Croydon to Australia in a Biplane
The 75th anniversary of the first solo flight made from Britain to Australia, by Australian aviator "Bert" Hinkler, will be marked on Saturday, February 22, when the Australian Deputy High Commissioner visits Airport House, Croydon to present the Visitors' Centre with an historic memento from the trip. Hinkler set off from Croydon Airport on his landmark flight on 7th February 1928.
He landed in Darwin on 22nd February, having flown his two-seat Avro 581E Avian biplane 11,250 miles in 15-and-a-half days. To this day he remains a national hero in Australia. Hinkler, who was born in Bundaberg in Queensland, had planned to fly on to his home town and land in the street outside his mother's house. However, he got caught up in a heat wave and tropical storm as he made his way towards home.
He had to land and take drinking water from boreholes. His health was depleted by the strenuous flight and he fell ill as a result of the water. He found an aboriginal stockman and asked him to help by taking a handwritten note to a nearby settlement to explain his predicament.
A facsimile of this letter has now been sent to London, where it will be presented to the Croydon Airport Society, who will give it pride of place in the award winning Visitors' Centre, at Airport House, located in the control tower of the original terminus building.
Deputy High Commissioner Bill Tweddel will make the presentation to the Croydon Airport Society at 2.30pm. He will make the short journey from Australia House to Croydon with his wife, Chris.
Although it is now a thriving business park and conference centre, Airport House remains the spiritual home of the Croydon Airport Society.
Thanks to a close working relationship with owners the Westmead Business Group, the society holds its monthly meetings in the booking hall. And volunteers from the society man the Visitors' Centre on open days
The Croydon Airport Visitor Centre is open on the first Sunday in each month from 11am to 4pm. Admission is free, though donations are gratefully received.