![]() please empty your brain below |
Absolutely fascinating and I can't believe I didn't know any of this.
|
What a sad but fascinating story.
I rarely use that stretch of the A23 as it lies on a north south section, and when heading eastwards, I pass it by. Your article has reminded me that I must finally visit the Aerodrome Museum: it will be on my calendar for Spring 2025. |
Such an interesting story. Thank you for telling it in such fascinating detail.
What really surprised me is how quickly the public inquiry took place. These days things like that seem to take years. |
I hadn't been aware of this tragic event before, thank you for posting.
Your mention of Plough Lane makes me wonder how many other such severed roads there are in London which retain the same name (i.e. without a subsequent NSEW addition). |
Not wishing to decry the skill of Captain Stewart in avoiding further deaths on the ground, but I do wonder in other cases where pilots "heroically" avoided such things if the main thought in the pilot's mind at the time was understandably "Let's try to slide to a halt on that bit of open land rather than crash into a brick wall".
|
A timely reminder. I was reading about this just yesterday in Will Noble’s rather good Croydonopolis, which DG may have a signed copy of, or it’s on their Christmas list.
|
What a fascinating story which I hadn't heard before, taking place in a tenuously Christmas-themed street.
|
Other split roads that arenʼt related to aviation are The Ridgeway in Harrow, Cottenham Park Road in Wimbledon and Mapleton Road in Wandsworth.
|
It was such a different world a century ago - when folk would take a trans-Channel flight in a craft with a "plywood fuselage"
Kingsdown Avenue: given their elevated position and multiple floors, why are the flats "lowlier" when compared with the "perfect" detached and semis further down? I guess it's one’s background reflected in the words. dg writes: try visiting the street, Frank. |
One more split road is Milking Lane at Leaves Green. This one is split by the runway at Biggin Hill Airport.
|
I remember seeing a Hercule Poirot mystery with a scene supposedly at Croydon Airport where they were actually weighing each passenger on some scales and recording their weight before they were allowed to board the plane. The lengths they had to go to then before a plane could take off!
|
But zero airport security.
|
Just down the road from "Cottenham Park Road in Wimbledon" - "South Lane" is split in New Malden by 6 lanes of the A3.
|
I was bought up in Purley, essentially at the end of the runway. Dad (ex-RAF) could never sleep properly until the mail plane to Jersey had taken off at around midnight and staggered (his words) over our house.
I had never heard of this incident. Thanks for covering it. |
My father used to live in Kingsdown Avenue, he never mentioned it. Perhaps he didn't know.
|
This is my neck of the woods and I’d heard the story but not in such detail.
My walk to school was over the site of the airport and we used to run “cross country” around it. Used to be a model aeroplane club that flew their planes off there too. |
There was an incident at Northolt in the winter of 1946 when a DC3 took off for Glasgow in freezing weather, but the aircraft control surfaces froze in position due to insufficient de icing.
The plane came to a stop on a nearby semi's roof, demolishing it, but allowing the crew and the passenger to climb to safety through the loft, and without waking the baby who was asleep in the back bedroom. No serious injuries. |
Tones,
It was only a few years ago that I was weighed before boarding a De Havilland Twin Otter to travel to work (in Australia). The pilots also ensured that the weight of passengers on each side of the aircraft was fairly evenly distributed to make flying safer before taking off. |
Poignant
|
TridentScan Privacy Policy | |