r/croydon

Moved to Croydon age 21 from small Scottish village. Came for 6months stayed 32 years. In that time lived in broad green, Selhurst, east Croydon, purely oaks and cousldon. Had my kids here. Loved it here. 90s Croydon into early 2000s had something for everyone- good shops, great clubs and bars, food. I’m sad to see the town being a shadow of its former self. Heading back to that small village tomorrow- pic related- to look after elderly mammy. I will miss this place. Stay awesome Croydon.

I’m sure most people here know about Croydon Airport: Britain’s first proper airport, and for a while the most important one in the country.

(If you don't know about it, it's really cool - home to the first air traffic control tower, first departure board, first airport hotel. The word “mayday” was invented there from the French m’aidez, because of all the Paris flights. Churchill took flying lessons there and nearly died in a crash during take off)

The bit I didn’t know until recently is its link to the start of the Spanish Civil War.

In July 1936 Franco, then one of the most senior figures in the Spanish military, was stuck in the Canary Islands. The Spanish government had sent him there deliberately, because they knew a coup was coming and wanted him out of the way, and they were watching him.

So the military needed a way to get him back to Spain for the coup to succeed. A plane flying out from Spain would have been obvious, so they needed it to be inconspicuous.

A right wing Spanish journalist was enlisted to organise it, and he met a British journalist with links to the intelligence services at Simpson’s in the Strand. Apparently he asked for a plane with “two blondes and a trustworthy fellow”, to help it go under the radar.

They enlisted a man named Major Hugh Pollard, MI6, who was more than happy to help and brought along his own daughter and her friend to make it look like a family trip.

They flew out of Croydon on 11 July 1936, early morning, four passengers. They dropped the women in the Canaries, waited a few days, then picked up Franco on the 18th and flew him to Spanish Morocco, where he took command of the Army of Africa.

The uprising had technically kicked off the day before, so it’s not quite true that Croydon started the war, but Franco getting out of the Canaries is what turned it into what it became.

Within three years Franco would be dictator of Spain, and he'd remain so for nearly four decades.

The control tower’s still there, a heritage centre now, though only open once a month because it’s volunteer run. The old terminal Airport House next door is Grade II* listed and basically set the template for what airports look like.

As for Pollard and the pilot: both accepted medals from Franco afterwards. The pilot described the whole thing as a great adventure when he was interviewed decades later.

Wrote it up properly here if anyone wants the longer version - How Croydon started the Spanish Civil War