Gatwick Airport was in Surrey until 1974, when it became part of West Sussex as a result of a county boundary change. The original, pre-World War II airport was built on the site of a manor in the parish of Charlwood. The land was first used as an aerodrome in the 1920s, and in 1933 commercial flights there were approved by the Air Ministry.
Origins
1241: First record of the name "Gatwick" (as "Gatwik"). Gatwick was a manor in the parish of Charlwood, a village in Surrey. Gatwick manor house (not the same as the present Gatwick Manor Hotel) was on the site of today's airport, on the northern edge of the North Terminal's aircraft taxiing area; until the 19th century, it was owned by the De Gatwick family."Gatwick Airport History", Business & Community Reference Guide for in and around Crawley 2008/09, Wealden Marketing, 2008, p. 85 Its name derives from the Old English gāt (goat) and wīc (dairy farm); i.e. "goat farm". 12 July 1841: The London and Brighton Railway opened, and ran near Gatwick Manor. 1890: The descendants of the original owners sold the area to the newly established Gatwick Race Course Company. 1891: The new owners opened a racecourse adjacent to the London-Brighton railway, to replace a racecourse in Croydon, and a dedicated station included sidings for horse boxes, and named Gatwick Racecourse Station. The course hosted steeplechases and flat races. During its time as a racecourse, many days were cancelled due to fog, fog would later continue to cause problems for the airport including the fatal crash involving Turkish Prime Minister's plane in 1959.Woodward, Antony; Penn, Robert (2007). The Wrong Kind of Snow: The complete daily companion to the British weather. London: Hodder & Stoughton. . 1907: Gatwick Golf Club was founded. 1916, 1917, 1918: The Grand National was run at Gatwick during the First World War. The Gatwick Golf Club disappeared following the end of the First World War.
1920–1945 Late 1920s: Land adjacent to the racecourse (at Hunts Green Farm, along Tinsley Green Lane) was used as an aerodrome. The Hunts Green farmhouse on the land used for the aerodrome was converted into a clubhouse and terminal. November 1928: From then, Dominion Aircraft Limited based its Avro 504 G-AACX at Gatwick. 1 August 1930: Ronald Waters, manager of Home Counties Aircraft Service (based at Penshurst Airfield in Kent), who had come into possession of Gatwick Aerodrome, got a licence for it. He founded the Surrey Aero Club there. 2–3 August 1930: Flying began with pleasure flights for the local population in Avro 504s of Waters's Surrey Aero Club. 1932: The Redwing Aircraft Company bought the aerodrome, and operated a flying school; it was also used for pilots flying in for races. 1933: The Air Ministry approved commercial flights from Gatwick. September 1933: A. M. (Morris) Jackaman, who owned several light aircraft, bought the aerodrome for £13,500. He had bold ideas for its future, such as expanding it to make it suitable to use as a relief aerodrome for London (Croydon) Airport and providing a regular service to Paris using de Havilland DH.84 Dragon aircraft. He overcame resistance from the Air Ministry, which was concerned about the cost of draining the clayey land and diverting the River Mole. 1934: Jackaman oversaw Gatwick's transition to a public aerodrome, licensed for non-private flights, and planned a proper terminal building linked to a new railway station on the adjacent Brighton Main Line. He formed a new airport company, Airports Limited. Hillman's Airways became Gatwick's first commercial airline operator, beginning scheduled services from the airport to Belfast and Paris. January 1935: Hillman's Airways moved to Gatwick from Stapleford Aerodrome.Airliner Classics (Gatwick: The first 50 years – Early beginnings), p. 27, Key Publishing, Stamford, July 2015 1935: A new airline, Allied British Airways, was formed with the merger of Hillman's Airways, United Airways and Spartan Air Lines. The new carrier, which later shortened its name to British Airways, became Gatwick's principal operator. Dorking and Horley Rural District Council was concerned about possible compensation claims from local residents and the threat of facing liability for flying accidents, and it "could see no benefit" to allowing further development of the aerodrome.
