Airport - first-ever film made film by the Shell Film Unit describing a day in the Croydon Airport

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17 mins black-and-white sound film describing a day in the life of Croydon Airport which was London's leading airport during the 1920s and 1930s, this film released in 1934 was the first-ever film made by the Shell Film Unit.
Beginning with the airport's gates opening and the launch of a meteorological weather balloon, the film opens with the roll-out and ground maintenance of Imperial Airways Handley Page HP.45 G-AAXC 'Heracles' and the loading of airmail and passengers before taking off. The footage is also shown of KLM Fokker F.IX PH-AGA 'Adelaar' being refuelled on the ground by Shell and of KLM Fokker F.XII PH-AID 'Duif' in flight.
The film then graphically via maps shows various international air routes from London across the world and some of the processes involved in flight route planning, air traffic control and air-to-ground communications.
After various inflight footage the second half of the film begins with various different aircraft in flight and landing at Croydon including among others Lufthansa Junkers Ju-52/3m D-ADER and D-AMIT, Swiss Air Lines Douglas DC-2 HB-ITE, Air France Wibault 282-T F-AMHK, KLM Fokker F.XXXVI PH-AJA and AB Aerotransport Fokker F.XXII SE-ABA.
Imperial Airways Handley Page HP.45 G-AAXD 'Horatius' is then seen landing with passengers disembarking and mail sacks and luggage unloaded. The film then moves onto the HP.45 G-AAXC 'Heracles' undergoing maintenance with some very detailed film footage of its Bristol Jupiter engines (including its pistons and connecting rods) being thoroughly cleaned and worked on.
The film concludes with a shot of a De Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth G-ABBJ on the ground and footage of Imperial Airways Short L17 G-ACJK 'Syrinx' landing.
Produced by Edgar Anstey, directed by Roy Lockwood, photographed by Stanley Rodwell and narrated by Carleton Hobbs, with music by William Hodgson and Jack Bevir.
The Royal Aeronautical Society has received the permissions for sharing these videos by Shell International Limited. For use of videos for non-commercial purposes credit the Royal Aeronautical Society with the respective company. For commercial use and for further information on each videos copyright, contact: nal@aerosociety.com

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30 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 131

@markshrimpton3138 Месяц назад

The father of my late aunt was Frederick Stanley Mockford. He was the senior radio officer at Croydon Airport and devised the Mayday distress call in 1923.

@bigboy0625 Месяц назад

The UK was the first to do everything looking back at history. 🇬🇧🇬🇧👍👍

@zen4men Месяц назад

Most things! Lets not over-gild the lily! /

@lawrencefried5027 Месяц назад

Fascinating. The engineering of those days, the dress codes!

@alanrogers7090 2 года назад

Just think. When the Handley-Page H. P.42 was first flown on regular routes in 1931. Just four years later, the Douglas Aircraft Company revealed its DC-3. And twenty one years later we had the De Havilland Comet. My, how time flies.

@Ballinalower 2 года назад

And all this is happening only about 35 years after the Wright brothers first staggered into the air. And in another 35 years men will be walking on the moon.

@josephlambe2796 2 года назад

History in the making I would say..now all that is left is dehaviland heron on ramp…

@paulazemeckis7835 10 месяцев назад

And the DC-3's still fly in various parts of the world. Alaska for one place.

@laurenceskinnerton73 6 месяцев назад

Interesting.

@thomasm1964 2 месяца назад

To think that my partner's father (still alive) was born in London in the same year that this film was made!

@paulkirkland3263 2 года назад

If you ever visit the museum at the old Croydon Airport terminal building, they sell this film on a DVD. Run by volunteers, it is open on the first Sunday of every month. The variety of artefacts and curiosities from inter-war aviation is astonishing - well worth a visit. Be sure to take one of the guided tours.

@grahamthebaronhesketh. 2 года назад

Top hole old chap.

@robinholland1136 2 года назад

Great little film. Love the "string and sealing wax" embryonic ATC and, of course, the stiff upper lip narration. A gem!

@scopex2749 10 месяцев назад

This is so fascinating as I lived in Croydon and then went on to join the RAF as an aircraft engineer so aircraft are a great interest. Its such a shame they didnt make Croydon the site for the London airport! Heathrow is so far from London, Croydon is right THERE! I wish someone had the presence of mind to PRESERVE one of those Handley Page aircraft - sadly none survive so it is forgotten. I would have loved to see one of them.

