could post your airmail letters. These were taken directly to Croydon Airport for their onward journey.
.. and some Royal Mail air mail delivery vans were light blue as well 👍
That film was amazing, great range of aircraft. Wasn't sure what the Swedish airliner SE-ABA was, however great reg for a Swedish plane.
@@pjcarter8230 Yes, tremendously appropriate Swedish registration 🤣
It was a Fokker F.XXII.
A very interesting film of Croydon when it was THE London Airport. I was born on the estate the other side of Purley Way and my Father ran the fuel flow bench at Fields Aviation. My brother worked for Rollason on Tigermoth re builds and Druine Turbulent production. We were there during the period when the field closed and everyone in the area was sad to see the end of it.
I think that it became the Roundshaw estate in about 1968. When I was working in London in about 1981 As a quantity surveyor I was involved in preparing estimates to repair a high rise flat building which was badly constructed. I recently saw a TH-cam video of it being demolished. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
Great look at history.
Simpler times! Lovely film 👍
just remember..no antibiotics!
@@briancarno8837 indeed, penicillin had only appeared in 1928.
Further to my earlier comment, I checked the registration and found that it was for a Fokker XXII that had an unfortunate accident on Tuesday 9 June 1936, so not long after the Croydon film was made.The Fokker F.XXII, named "Lappland", crashed into a house during an emergency landing. Three of the four engines had lost power during taking off. Two of the eleven passengers were killed.
Excellent film thank you for posting. In the 50's we lived under the flight path and lying in bed sometimes I wondered if we were going to lose a chimney! We would cycle to the airport and sometimes were able to sneak in, those big hangers were intriguing but inpeneterable to us but staff were very tolerant of small enthusiastic boys. I think Rollasons was the company most in evidence then. I was very disappointed when it was closed, weirdly I did a teaching practice once in a school on the Roundshaw estate that was later built over much of it.
Very interesting thank you for posting, the British seemed to be the last ones operating Biplanes in public transport operations, I guess the the HP 42 was very safe in operations, and very slow too.
I was in china in 1995 and Antonov A2 s were a common sight.
The terminal building shown in the video is still there on the Purley Way and is used as a business centre. There are a couple of remnants of airport infrastructure and maybe some bits of the old Waddon aircraft factory hanging on. I think some were demolished in the last few years.
I have visited the old terminal in the past, must do so again, it’s a wonderful building.
Them were the days!!
Excellent stuff
First visited in the early 1980s whilst I was working in the old control tower at Liverpool. Derelict and boarded up. Went again in the summer of 2018, terminal and tower restored and very recognisable. Museum was open and staffed by enthusiasts one weekend a month. Excellent day out. Great story from the guide we had, that Goering turned up unannounced for the 1937 coronation and was sent home. On my way home received news on the car radio of the Ju-air JU52 crash in Switzerland…….
I worked at bournemouth air traffic in 1970 and my shift leader ( Lucky ) Craven , started his career at croydon. I was surprised by a couple of items in the video , the first was the instruction boards , being slid ot of thier container to pass simple messages . The other thing was the rather polite captain asking for a postion (fix) . I thought they would have just used Morse q codes ( QDM = magnetic course to steer ) as they were in use from the first world war , and are still in (fairly) common use today.
At 20:21 the Swastika marked aircraft (remember this was filmed in 1934) has the registration D-AMIT.
They were aware of future events even then .............😮
Thank you for posting this amazing film stock ! ❤
@@TheKRU251 well spotted, that’s funny!
By Jove, how splendid!
@@loomisgruntfuttock Absolutely 😂
Excellent thanks
I don't know if many will identify it, so the aircraft that appears at 10:12 minutes is the French Wibault 282.
Thank you 👍🏻
The Handley-Page H.P. 42 is one of the most Miyazaki airplanes ever. Look for a brief flyby of one early in the opening credits of Kiki's Delivery Service.
Between the two world wars, was a golden age of aviation.
For a person born in 1934 this was very interesting
A flight to Australia in an HP42 would have been a real adventure!
Yes indeed. I thoroughly approve of your TH-cam name as well; no imaginary friends here!
The HP.42 is the one I would love to see & even fly in ... such a stately great looking old girl
@@theoccupier1652 Me too!
I'd love to see this spliced with the 'Come fly with me cast!'
Outstanding!
HP42 looks ancient compared to the DC2 and the Fokker Trimotor. However, it could carry 24 in style compared to the DC2's 14 and the Trimotor's 12. Not sure which one I would go on to fly from Croydon to Australia!
The morse key that the air traffic communications operator is using looks like it might be a Marconi PS 213. Surprised to see this as I thought it was used only by Post Office maritime coast stations. Goniometer dial also looks like Marconi.
Was a time of travel for the rich only. Cost around £10,000 (in todays money) to fly from London to Australia.
@@DavidDragonetti Yes indeed, and not particularly safe either.
Amaizing , and they're long haul flights !
@@KLOSTER777 Anything in the HP42 would be long haul, if only by time!
LOL indeed , but I'm sure these passengers felt like flying in a concord given the time needed to sail to Australia by comparison. What I found incredible was the painstaking maintenance of those engines with the engineer in charge looking like a surgeon in his neat white coat. If a modern airline had to go through that kind of maintenance they'd go broke quickly.
My very 1st flight was in a Moth from Croydon.
