Croydon Airport

Croydon Airport (ICAO: EGCR) was the United Kingdom's main international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located near Croydon, then part of Surrey, using a temporary terminal, hangars and offices on Plough Lane. A new permanent terminal in a Neoclassical style opened in 1928 on the 1925-built Purley Way. The airport handled more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time. Innovations at the site included the world's first air traffic control, the first airport terminal and the world's first airport hotel (the Gate Lodge, now the Aerodrome Hotel). It was home to Britain's first national airline, Imperial Airways, founded through a government sponsored four-airline merger in 1924. During the Second World War the airport was named RAF Croydon as its role changed to that of a fighter airfield during the Battle of Britain; and in 1943 RAF Transport Command was founded at the site, which used the airport to transport thousands of troops into and out of Europe. After the war, its role returned to civil aviation, but the lack of available land for expansion meant that the role of London's primary international airport later passed to London Heathrow Airport. Croydon Airport closed in 1959. It had been known under eight different names while it was active. In 1978, the terminal building and Gate Lodge were granted protection as Grade II li

Airport data from the OpenFlights open database.