The Full Story
South London, March 1920. Croydon Airport opened as London's airport for the new international air routes, and it is often called the world's first international airport, depending on how you scope the claim. What is beyond dispute: it had the world's first air traffic control tower, the world's first purpose-built airport terminal, and it gave the world its spoken radio distress call.
In 1923 the senior radio officer, Frederick Stanley Mockford, needed a distress word that would be clear over the crackle of early radio. Most Croydon flights went to Paris. He chose the French for help me. Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. It was adopted internationally in 1927 and is still used by every pilot and sailor on earth.
Charles Lindbergh landed at Croydon in 1927, met by a crowd often put at over 100,000. Amy Johnson took off from Croydon on 5 May 1930 to become the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. Winston Churchill took flying lessons there. It closed on 30 September 1959, overtaken by Heathrow and Gatwick. The terminal still stands.
Why This Matters
Every airport on earth runs on Croydon's pattern: the control tower, the terminal, the Mayday call. The systems that now carry everyone were invented for a grass airfield in South London. The physical site is mostly a housing estate now. The inheritance is everywhere you fly.
Key Facts
- ⚠Correction: the video states Croydon was the world's first international airport and had the world's first airport hotel. The 'first international airport' claim depends on scoping and is presented here as a claim rather than a fact; the airport hotel claim could not be firmly verified and has been removed. The control tower (1920) and purpose-built terminal (1928) firsts are verified, and the Lindbergh crowd is given as 'often put at over 100,000'.