@jonathansteadman7935 Месяц назад

Who remembers building the Airfix HP 42 as a lad, all those Z shaped struts , quite an achievement when you finished it .

@GuitarMAXMusic 2 года назад

I love this narrator!

@avalanche9026 Год назад

Can’t imagine the excitement? Was something new in the process of discovering new ways of traveling.. wow just incredible the past generation.. life was not easy back then but everything was such challenge.

@TS-1267 Год назад

... THE MILE HIGH CLUB May have had Something New To The Meaning 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤔🥂

@davidhull1481 Месяц назад

Fascinating, thanks! That biplane was a beast.

@lawrencemartin1113 Месяц назад

What a wonderful record of those pioneering times. Amazing to see the extreme difference in designs that were flying together at that moment in aviation history. The DC3 looked so advanced in comparrison....it was!! The fact that they are still in service around the world to this day is testement to their great design and usefulness. The narrator of course, the great Carlton Hobbs, was a big star in radio drama at the time and famously made his name as Sherlock Holmes. He can still be heard in the role on BBC Sounds.

@denisiwaszczuk1176 2 года назад

That was Amazing , The Engine rebuild . The wooden engine stands . Outstanding thank you.

@leathervogel5242 10 месяцев назад

You’re absolutely correct to notice the engine rebuild hasn’t really changed that much in almost 100 years when we take apart my Lycoming 0-360 at 2000 hours for an overhaul they go through almost the identical process you see in the film…so piston engines overhauls have changed very little but nice to know the technology was there in 1935 because technically you look at that aircraft those engines and you wonder how the hell did that thing even get off the ground and what was the consistent statistical reliability of those engines I can tell you that they weren’t 2000 hours between overhaul. They were probably a few hundred.

@rbrooks2007 2 года назад

It's still hard to think that the fuselage was a Pullman railway carriage with a plane bolted onto it. I remember that all Croydon council had to do was to pour a load of soil over the top of the section of runway close to Purley Way instead of tearing it up.

@markbooth1117 2 года назад

Love the way the aircraft were given their position approaching the coast using bearings from different receiving stations. We still use a similar electronic method using 3 bearing points or more called MLAT (Multilateration) for aircraft that don't display a transponder beacon. The only thing that has really changed is from using string bearings, to electronic pulses. The rest of it is exactly the same to triangulate on an aircraft.

@Bruce-1956 2 года назад

We used RDF (when approaching a coast) in the MN before the advent of GPS.

@51WCDodge 2 года назад

Really is the only way to navigate. Even Sat Nav. How far are you from a number of known fixed points? Croydon really was the development base for Air Traffic Control. TheTowwer is now a museum with lots of intresting little goodies in it.

@davereid2246 2 года назад

Small point - multilateration works on a rather different principle from triangulation (it uses intersecting parabolae), and it still requires the aircraft to have a transponder.

@toomaskarmo9435 3 года назад

What a uniquely satisfying film. This is one of the more delightful clips in the whole of RU-vid. Some may wish to accompany it with a viewing of the Hercule Poirot drama "Death in the Clouds" (featuring a little spot of murder between Le Bourget and Croydon, in the first-class accommodations; the dramatization is NOT really spoiled by its featuring a Douglas C-47 or similar, tarted up to resemble a DC-3: in this Shell documentary we of course see the real le Bourget-to-Croydon machine, an actual Handley Page). - (signed) Toomas Karmo, in Nõo Rural Municipality, Estonia

@torgeirbrandsnes1916 2 года назад

I love films like this. Thank you!

@wilsonlaidlaw 2 года назад

So sad that the RAF managed to destroy most of the remaining HP42 and HP45 aircraft, mostly by failing to tie them down properly in windy airfields.

@Strato777 2 года назад

Love finding stuff like this.

@anthonyturton8091 2 года назад

Thank you for uploading . that was lovely. so many interesting details

@nicholasbirch9732 24 дня назад

Brilliant video really enjoyed that

@abundantYOUniverse 2 года назад

Fantastic thanks!

@x4dd Год назад

Great film......but the size of the steering wheel is something off the Titanic 😮

@Soupdragon1964 Год назад

Thank-you, absolutely fascinating. Made more so as I grew up next to the airfield in the 60/70s.

