It's still very visible, being on the Purley Way in/out of London. The terminal building survives as does the hotel next door. Amazingly a fair amount of the airfield hasn't been built on, and I think if you look at multimap you will see that some of the original concrete runway "ends" still exists. It has a visitor centre open on the first Sunday of the month, 1100-1600, and has a Tiger Moth (inside) and DH Heron on display outside.
That's good to know. I might have a toddle up that neck of the woods one day to investigate & take some photos.
Ironically, where FBF has cricket being played, Croydon appears to have a Baseball diamond in the middle of the old airfield
That does seem a strange coincidence. I know even less about baseball than Rotty does about cricket.
Similarly, very close to Croydon is the former RAF Kenley, still owned by the MOD, with all its tarmac intact (the Luftwaffe took care of the hangars in 1940)...
I last visited RAF Kenley when I was in the ATC which seems a very long time ago now. I was sent there to represent the squadron, or maybe it was the Wing, at an aircraft recognition competion. I thought I was pretty good until I found out what I was up against. ::) The comp was run by a man named Gerald Pollinger. Does that ring a bell?
Just to clear the air: he was in fact bowling overhanded; not sure if this was taken during his windup or after release. I'd have to blow that up to see if the ball can be seen enroute...
looking again, I think he's winding up.
Not that i'd know- as far as i know, "bowling" involves rented shoes and a big heavy ball with three holes in it...
Thanks for confirming that. Unlike baseball the bowler in cricket doesn't exactly wind up. He starts from behind the wicket which is those sticks at either end of the pitch. Then he runs up to the wicket & bowls the ball, being careful not to step over the white line just in front of the wicket at his end or that would be a no-ball which doesn't count. He's only allowed on the pitch after he's bowled the ball & for as short a time as possible so as to not rough it up for the batsmen. The idea is to hit the wicket at the other end & the batsman at that end's whole objective in life is to prevent that happening at all costs & if possible whack the ball as far as he can & ideally out of the ground. Well, that was the original idea. If the bowler can't hit the wicket he gets a tad angry & aims at the batsman instead, attempting to kill or seriously injure him. Cricket is a very passionate game & taken very seriously. It's more like WWIII, all played strictly according to the rules of course.
