Place Name
Avro Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer founded in 1910 by Alliott Verdon Roe – AVRo – in Manchester. The company’s aircraft included the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War. This road and many others in the vicinity which are named after aviators, their manufacturers and their machines were built on the site of Croydon Airport, which was opened in 1920. Before that the land was New Barn Farm. It was developed as Britain’s main airport, handling more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time. The airport’s origins lay in the First World War when in December 1915, Beddington Aerodrome was established. It was to be one of a number of small airfields around the capital for protection against Zeppelin airship raids. In 1918 Waddon Aerodrome was opened nearby, separated by Plough Lane, as part of the adjoining National Aircraft Factory No 1, to serve aircraft test flights. The two aerodromes were combined following the end of the First World War to become Croydon Aerodrome, the gateway for all international flights to and from London. Expansion continued until the Second World War, when civilian flights were suspended and it was used as a fighter station during the Battle of Britain. Postwar, the airport could no longer grow as urban spread had restricted further development, it closed for good on September 30, 1959.