@djspatrick 2 месяца назад

Incredible to think each plane had a coal fire and a smoking lounge where passengers could sip port and listen to a string quartet. Talk about travelling in style!

@declantwomey7525 2 месяца назад

Brilliant thanks for shearing 👍🏻 🏆

@Saa42808 Год назад

Just fascinating.

@asteverino8569 2 года назад

Wow 🤩 Similar to now but with advancements in technology all around. Still, the human factor is the same.

@markhancock7527 3 года назад

Great film.

@Riverrockphotos Месяц назад

Safety even in the early ages of aviation is just astounding. I would have liked to have known the turnaround time for when they got that plane into before it was ready for the engine rebuilds and all that.

@user-cp3yt2hp9i 10 месяцев назад

When the piston engines roaring subtitles writing "Music". And for me this is really music.

@trucktalkvideos 3 года назад

My favourite airliner...

@hpruijs 2 года назад

Very interesting, thank you for uploading. As many people, I am sure, I associate the Junkers with the swastika with the Blitzkrieg. The registration of the first one shown, D-ADER at 7:41, reinforces that association. DADER in Dutch means culprit...

@Texasstyle67 2 года назад

I reconstructed Croydon for X plane and fly the d-ader to cologne butzweiler Hof and then to Berlin rangsdorf like in the book of Johannes Mario Simmel

@DRAGON.13 3 года назад

nice bit of history, I live not far from Croydon airport went today to fly my DJ IMini 2

@FredBloggsTheThird Месяц назад

How close were the ground crew when that plane parked up and they ran forwards under the props! 😲

@robkunkel8833 Месяц назад

📽️🎞️A very good perspective of everyday older commercial aircraft. A great viewpoint. Thanks. This was the kind of film that would be shown to kids in school, when the teacher called in sick, too late to get a substitute. Somewhere in the first two minutes. some kids would male fart noises.

@robkunkel8833 Месяц назад

… they used morse code as well. Navigator was busy.

@paulkirkland3263 2 года назад

The bearing plotting board seen at 9:07 is still there, and in the same room too.

@sudiptapanda2509 3 года назад

Great

@dancahill8555 2 года назад

A "Goniometer"? Anyway, great historical record and delightful audio, even tasteful modernist music.

@ericwalton4610 Месяц назад

Yes, it comes from two Greek words: Gonia, an angle, and metron, measure. Describes the process exactly.

@pisstinpete4700 2 года назад

That damaged skin under the cockpit port side on heracles is in every image ive seen.Did they ever fix it?How would a passenger feel ,seeing that?Horatius also???

@StudioFranq 3 года назад

Incredible to see this Handley Page contraption alongside the Douglag DC2 and even the Fokker F36... So much more modern aircraft designs. Based pure on instinct, I wouldn't risk my life on one of these quirky biplanes. Great document though of an era gone by. Thanks!

@THATSGRANDAD 3 года назад

The Handley-Page ‘contraptions’ operated for Imperial Airways for nearly ten years during which time they clocked-up over 10,000,000 miles with minimal damage and no loss of life!

@javiergilvidal1558 2 года назад

@@THATSGRANDAD Exactly. The HP42 is one of the safest passenger aircraft in history!

@AbelMcTalisker 2 года назад

The HP42 wasn`t exactly "state of the art" for its time but they were going more for "safe, sturdy, dependable" with the design and, despite being a fixed landing gear biplane it did have some advanced features. Pity none of them survived WWII.

@javiergilvidal1558 2 года назад

@@AbelMcTalisker If I'm not wrong, the HP42 introduced the revolutionary Handley Page leading edge slats. The fixed undercarriage was only a seemingly backwards gesture: a fixed undercarriage made a lot of sense, given that the plane was expected to operate in many far-away, backward areas not likely to have extensive repairing facilities. Speed was desirable, but not a primary concern given the largest expected clientele for the airline, i. e. Empire high-ranking officials.

@AbelMcTalisker 2 года назад

@@javiergilvidal1558 I don`t think it was the first plane to actually have them though they were certainly one of the HP 42`s safety features.

