page_title: Hendon Aerodrome
section_title: London Aerodrome
hierarchical_section_title: Hendon Aerodrome / London Aerodrome
caption_attribution_description: English: George William Beatty (far right) and unidentified colleague with six student pilots destined for the Royal Flying Corps at Hendon Aerodrome, Aug. 1916. Front centre is Lt. Norman A. Birks: others unidentified. Aircraft is a Beatty-Wright (Wright Model B) biplane.
context_page_description: Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in London, England, that was an important centre for aviation from 1908 to 1968.
  It was situated in Colindale, seven miles north west of Charing Cross. It nearly became "the Charing Cross of the UK's international air routes", but for the actions of the RAF after the First World War. It was known as a place of pioneering experiments including the first airmail, the first parachute descent from a powered aircraft, the first night flights, and the first aerial defence of a city.
context_section_description: Grahame-White created a new company, the Grahame-White Aviation Company, taking control of more than 200 acres (0.81 km²) of Colindale and converting it into what could be recognised as a proper modern airfield. The first occupants were Horatio Barber's Aeronautical Syndicate Ltd and the Bleriot flying school.   From 9 to 16 September 1911, the first official UK airmail was flown between Hendon and Windsor as part of the celebrations of the coronation of King George V.
  In 1912, the first Aerial Derby started and ended at Hendon.  An estimated three million people turned out across London, forming a human ring around the race circuit to see the aviators fly round the metropolis.  An estimated two million of these Londoners had never seen an aircraft in flight before.  At Hendon Aerodrome at least 45,000 people paid for admission to the enclosures.
  These annual events became as important as the Ascot and Epsom races during the London Season.  By 1925, 100,000 people were coming to see the display, and it was so popular that there was talk of having to spread it over a few days. The first fatality at Hendon, reported in The Times in May 1911, was Bernard Benson (aged 23). On 25 May 1911 he fell 100 feet (30 m) from an ASL Valkyrie.
  A number of flying schools were located  at Hendon, including Grahame-White's, and another established in 1914 by the American aviator George Beatty, in partnership with Handley Page Ltd. These continued normal operation until late 1916.  On 11 September 1916, Cicely Ethel Wilkinson qualified as a pilot in a Caudron biplane at the Beatty School at the aerodrome for which she received Royal Aero Club Aviator Certificate number 3522. She was possibly the only woman to qualify as a pilot in Britain during the First World War.
  In November 1916, the War Office commandeered the flying schools, after which the aerodrome trained 490 pilots.  Claude Grahame-White and other members of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) mounted a night defence of London in 1915, constituting the very first aerial defence of London.
  After World War I, the first RAF "Pageant" was held at Hendon in 1920, and it soon became a regular event, known from 1925 as the Royal Air Force Display, and in 1938 as the Empire Air Day.
  The Aerodrome was briefly active during the Battle of Britain, but for most of World War II, the Aerodrome was mainly used for transport activities, and flying dignitaries to and from London.
  RAF Hendon had three crossed runways with magnetic headings of:
  QDM 339 - 3975 x 150 feet
  QDM 280 - 3000 x 150 feet
  QDM 014 - 3060 x 150 feet
  These runways were removed by 1969.
caption: George Beatty (far right) and colleague with six student pilots destined for the Royal Flying Corps, photographed at Hendon in August 1916.
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