One hundred years ago, on January 23, 1925, the Secretary of State for Air ordered a public inquiry into the causes of the Croydon air disaster.
On Christmas Eve, 1924, a cross-Channel passenger machine crashed soon after it left the aerodrome and burst into flames, the seven passengers and pilot were killed instantly.
The aircraft took off from Croydon Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Le Bourget Airport, Paris.
Witnesses described the aircraft flying low over Purley before nosediving to the ground at Castle Hill, Purley, where the Kingsdown housing estate was then under construction.
A De Havilland DH.34, similar to the accident aircraft (Picture: hi To Ju/ Wikimedia Commons)
The crash was followed by an explosion which engulfed the structure in fire.
Terrified onlookers ran to rescue those on board, but were pushed back by the intensity of the fire.
In a newspaper report from the time, a witness described the accident as “unsurvivable”.
It was only after the fire brigade had extinguished the fire that the bodies of the victims could be extricated from the wreckage.
Three members of the Sproston family died in the crash. Archie, 39, his wife, Marie, 21, and his father, George, 76. The Sprostons were flying to Paris to spend Christmas with Marie’s family.
Another of the passengers killed in the crash was Dr Plinio Barbosa Lima, 32, who had just been staying at the Strand Palace Hotel in London.
Cedric Trudgett, a 21-year-old journalist from the Chilean Review, who was planning to write a travel piece about the flight, Annie Bailey a 64-year-old Australian on her way to visit her daughter and Maurice Luxemberg, an 18-year-old trainee solicitor, all perished.
The eighth victim of the fatal accident was the pilot, David Stewart.
Mr Stewart, who lived in Wallington, was an experienced flyer having served as a fighter ace during the First World War.
A memorial plaque commemorates victims of the Croydon crash in Kingsdown, Croydon (Picture: Diamond Geezer/ Flicker)
The aircraft was an Imperial Airways De Haviland 34, capable of carrying nine passengers.
It was three years old and had crossed the Channel on numerous occasions to Paris and to Amsterdam.
The crash was the worst air disaster in the early years of British commercial aviation.
An inquiry opened on January 23, 1925, at the Royal Courts of Justice in the UK.
On day two of the inquiry, Major Cooper gave evidence based on interviews with between 100 and 150 witnesses.
He stated that the final movements of the aircraft were consistent with the pilot experiencing engine trouble and attempting to return to Croydon Airport.
The suitability of Croydon Airport for operation of airliners was called into question. It was suggested that the runway should be extended by 100 to 200 yards to ensure safety.
On the seventh day of the inquiry, it was announced that Croydon Airport was to be extended, with 150 acres of the neighbouring Beddington Aerodrome being absorbed into the airfield.
Airport House in Croydon, 2009, which used to be the Croydon Aerodrome and London’s first International Airport when it opened in 1928 (Picture: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo)
The report into the inquiry was published on February 10, 1925, which concluded the aircraft had a valid certificate, was not overloaded and had been inspected on the morning of the day the accident occurred.
No negligence was found on the part of the Air Ministry or Imperial Airways. The pilot was cleared of blame for the accident.
The aircraft was found to have crashed due to an unknown mechanical defect and subsequent stall whilst an emergency landing was being attempted.
After the inquest, an Act of Parliament was passed to have Croydon Airport expanded, allowing it to have longer runways.
Croydon Airport had the world’s first airport control tower and first passenger terminal building (both remain today, and can be visited). It remained Britain’s principal airport until the late 1930s, when it was requisitioned as an RAF fighter base.
It resumed commercial activities after 1945, but could not be further expanded and the title of “London Airport” passed to Heathrow to the west of the capital.
Croydon Airport closed in 1959.
Pictured top: Imperial Airways De Haviland 34, the same model as the plane involved in the Croydon air disaster (Picture: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo)