Trivia quiz

[Hagar]

Just for a bit of fun. This photo of a horse racecourse in the South of England was taken in the 1930s. It has a strong connection with a well-known airport. Where is it?



Small clue. The photo was taken looking north. It looks a bit different now.

I wasn't sure where to post this. It would be a candidate for Clipper's suggestion of a new Trivia forum.

[MWISimmer]

I know the answer to this, I'll let the others have a go though.. but another clue is that the only thing left from the original photo is the train line  ;)

[FsNovice]

Gatwick?

[eno]

10 points to FsNovice

[Hagar]

That didn't take long. It was obviously too easy. Well done.

Here's what it looks like now courtesy of Google Maps.


The photo actually shows the old Gatwick aerodrome as it was before the modern "Beehive" terminal was built. The Beehive is the circular building on the map at bottom centre, on the opposite side of the railway from the triangular field. When it was opened in 1936 it was the most modern airport terminal in the world & was connected to the railway station by a tunnel. http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/g/gatwick_airport_passenger_subway/index.shtml
The tunnel is still there although the station was demolished some years ago. The bottom photo on that page shows how it looked in the 1960s when my company leased the old airport railway station for use as a store.

The old racecourse (at the top of the photo) has long disappeared below the new Gatwick Airport which was opened in 1958. The new Gatwick Airport railway station (at top centre on the Google map) was built on the site of the old Gatwick Racecourse Halt.