Landing and basing fees at Brooklands and Croyden aerodromes, late 1930s

[ThomasP]

I ran across one more possible source here "https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/Brooklands Conservation Management Plan.pdf". There is mention of a restaurant (quoted below) in the clubhouse but no date is included.

"The former Brooklands Aero Clubhouse, an inter-war building opened in May 1932 on the edge of the Flying Village, to the designs of Graham Dawbarn. Built in the International Modern Style, the symmetrical rendered building consists of a central three-storey tower flanked on its north and south sides with single-storey pavilions. This building became the hub of the social activities for the Brooklands Aero Club and contained a restaurant, lounge, bars, office, watch office and an observation platform."

 

[LCharnes]

Hey LCharnes,

FWIW If you do not already know this, the Brooklands Aero Clubhouse was built in 1932, funded by Brooklands Aviation Ltd (I think). Maybe there is some information there you can use in your research. There is mention of the 'Air & Airways' magazine having a presence there during the opening. Maybe check out said magazine?

Also, there were a couple of films made at Brooklands in the early-1930s. One was about auto racing, but the other - 'The Kings Cup' - was oriented around said air race and was filmed in 1932 shortly after the Aero Clubhouse was built (released in 1933?). There are supposed to be scenes from inside the Aero Clubhouse.

Also, there was a caricature made of Brooklsnds Aero Club in 1932 - "Our Flying Clubs No. 1 - Brooklands Aero Club" - that mentions the following people:

"Notable members of the club pictured here include the manager, A. Percy Bradley, Ian Stoddart-Barr, Sales Manager, Billy Massey, one of the directors in charge of the repair shop, Capt. H. Duncan Davis, Managing Director, Bob the barman (important!), Ginger Ruutz-Rees, K. Mistinger, S. A Thorne, instructor and acrobatic pilot, Flight Lieut W. E. P. Johnson a prominent exponent of blind flying and the chief instructor, George E. Lowdell"

So there was at least a bar. Assuming they were real people then maybe there are records that could help, left by or about some of them.

Otherwise, I ran across this 1938 floor plan of the Croydon main building. It would seem like there should be a plan of all such airport buildings?

View attachment 791033

I'll certainly take this! My heroine's already passed through Croydon a couple of times, but I've kept her out of the terminal because I didn't have any information about how it was laid out. Thanks!

Here's a description of The King's Cup from the Art Deco Society UK. Apparently, there was room inside the clubhouse for a big band and dancing...or at least, the movie version did.

 

[LCharnes]

I ran across one more possible source here "https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/Brooklands Conservation Management Plan.pdf". There is mention of a restaurant (quoted below) in the clubhouse but no date is included.

"The former Brooklands Aero Clubhouse, an inter-war building opened in May 1932 on the edge of the Flying Village, to the designs of Graham Dawbarn. Built in the International Modern Style, the symmetrical rendered building consists of a central three-storey tower flanked on its north and south sides with single-storey pavilions. This building became the hub of the social activities for the Brooklands Aero Club and contained a restaurant, lounge, bars, office, watch office and an observation platform."

Getting closer. There's also an accompanying "Brooklands Gazetter" from Oct 2017 at https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/Brooklands Gazetter_0.pdf. It has a smidgen more information and the text isn't as dorked up as it is in the conservation plan.

The conservation plan references Brooklands: The Official Centenary History by David Venables, which is apparently a source for this description. It appears to be out of print, of course. I need to decide if it's worth $42 to see whether there's more material in the book than what's already in the Brooklands Heritage Partnership's reports.

 

[LCharnes]

Flight magazine archives used to be available on line for free but they stopped that a number of years back. It was supposed to be available to subscribers but there was a problem/delay setting that up and I don't know if it ever got set up.

When free it was searchable (enter word/phrase and year and get relevant results)

some issues seem to be available here

https://archive.org/details/FlightInternationalMagazine1938/1938%20-%200004/

But I don't know how to use the search function.

Thanks for the link! I may not find answers in this archive to this question, but I'll probably find answers to questions I have yet to think about.

This appears to have most of the back issues from 1912 through 1938. I hope 1939 is around somewhere.