@phaasch 2 года назад

I've been looking for this for years. Thank you. The HP42s were the most amazing looking aircraft. Huge and luxurious. The whole working of this pre war transport hub is totally fascinating, particularly the primitive air traffic control system. What on earth is a "Goniometer", anyway? :)

@martinusher1 2 года назад

Its an old-fashioned radio direction finder. The original finder was a coil of wire on a frame (literally a "frame antenna") that you rotated to find the strongest or weakest signal -- the signal's strongest when the coil is perpendicular to the direction the signal's coming from. Since its inconvenient to rotate a large frame antenna what they used instead was a set of them, its the assembly that looks a bit like a spherical birdcage on the control tower. Each on of the set of antennas would be fed to a box with coil assemblies matching the antennas and in the middle of these coils would be another coil that's connected to the bearing control the operator is seen rotating. This gives the same effect as rotating a single coil, its just more convenient and accurate. The coil box is the 'Gniometer'

@phaasch 2 года назад

@@martinusher1 brilliant. Thanks for the detailed description, Martin. This really was cutting edge, wasn't it? The very beginning of air traffic control, before radar.

@josephlambe2796 2 года назад

Even a wire can resonate

@51WCDodge 2 года назад

Historical note: The term MAYDAY for a distress call was devised at Croydon Airport. The tower building is now preserved as a museum.

@TS-1267 Год назад

... So Your A Croydonian I Take It... Nevertheless, I've Been Educated. CHEERS FOR THAT🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🥂🤔

@tomkent4656 2 месяца назад

And only open one day a month!

@gmf121266 Месяц назад

"Mayday? That was months ago!!!" Tony Hancock, the radio ham.

@stewartellinson8846 Месяц назад

Such a shame that all of the interwar large airliners are gone; there's quite a few interesting ones here - the AW Atalanta, the Short Scylla, the HP42 (of course), the Fokker and Junkers trimotors and an early DC1? or DC3?? reconstructing one, even for ground display would be very expensive but it would be such a sight to see an HP 42 in the metal (and wire).

@daiichidoku Месяц назад

3:04. "expert wheel washing technician". actually, i suppose this is to wash off clumps of dried mud so as to keep it from detaching and damaging the wing tail during takeoff? checking for leaks? just washing to be spiffy?

@hypercomms2001 Месяц назад

I live in Croydon.... And there's no airport where I live, but the view out the mountains is pretty damn good! Guess where?

@TheRogey1 Месяц назад

USA

@hypercomms2001 Месяц назад

@@TheRogey1 Nope… wrong country..

@user-jy8mo5fi5q Месяц назад

Just imagine flying to Australia i one of those string bags, taking the best part of a week together with overnight stops in the stragest of places.

@MCT954 Месяц назад

The HP42 didn't go all the way to Australia. Somewhere in the Middle East, you changed planes. By 1937-8, you could all the way in a Short Empire flying boat, from which the Sunderland used during World War Two was developed

@user-jy8mo5fi5q Месяц назад

@@MCT954 I am aware noi matter where they flew in these aircraft to all parts of the empire some of the locations were in the middle of nowhere. Far more exciting than today although the aircraft would not have been very comfortable.

@Swaggerlot Месяц назад

ATC watch logs , some from earlier times than shown here, were (maybe still are) displayed in the lobby of the College of ATC at Bournemouth Airport. Many of the entries reported pilots making that most heinous of actions, turning right after landing!

@ffinybryn 2 года назад

Did the pilot get to keep the green shield stamps?

@grahamthebaronhesketh. 2 года назад

Was it pre war or pre posterous?

@richardstaples8621 2 года назад

What is the plane seen in the closing credits? It differs from the HP42 in that it has its 4 engines mounted in-line between top & bottom wings, & has different tail.

@DerekGM6 2 года назад

Short L.17 Scylla

@nopeyadayadayada1248 2 года назад

These huge beauties took so much manpower, time and money to operate that its hard to believe it was profitable.

@Obbsserver 2 года назад

It wasn't profitable. Note that every airline featured here was nationalised. No Freddie Laker or Easyjet in those days.

@johnday6392 Год назад

All the aircraft had square type windows which spelled doom when fitted to the first Comet jet aircraft.

@pwmiles56 2 года назад

1:24 I'm worried, what's that flat screen doing on the right?

@tonyppe 3 года назад

Anyone have a time machine? Can I go there for a few days? :)

@punjabifreethinker2939 3 года назад

😂😂 yes I too

@Coltnz1 2 года назад

Just make sure you have all the modern inoculations before you go.

