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On Thursday 15th August, around 7pm a number of twin-engined aircraft were spotted by an erk from 111 Sqd. These turned out to be from a special unit - Erprobungsgruppe 210 - which was formed for attacks on the British Isles, and which bombed the airfield for between 5 and 10 minutes.
Nine Hurricanes from No. 111 Sqd were scrambled 30 minutes before the attack, and were therefore able to interrupt the bombers before they had a chance to line up their targets. This interruption meant that the bombers dropped the majority of their loads outside the aerodrome causing casualties amongst the civilian population. Six Bf 110s and one Bf 109 were shot down that day, which was a costly exercise for the Luftwaffe, especially due to the fact that the target the bombers were aiming for was Kenley.
During the bombing Croydon had received a lot of damage - large potholes over the airfield, a direct hit on the armoury, and 'C' hangar used by Rollason Aircraft Services was hit with incendiary bombs and the training aircraft inside were all destroyed. The Rollason factory and workshop was also badly hit which caused many civilian casualties. 'D' hangar was raked by cannon fire and received blast damage, 'A' hangar was only affected with minor damage, but the officers' mess was reduced to rubble when hit by a bomb blast close by.
Five airmen from 111 Sqd and one airmen from Station Headquarters died in the attack. But it was the civilian population that bore the brunt of the bombs dropping outside the aerodrome, with a total of 62 civilians dead. Four airmen from 111 Sqd, one officer from No. 1 (RCAF) Sqd, two civilian telephone operators and 185 civilians were injured.
No. 111 Sqd was diverted to Hawkinge whilst repairs to Croydon were underway, but it only took two days to fill in the craters on the airfield.
On 18th August Croydon was attacked again. This time 111 Sqd was scrambled to orbit Kenley due to high-level aircraft having entered the area. Croydon, therefore had no defences, and within 5 minutes, 11 high explosive and 8 delayed-action bombs fell onto the airfield. Fortunately there were no service casualties from this attack.
The following day, 18 Hurricanes of No. 85 Sqd arrived from Debden to replace No. 111 Sqd which were moving to Debden.
No. 1 (RCAF) Sqd was the next to move, to Northolt, when it had become fully operational.
Croydon was further attacked at the end of August, but only one injury to a soldier on aerodrome defence belonging to the Royal Artillery.
No. 85 Sqd transferred to Debden on 2nd September 1940, and of the 18 pilots who had arrived with the squadron 13 days earlier, 14 had been shot down, 3 killed and 5 wounded. No. 111 Sqd returned to replace them even though they were still well down on numbers, especially as they themselves had further losses whilst based at Debden and Martlesham Heath. In early September, No. 72 Sqd came to operate at Croydon to boost the numbers, but soon after No. 111 Sqd moved its 7 remaining Hurricanes to Drem in Scotland and No. 605 'County of Warwick' Squadron moved in. This squadron was soon in battle and its was at its peak of operations by mid-September. This was a frantic month with every available aircraft airborne, and Croydon was bombed twice more. In August, lone German aircraft raided the aerodrome on three separate occasions.
In November, No. 605 Sqd re-equipped with Hurricanes, and they became fully operational by February 1941, upon which they moved to Martlesham Heath. Their replacements were Hurricanes from No. 17 Sqd, which also left for Martlesham Heath after a short while in March. In April, No. 1 Sqd arrived.
The RAF was now preparing for a fighter offensive. In May 1941, No. 1 Sqd moved to Redhill, and Croydon took a backwards step away from the airfields nearer the Channel, becoming purely somewhere for squadrons to stop-over.
On 13th August 1941, No. 414 (RCAF) formed as an Army co-operation unit at Croydon, using the Westland Lysander and Curtiss Tomahawk. In June 1942 these aircraft were replace by North American Mustangs, and three of these made their first mission on 30th June 1942 in a defensive role over the south coast.
During June, two Polish Squadrons, No. 302 'Poznan' and No. 316 'Wilno', equipped with Spitfires were also based at Croydon, but the following month No. 302 moved to Heston, and No. 317 to Northolt.
On 6th June 1944, Croydon was home to No. 287 Sqd, with their Oxfords and Hurricanes (which had arrived six months earlier), No. 116 Sqd with Oxfords and Ansons, and No. 1 Aircraft Delivery Flight and their Dominies. No. 116 and No. 287 Squadrons moved out during the first week of July, and No. 1 Aircraft Delivery Flight was to remain for another few months.
On 5th September 1944, No. 147 Sqd re-formed at Croydon with Dakotas, and later the same year, RAF Transport Command started scheduled services to liberate Allied-occupied Europe, on 13th November.
Railway Air Services operated the first civil air service since the war between London and Belfast via Liverpool. Other companies such as Jersey Airways, Scottish Airways and Morton Air Services, moved to Croydon at the end of the war.
By 23rd September 1945, No. 110 Wing had carried its 100,000th passenger and this unit continued throughout the winter months. During early February 1946, responsibility for certain air services was transferred from No. 110 Wing to British European Airways who was operating out of Northolt, By the end of the month the wing had disbanded.
A detachment of No. 271 Squadron arrived on 2nd April 1945 with Dakotas, but moved out after just a few days. Dakotas from No. 147 Squadron were joined by a further ten Dakotas from No. 435 (RCAF) Squadron from Down Ampney on 9th October 1945, who stayed there until 15th March 1946. No. 147 Sqd disbanded six months later.
After this the airport began to return to civil operations, but it would never regain what it once had, due to the change in aircraft design. Aircraft now needed longer runways to operate, but Croydon could not expand any further, and therefore on 25th March 1946, Heathrow was officially designated London Airport.
In 1947, British European Airways left Croydon for Gatwick, which meant that only independent companies operating scheduled charter services, and some flying clubs remained.
In the mid-1950s, a Government report sealed Croydon's fate, and it closed to flying. Most of the companies that remained transferred to Gatwick, and the flying clubs to Biggin Hill.
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