 

[Simon Thomas]

Seems archive.org now has most (all?) Flight up to 1961.
All the 1939 issues are there.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

 

[Shortround6]

Seems archive.org now has most (all?) Flight up to 1961.
All the 1939 issues are there.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

Thank you, I believe that Flight-International put everything behind a paywall (subscriber's only?) but I have no idea of how British copyright law works and you can't force a company to provide a service for free even if the material is no longer copyrighted.
There is an awful lot of good stuff in the 1961 earlier issues on basic design.

 

[LCharnes]

Seems archive.org now has most (all?) Flight up to 1961.
All the 1939 issues are there.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

Excellent! I have it bookmarked now. I especially like that they have the indicies right up front for every year.

 

[nuuumannn]

Good luck in your search for what is rather obscure information. You seem to have collared all the nominal search facilities, although it might be worth contacting the Royal Aeronautical Society, which has a historic branch and a library at its Hamilton Place HQ in London:

Royal Aeronautical Society

The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world's only professional membership association dedicated to the aerospace and aviation industry. Visit our site for resources and information for engineers, technicians, aerospace and aviation professionals.

www.aerosociety.com

Hey LCharnes,

FWIW If you do not already know this, the Brooklands Aero Clubhouse was built in 1932, funded by Brooklands Aviation Ltd (I think). Maybe there is some information there you can use in your research. There is mention of the 'Air & Airways' magazine having a presence there during the opening. Maybe check out said magazine?

Also, there were a couple of films made at Brooklands in the early-1930s. One was about auto racing, but the other - 'The Kings Cup' - was oriented around said air race and was filmed in 1932 shortly after the Aero Clubhouse was built (released in 1933?). There are supposed to be scenes from inside the Aero Clubhouse.

Also, there was a caricature made of Brooklsnds Aero Club in 1932 - "Our Flying Clubs No. 1 - Brooklands Aero Club" - that mentions the following people:

"Notable members of the club pictured here include the manager, A. Percy Bradley, Ian Stoddart-Barr, Sales Manager, Billy Massey, one of the directors in charge of the repair shop, Capt. H. Duncan Davis, Managing Director, Bob the barman (important!), Ginger Ruutz-Rees, K. Mistinger, S. A Thorne, instructor and acrobatic pilot, Flight Lieut W. E. P. Johnson a prominent exponent of blind flying and the chief instructor, George E. Lowdell"

So there was at least a bar. Assuming they were real people then maybe there are records that could help, left by or about some of them.

Otherwise, I ran across this 1938 floor plan of the Croydon main building. It would seem like there should be a plan of all such airport buildings?

View attachment 791033

Nice. It looks like an Air Ministry pattern drawing. I'm not sure who holds these now, but the RAF Museum has a set of them. Possibly the AIR Files in the National Archive at Kew. Here's an interior shot of the area marked Booking and Waiting Hall at Croydon.

2907 Croydon interior

The exterior of the historic terminal at Croydon today.

2907 Croydon Tower

 

[LCharnes]

Good luck in your search for what is rather obscure information. You seem to have collared all the nominal search facilities, although it might be worth contacting the Royal Aeronautical Society, which has a historic branch and a library at its Hamilton Place HQ in London:

Royal Aeronautical Society

The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world's only professional membership association dedicated to the aerospace and aviation industry. Visit our site for resources and information for engineers, technicians, aerospace and aviation professionals.

www.aerosociety.com

Nice. It looks like an Air Ministry pattern drawing. I'm not sure who holds these now, but the RAF Museum has a set of them. Possibly the AIR Files in the National Archive at Kew. Here's an interior shot of the area marked Booking and Waiting Hall at Croydon.

View attachment 8193432907 Croydon interior

The exterior of the historic terminal at Croydon today.

View attachment 8193442907 Croydon Tower

I wanted to, but I had only so much time. BTW: RAS wasn't very helpful when I tried to engage them via email.

Thanks for the photos! It's weird that it's so hard to find vintage photos of the terminal interior when exterior shots are fairly common.

 

[nuuumannn]

I wanted to, but I had only so much time. BTW: RAS wasn't very helpful when I tried to engage them via email.

Thanks for the photos! It's weird that it's so hard to find vintage photos of the terminal interior when exterior shots are fairly common.

Good luck with your research, a pity the RAeS are unhelpful, it is a volunteer run organisation of course. I went to a presentation by John Farley there once. I took those photos of Croydon during a visit a few years ago. I was being watched as it is the foyer of an office complex, but I thought a photo was necessary.