@tonyppe 2 года назад

@@Coltnz1 Ah, that's why time travel isn't possible then

@user-gs3vm8si5z 8 месяцев назад

@@Coltnz1 A time traveller would be inmune to most XXth century deseases. Real risk may be the other way around.

@huwzebediahthomas9193 6 месяцев назад

Off Purley Way - the art deco old terminal building is still there - Aerodrome House or something it is called

@AnthonyDineen 6 месяцев назад

Zing. It's Airport Hse. Aerodrome is the hotel next door.

@vijaysankarkalita6093 Год назад

Those men/ women of that Era were more good looking and gorgeous as like those newly invented/ ever improving machines!✌

@blackvulcan100 2 года назад

Correct me if I am wrong but I do not recall if any of these machines were involved in major air craft crashes, they may look ungainly but many with multiple engines they were reliable ? not sure how they would respond in very windy conditions though ?

@rbrooks2007 2 года назад

Wikipedia has a list of histories for each aircraft and many seemed to have met their ends through accident at various locations while in service with the RAF in 1940 by the looks of it.

@timdavies5219 2 года назад

Passenger flying in 1935 was a pretty hairy business. Everything was rather rudimentary- and dangerous!- in modern terms.

@oxcart4172 2 года назад

I'm still annoyed that nobody talks about the replica HP-42 that was allegedly being built. It all just suddenly went quiet.

@pachma405 2 года назад

First I've heard of it.

@FlyingForFunTrecanair 8 месяцев назад

There’s nothing to get annoyed about; the chap who proposed the replica was a complete Walter Mitty.

@mikewa2 Год назад

Flying Dutchman-KLM 210 gallons 4 star please

@melanieconnell4156 2 года назад

Does the lovely main building still survive?

@tomkent4656 2 года назад

A small part remains, open to public a few times a year. Most of the old airport land is now a housing estate.

@huwzebediahthomas9193 6 месяцев назад

The workers used to live on Waddon housing estate, across the road from Croydon airport, built for it in the 1920's. Can spot them now, the dark red brick houses just off Purley Way. History, ey?

@COIcultist 2 года назад

Does anyone know what the ensign was that was flown from the Imperial Airways planes?

@51WCDodge 2 года назад

It was the Civil Air Ensign . Insituted 1931.

@COIcultist 2 года назад

@@51WCDodge Many thanks.

@markiliff Месяц назад

~0:20 "…slightly shortened" ↑ I'd be fascinated to know what was cut… some obliging reference to that cheeky chappie Herr Hitler, perhaps?

@johng9399 2 года назад

Back when Biplanes ruled, though not for much longer, and IFR meant, I Follow Roads!

@BobC250 Месяц назад

"..first-ever film made film by the Shell Film Unit describing a day in the Croydon Airport". Think someone needs to work on the title of this video.

@metalmagicrestoration3823 Месяц назад

You sound vaccinated! 😮

@geoffreylee5199 Месяц назад

Then came radar …

@ericwilliams2122 Месяц назад

😆😆😆The Fokkers are everywhere!!!

@user-hm2gb6pm6b Месяц назад

Imperial Imperial Imperial

@pauloakwood9208 2 года назад

Honestly, who came up with the title for this video?

@nemo6686 2 года назад

It was uploaded on How Many Times Can You Put 'Film' In The Title Day.

@avalanche9026 Месяц назад

We should get back to basics. Fly by planes agai. Radial engines. To apreciate flight again. Damn it. Advanced world lost it do to technology. No longer exitment.

@user-hm2gb6pm6b Месяц назад

Frederick stanley mockford Frederick stanley mockford Frederick stanley mockford

@madmaxmcinnes4102 2 года назад

Had to have a laugh at the Junkers aircraft ........ still had the swastika on their tails🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@nemo6686 2 года назад

A swastika, D-AMIT?

@Shamrock100 2 года назад

This was before the war so the symbol had yet to attain fully the status that was later attached to it. Not particularly funny, really.

@jonlincoln6069 2 года назад

Well considering that Germany used the swastika as their national flag from 1935 and this film is from that era not really funny is it

@51WCDodge 2 года назад

Today we fly in all smiling and map you. Later we come over and bomb you! Dc3 Ju 52 and the good old bi-plane pile of stings British HP42. Doesd make you wonder.

@avalanche9026 Месяц назад

Thank Americans Britz learned how to fly. And learn how to make planes ? Now Britz are proud taking credits