Honouring the past whilst embracing the future
The Birth of an airfield
On an autumn day in 1916, two young officers in the Royal Flying Corps, Lt Hansard and Lt Furnival, drove into the Kent countryside to look for a suitable site for a new airfield, they are pictured here with Lt Richard Peck (centre) who took part in the first air-to-air wireless conversation in July 1917;
The radio servicing workshop at the Wireless Telephony School at Chattis Hill, Stockbridge, before the school moved to Biggin Hill where the Army carried out experiments on the use of radio in aviation.
The Wireless Testing Park was renamed the Wireless Experimental Establishment, and Aperfield Court, a large house on high ground two miles south of the airfield, was requisitioned. Wireless workshops were set up inside, together with a powerful transmitter for ground-to-air control of fighters defending London from aerial attack. The team at Biggin Hill created the first air to air speech transmission in 1917.
In June 1917 the Germans began using aeroplanes to drop bombs o London, twin-engined Gothas and ‘Giants’ (Zeppelin-Staakens). On 1st December 1917 Biggin Hill became an operational fighter station with first fighter sortie was flown at 4am on the night of 7th-8th December 1917. by BE 2e and BE 12 aircraft of ‘D’ Flight from 39 Squadron.
Hardit Singh Malik, one of only four Indians to serve with the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. He was stationed at Biggin Hill in 1918. Malik was a student at Oxford when war broke out, a brilliant cricketer and golfer, and a contemporary of future Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan.
Between the wars
Biggin Hill was firmly established as a key experimental base for new technologies during the inter-war period such as sound location devices developed between 1919 and 1936 for the detection of approaching aircraft.
The Royal Air Force mounted flying displays every summer to stimulate public support and attract young people to the service. Formation and aerobatic flying showed off the pilots’ skills, while bombing attacks on dummy targets and anti-aircraft guns firing at drogues gave a taste of the sharp end of war. Biggin Hill’s Empire Air Days attracted crowds of 20,000 or more. 32 and 79 Squadrons raced each other for altitude, their Gloster Gauntlets visible from the ground as silvery splinters of light at 20,000 feet. A favourite attraction was the Radio Telephony demonstration where spectators paid sixpence to speak to a pilot flying at 5,000 feet and request a manoeuvre.
In 1936 the RAF reorganised itself into Fighter, Bomber, Coastal and Training Commands. Fighter Command was divided into four Groups, and each of the Groups into a number of Sectors, with a main fighter station and several satellite airfields. Biggin Hill was designated as the main station in C Sector of 11 Group, which stretched from Hastings to Sheerness.
In 1937 preparations for war intensified with the establishment of the Communications and Operations Rooms linked to the top secret first radar station which would be capable of plotting ‘the enemy’.
The Second World War
In 1940 Britain stood alone with only the RAF and the English Channel between and expected invasion from the enemy that had marched through most of Europe. In order for an invasion of Great Britain to go-ahead, the German Air Force, known as the Luftwaffe, had to neutralise the RAF and take control of the skies above the south east of England. From the 10th of July 1940 until the 30th of October 1940 the might of the enemy raged overhead in what has been called the ‘greatest aerial conflict ever’. Despite overwhelming odds, the aircrews and groundcrews remained steadfast.
The Biggin Hill Sector formed a crucial part of Fighter Command’s 11 Group, defending London and the South-East. With three squadrons at Biggin Hill, each flying three to four times a day between July and October, the station saw the departure and return of over 1000 sorties during the battle.
The role RAF Biggin Hill played in the War is respected around the world and the story of Britain’s most famous fighter station is told through the personal experiences of those who served here and the community that supported them at the RAF Biggin Hill Museum and Chapel.
We remember with pride and gratitude Churchill’s Few who flew with skill and courage from RAF Biggin Hill throughout the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, supported by dedicated ground crews and operational staff and recognise in particular the key role that they played in securing the defence of the realm and freedom from tyranny.
The museum is situated on the same site as St George’s RAF Chapel of Remembrance, dedicated to preserving the legacy who served and died at Biggin Hill during the Second World War.
Today you too can experience the exhilarating flight of a lifetime in an iconic Spitfire here at Biggin Hill.
RAF Biggin Hill – changing roles
As military technology especially in the form of Jet Fighters continued to develop with the advent of The Cold War. No. 41 Squadron arrived in 1951, equipped with Meteor VIIIs, converting in 1955 to Hawker with Hawker Hunter F5s.
Biggin Hill was on first-line status as the main runway was extended, with areas of hard standing at each end known as ORPs — Operational Readiness Platforms —where jet fighters would sit ready to take off at two minutes’ notice.
The Hunter was the Royal Air Force’s principal fighter aircraft in the years 1954 to 1960. It was the first jet designed and built by Hawker Aircraft, which had produced the Hurricane in the 1930s and 40s. Neville Duke, a fighter pilot who served at Biggin Hill, was Hawker’s main test pilot after the Second World War
For over 30 years The Officers and Aircrew Selection Centre (OASC) processed aspiring candidates not only for the RAF but also for the Fleet Air Arm and the Army Air Corps: a total of 210,773 went through between April 1962 and July 1992.