The interiors of those HP42s were something else, too- not that much different to a Pullman railway carriage. And wonderful to note the importance of string in the development of air traffic control.
Heres another short film from 1937, showing the amount of logistics needed to maintain the Empire air routes to the Far East:
th-cam.com/video/253vJ6uYpq4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=CTopBfqeeGJHZcKy
Such days...
Marvelous stuff. Note how we glorious Brits were still using biplanes when the French, the Germans, the Dutch and the Swiss were already on monoplanes, some with retracts, egad!
@@momentmal9443 Hurrah to slow biplanes!
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair Absolutely, the old HP42 and its ilk had a majesty and grace that the new-fangled DC2 could never match, for all its speed and efficiency.
The Aircraft was powered by Bristol Jupiters. None are flying anywhere, there’s a static exhibit at The Shuttleworth Collection.
G'day,
Great stuff !
Thanks for posting this little Time Capsule...
It's a wonder they didn't call it
"British Imperial Biplanes - World's Finest Edwardian-themed Airline Travel & Transport...!"
Leading off with the cunning Plot-device of showcasing the Carrying capacity of the HP-42 as 42 Passengers, plus Baggage & Cargo..., before passing over - fleetingly, the Cantilevered Dutch, French, German and US-built Monoplane Airliners..., all of which carried less than 42 Passengers...
Another bit of Stage-Magic was the suggestion that the venerable HP-42 went all the way to Brisbane ; when as I underconstumble matters. QANTAS Flying-Boats ran a Relay with Imperial, the Passengers "changing horses" somewhere in India (?).
Probably not too wicked, as regards the Nationalism & Propaganda being routinely built into Film-making at the time ; and this was made by the the British Branch-Office of the
(Royal Dutch) Shell {Game} Corporation..., hence outlining the route to Batavia - while competing with Lenni Reifenstahl covering the Olympics, as she was doing in Germany that year.
An excellent little Window into the Past...; showcasing the year my mother was born - whereas at the time my father was the local Agent selling & servicing English Electric Whippet Cars, which featured Wood-framed Bodies with Fabric covering - to add more Lightness...
Like the Biplanes in this Video, Fabric-over-Wooden Coachbuilding was in the act of fading from use ; while still being presented as the height of elegant Design Sensibility...!
One wonders what sort of a Sink-Rate the HP-42 produced, if one Engine stopped propelling and windmilled, instead...(?).
It was probably another 10 years before anybody enforced the idea that nothing multi-engined was considered Airworthy - unless it were so very overpowered as to be able to climb out at max. T.O. weight, after losing one powerplant....
1936 was a different World.
Such is life.
Have a good one.....
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
@@WarblesOnALot The HP42 certainly was old fashioned!
Just like Speke Airport, Liverpool - now named John Lennon. Cheers Stuart.
@@stuartbedwell8576 The modern day Liverpool Airport is just south of the original Speke site, I fly in there occasionally.
Thank you.
Land based stations informing the pilots of their position🤔
@@blissy1 Croydon had an NDB as well, for aircraft equipped to receive signals. The Lorenz landing system wasn’t installed until 1936. Will be mentioned in a future film.
What a contraption the HP-42 is, nice t hear it though.
@@crushingvanessa3277 I like the engine starting via a donkey engine and compressed air 👍🏻
I read somewhere no HP42 ever crashed, is that true?
@@flybobbie1449 One disappeared between India and Oman but it probably crashed slowly!
How did anyone invent those engines which were probably scrapped within a decade. Amazing.
@@thomaserpingham2798 Radial engines have been built since c.1900. I don’t believe the Bristol Jupiter was invented at all; like most technology, the radial engine was under constant development.
A world before i was born, might as well have been on another planet..
In 1900 this would have been science fiction. Yet to us antiquated.
Pulham? Would this be RNAS Pulham st mary?
@@trisrush9155 Yes
@ thanks, lived there for 25 years, and it was in my back yard!
I wonder why Chamberlain flew out of Heston in 38?
@@paulhelman2376 I believe the British Airways Lockheeds were based there.
2:55 I bet that ladder is permanently attached
@@appaho9tel Extra drag?😂
It's too bad that so many historically significant airports (e.g., Croydon, Hendon, Roosevelt Field, etc.) have fallen to alternative development.....alas.
@@davidheal4623 Yes it is 👍🏻
10:54 My God.. can you imagine actually getting in that to fly in the air?
Yes I can, it would be splendid to fly!
Great film. Great airport. Sadly Croydon has disappeared totally now. In typical British fashion everything important and historical needs to be removed.
Coller and tie on engine fitters 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Not at Rolls Royce today
My daughter was married at this airport in the hotel that stands their today
On the otherside of the road is the main termil building still their
@@MobileGifte Oh yes, none of those dreadful hoodies, caps, tattoos, piercings and ghastly facial hair. A much better time for sure.
When things were cheap.
@@kiwi6444 by what standard?
Velves.
Happier days ,when we a first world power.
WW2 1939-1945.
I think we probably know that?
^
Back when England really WAS England & not the 3rd World "dump" it has tragically become today
I recently bought the Handley Page H.P.42 from AIRFIX in the old 'Type.3' Red-Stripe packaging
Would LOVE to have a time machine, so I could go back to when England was worthwhile
This country has not improved in the last 50 years and the ghastly Labour government of 1997 did the most harm.