6 July 1935: The aerodrome closed temporarily for renovations, which included building the "Beehive", the world's first circular terminal building. September 1935: Tinsley Green station opened on time, served by two trains per hour on the Victoria-Brighton line. 30 September 1935: Tinsley Green station opened south of the present Gatwick station. October 1935: The contracted opening date, but it was not met, partly because of drainage problems. 17 May 1936: The first scheduled flight departed from the Beehive terminal at 1:30 pm, bound for Paris Le Bourget. Jersey Airways operated this flight with a DH.86 under contract to British Airways Ltd., whose livery the aircraft wore. The airfare was £4 5s (including a first-class rail ticket from London Victoria Station), and there were up to three flights a day.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 20 Later the same day, British Airways Ltd. introduced another new scheduled service from Gatwick to Malmö, which routed via Amsterdam, Hamburg and Copenhagen. Total travelling time between Gatwick and Malmö was six-and-a-half hours. 25 May 1936: British Airways Ltd. and Southern Railway jointly launched scheduled air services between Gatwick and the Isle of Wight. 1 June 1936: Tinsley Green station was renamed "Gatwick Airport".Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 16 6 June 1936: The airport was officially reopened by the Secretary of State for Air, Lord Swinton. It featured four grass landing strips which were linked to the terminal area by two concrete taxiways, one each for arriving and departing aircraft respectively.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 17 The Beehive, the new terminal, was officially opened the same day. The Beehive was designed by Frank Hoar and incorporated several novel features, including a subway to the railway station at Tinsley Green which allowed passengers to travel from Victoria Station to the aircraft without stepping outside (with a transfer time from train to plane of as little as 20 minutes). Air Travel Ltd (a company specialising in aircraft and engine overhauls which had relocated to Gatwick from Penshurst) moved into the new airport's No. 1 hangar.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 27 July 1936: British Airways Ltd. inaugurated regular night mail flights linking Gatwick with Cologne and Hanover.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 24 September and November 1936: Two fatal accidents happened, raising questions about the airport's safety. The area was foggy, and its clay soil drained poorly; this caused the new subway to flood after rain. 17 February 1937: Gatwick was declared unserviceable due to waterlogging following repeated, heavy rainfalls. Because of this tendency to flood, and because longer landing strips were needed, the pre-war British Airways moved to Croydon Airport.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 26 Gatwick returned to private flying, and was used as a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying school. October 1937: The No. 19 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF (E&RFTS) began instructing future RAF pilots at Gatwick on de Havilland Tiger Moth and Hawker Hart biplanes.Airliner Classics (Gatwick: The first 50 years – Early beginnings), pp. 28/9, Key Publishing, Stamford, July 2015 1938: Airwork General Trading Co. moved into the hangar British Airways Ltd. had occupied at Gatwick. This enabled Heston-based Airwork to expand its aircraft manufacturing capacity on behalf of the Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO), which had awarded it a contract to modify Whitley bombers for the RAF.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 29 Southern Aircraft (Gatwick) Ltd. was another company working under contract to the CRO at Gatwick at the time. It had been licensed to assemble Stinson Reliants and Beechcraft Expeditors for the Royal Navy and also repaired damaged Beaufighters.Airliner Classics (Gatwick: The first 50 years – The war years), p. 29, Key Publishing, Stamford, July 2015 25 June 1938: The first Daily Express Air Display was held at Gatwick. Aircraft participating in the flypast included a Short Empire flying boat, a Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Condor, a Sabena Savoia-Marchetti SM.83, several RAF types and aerobatic aircraft.Airliner Classics (Gatwick: The first 50 years – Early beginnings), p. 29, Key Publishing, Stamford, July 2015 1 September 1939: No. 19 E&RFTS ended its activities at Gatwick. 3 September 1939: Following the declaration of war on Germany, all civilian flying at Gatwick and elsewhere in the UK stopped. As a consequence, civil aircraft maintenance and manufacturing activities at the airport stopped as well.Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2014, p. 30 This resulted in the airport being requisitioned by the Air Ministry, and becoming a base for RAF night-fighters and an Army co-operation squadron during World War II (primarily for repairs and maintenance and as an alternative to RAF Kenley in the event that Kenley was rendered inoperable by enemy action).Aeroplane – Britain's Airports: A New Era, Vol. 111, No. 2841, p. 5, Temple Press, London, 31 March 1966 December 1939: The operations manager of British Airways Ltd., which had begun the process of merging with Imperial Airways to form British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), inspected Gatwick to assess its suitability as a base for the combined operations of the merged airline. 1940: BOAC maintenance personnel began overhauling Armstrong Whitworth Ensigns and other aircraft types at Gatwick. Horse racing at Gatwick ended and never restarted. 1940 and 1941: RAF units relocated to Gatwick from France. The airport became closely associated with the RAF Army Cooperation Command. As a result, several Army Cooperation Command aircraft were stationed at Gatwick. These included Westland Lysanders, Curtiss Tomahawks and North American Mustangs. Late 1942: Gatwick began receiving RAF and USAAF bombers that were damaged or running short of fuel. The most common types were Avro Lancasters, Handley Page Halifaxes, Short Stirlings and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. January 1945: Gatwick was taken over by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Disarmament Unit. As a result, it received a large number of transport and communications aircraft. Royal Air Force Squadrons:
Royal Air Force units:
1945–1958 1946: The airport was officially decommissioned on 31 August, but the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation continued operating it as a civil airfield (initially for a six-month trial period). Airwork provided maintenance at Gatwick and other charter airlines, flying war-surplus aircraft, began using the airport despite its persistent drainage problem. Most commercial air services were cargo flights. Bond Air Services was one of the first cargo charter airlines to move to Gatwick; it began flying converted Halifax bombers from the airport.Airliner Classics (Gatwick: The first 50 years – Post-war commercial operations), p. 30, Key Publishing, Stamford, July 2015 November 1946: Customs facilities began being provided at Gatwick.