With an average of some 7,000 candidates per year, 140 per week, work at the Centre was unceasing. The assessment process, referred to as ‘boarding’, lasted two to three days, and consisted of a medical examination, aptitude tests, an interview and practical teamwork exercises.
The exercises were designed to reveal qualities of character and temperament through challenging role-plays. One that many recruits remember is the task of taking a team across a tank of water infested with imaginary alligators, using oil drums, ropes and a plank of wood. Boarding officers marked each candidate on the quality of their contribution to the exercise, whether as leaders or as members of the team.
Flying Clubs and Air Fairs
In 1959 Croydon Airport, which had been Britain’s main civilian airport since 1920, was closed.
A group of Croydon tenants gathered around two energetic directors of Surrey Flying Club: Edward Drewery, a builder and property developer and Jock Maitland, a decorated ex-fighter pilot who had flown Spitfires in the Middle East and Sabre jets with the US Air Force in Korea.
Drewery and Maitland bought a pair of Vickers Viscount passenger aircraft and founded Maitland Drewery Airlines. They had ambitious projects, including an air show which was to become one of the most successful and spectacular public events in Britain.
The partners shared a clear vision for the future of Biggin Hill as a base for private aviation — from light aircraft to business jets.
Biggin Hill’s aircraft movements steadily increased: from 86,000 in 1960 to 158,000 in 1970, to 186,000 in 1980. Maitland presided over a lively and varied community of flying clubs, businesses, instructors and their pupils, all doing what they loved best. It was a paradise for amateur pilots.
The first Air Fair was held over four days, 2nd-5th May 1963. Its purpose, according to the souvenir programme, was ‘to encourage more and more people to fly, for business or pleasure, in giant airliners and medium transports, in executive aircraft and in machines of the excellent aero clubs found in all parts of the country.’ Its official name was ‘The 1st International Air Travel Fair’, and the biggest attraction was a Vickers Viscount airliner. Long queues formed to walk through the cabin for a glimpse of this exotic form of travel, which was still an undreamed-of luxury for most British people. The 48-page programme was packed with advertisements for tours to foreign places — including the Soviet Union, the Holy Land and South Africa.
The idea of producing an ‘air show’ came to fruition in 1964 when Jock Maitland approached the Secretary of the Royal Aero Club, Simon Ames, and asked him to organise a display the following year. Ames, a 28 year-old former Fleet Air Arm pilot, replied, ‘I’ve never run a flying display in my life. I’ve absolutely no idea.’ Jock said, ‘No, I think you have actually, so I’m going to trust you. Will you take it on?’ His intuition was correct. Ames ran the air display for the next 47 years. The Biggin Hill International Air Fair gathered an enormous following.
The Royal Air Force display team, the Red Arrows, gave their first UK display there in 1965, and were an annual fixture thereafter. Each year brought a parade of exciting aerial acts, with a mixture of daring aerobatics, wing-walking, new and historic military aircraft, airliners, model aeroplanes, helicopters, skydiving teams and war simulations.
More than half a century of air shows, attended by crowds of up to 80,000 each day, brought excitement and inspiration to young and old.
As well as the Red Arrows, the RAF liked to demonstrate their latest fighter aircraft. In 1965 this was an English Electric Lightning, which roared unexpectedly across the airfield at 300 feet, deafening and thrilling the crowd below with the thunder of its jets. The man who flew it, Michael Graydon, writes: ‘I remember that display — the weather was great and it worked well, although on my first tight wingover I recall being misled on the height of the ground due to looking into the valley under high ‘g’ and suddenly realising why it was called Biggin Hill! A pretty tight pull through was required.
Another senior RAF officer, John Allison, specialised in flying historic aeroplanes. A pilot for the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (1978–9) and later for the Shuttleworth Collection (2000–12), he flew one of a pair of Spitfires alongside Concorde at the Biggin Hill Air Fair on 18th May 1986.
The most famous of all display pilots was the New Zealander Ray Hanna. Starting as ‘Red 3’ in the Arrows’ first Biggin Hill display in 1965, he was promoted to ‘Red 1’, team leader, in 1966. Retiring from the RAF in 1971, he flew big jets for Cathay Pacific until 1981, then with his son Mark and daughter Sarah he set up The Old Flying Machine Company at Duxford, to preserve, maintain and exhibit historic aeroplanes for films and air shows worldwide. Father and son regularly brought Spitfires to Biggin Hill. Ray was legendary for his daring low-level flights and the disciplined beauty of his aerobatics.
A new life
In 1992, the military had gone and Biggin was home to only civilian, private small propeller-driven aeroplanes. With the local ratepayers of Bromley losing around £400,000 each year, Bromley Council were keen to find a resolution.
On the 6th May 1994, Andrew Walters signed a 125-year lease for Biggin Hill, granting his company, Regional Airports Limited, the right to operate the airport in return for a share of profits or turnover.
Andrew Walters and the team at London Biggin Hill are proud to have transformed the airport into the thriving ecosystem we see today.
The Airport Today
