Aviation to motor racing: the story of Croft Airport

David Stephenson, in Wiltshire, is researching motorcycle racing history and was rather surprised to discover a programme from a 1950 meeting which was held at “Croft Airport”.

Come motor cycle racing at Croft Airport in 1950. Picture courtesy of David and Tim Stephenson

“Was this the imagination of the owner after the Canadian Air Force had moved out or did anyone actually fly from there?” wonders his brother, Tim, in Darlington.

After the Second World War airmen left the aerodrome, it was briefly abandoned before John Neasham – car dealer, mayor and football club chairman – took over the lease and formed the Darlington & District Aero Club.

John Neasham, Mayor of Darlington, 1955-56.

Mr Neasham had bought two small planes before the war, which he had kept at his workshop behind the Hippodrome theatre but he now moved them to the aerodrome. He developed a sideline converting ex-military planes for private civilian use, and he started offering flying lessons.

Baron Gabriel H Calcagni de Tande, known as “Gabby”, who taught flying at Croft Airport

He discovered that one of his new employees – stories vary as to whether this chap was employed to sweep the floor in the Blackwellgate garage or as general sales manager – was in fact the wonderfully-named Baron Gabriel H Calcagni de Tande. Known as Gabby, he was an Algerian from Italy who had come to Britain from Italy in 1941 to fly Spitfires with the Free French Airforce.

He had married a Darlington girl, Blanche Oliver, a Waaf stationed at Middleton St George, and they squatted in a Nissen hut at the entrance to the aerodrome – there were scores of people squatting in the disused buildings and for many years the authorities turned a blind eye as there was such a shortage of homes.

Gabby turned out to be an expert flying instructor.

Mr Neasham had big dreams for the aerodrome. He saw that RAF Middleton St George was being converted to a military training airfield so he imagined that Croft could be developed as a civilian airport, and he started calling it “Croft Airport”.

Adverts from the 1950 programme for motor racing at Croft Airport

On August 31, 1948, he put on the first public flying display at the airport, an event which was not marred by a small fire breaking out in the control tower, and on September 11, 1948, he put on one of the first scheduled services from the airport: a £4 5s return ticket to Chester for Darlington FC supporters to see the match (Quakers won 2-1).

Go by air from Croft Airport to see the mighty Quakers’ away match at Chester

In 1951, the RAF officially designated Croft as the relief landing ground for the trainee fliers at Middleton St George, and for several months it was known as “RAF Neasham”, making it unique in being named after a person not a place (although Neasham is just down the road).

However, civilian flying at the airport never took off, and in 1952 came to an end.

Adverts from the 1950 programme for motor racing at Croft Airport

Mr Neasham, a real petrolhead, had plenty of motor racing acquaintances who had been speeding around the runways and aprons since 1948 (they called the long main stretch the “Neasham Straight”). The Darlington Motor Club continued racing at the aerodrome until 1962 when the Air Ministry put 160 acres of land up for auction.

Adverts from the 1950 programme for motor racing at Croft Airport

Adverts from the 1950 programme for motor racing at Croft Airport

Adverts from the 1950 programme for motor racing at Croft Airport

The successful bid came from the “Croft Consortium”, led by Sir Robert Ropner of the Teesside shipping dynasty. He was a serious motor racer, and his fellow investors included bobsleigh champions and Bill Shand Kydd, whose elder brother married Princess Diana’s mother and who had the last known correspondence with his brother-in-law before he disappeared in 1974. That brother-in-law was Lord Lucan.

The programme from the first race meeting, attended by 50,000 people, in August 1964 at Croft Autodrome

On August Bank Holiday Monday 1964, the consortium put on its first meeting: the Daily Mirror Trophy. A crowd of 50,000 crammed into to see cars and motorcycles whizz past at what the programme now called “Croft Aerodrome”.

Sixty-two years later, although a little light aviation still occurs at Croft – in March 2025, two people were hurt when their bright yellow plane crashed – it is cars that are the main attraction, and next Saturday, September 6, thousands of spectators are expected for the latest leg of the British Touring Car Championship.

Richmond market place on an Edwardian postcard

RICHMOND CIVIC SOCIETY has arranged an amazing programme of more than 20 walks and talks for the Heritage Open Days in September and, by coincidence, Croft-on-Tees.

Many of them feature really rare and privileged access to historic places, like the cells in Richmond castle where the imprisoned First World War conscientious objectors scrawled their political graffiti, or tours of Aske Hall led by Robin, Marquess of Zetland.

But places on most of them are limited and need to be booked.

There are rare opportunities to see inside Holy Trinity chapel or up St Mary’s Church belltower, and to get behind the scenes – quite literally – at the Georgian theatre.

This year’s theme of the open days is everyday lives, and so Kiplin Hall is telling about the lives of servants whose work kept the grand house running, while the Station is talking about workers who kept the railway running.

There are guided walks around Easby Abbey and the grounds of Aske Hall, while a Victorian policeman will take a tour of law and order hotspots, a former headteacher will wander round the town’s schools, and a ghost walk will bring stories from the other side back to life.

Richmondshire Museum and the Green Howards Museum are putting on special events, while at the Station, there’s a talk about a female Swaledale hill farmer in the early 20th Century.

The free events start on Friday, September 11 and conclude on Sunday, September 20, with a walk from Hurgill Road car park up on to the racecourse and around the world’s oldest grandstand, the story of which we told here last week.

The walk, starting at 2pm and led by Colin Grant, is one of the few events that does not need to be booked.

To find full details of the events, including booking details, it is probably best to go to richmond.org, press the What’s On button, and then find the Filter by Month button which will bring up all of September’s events.

We humbly suggest you do not overlook one on Saturday, September 12, when Chris Lloyd, who compiles this column, is leading a walk around Croft-on-Tees. It will look at spas, bridges, mansions and mills, plus Lewis Carroll and Alf Common, the world’s first £1,000 footballer.

It will start at 10.30am in Croft church, which is itself open for the Heritage Open Days, serving light refreshments, and limited places can be booked by emailing richmondcivicsociety@gmail.com

St Cuthbert’s church restoration, Darlington. Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo

ST CUTHBERT’S CHURCH in Darlington may be closed at the moment as part of its extensive £2.5m refurbishment but it is opening its gallery and belfry for the Heritage Open Days so that people can have guided tours above the church floor and see the work that is unfolding.

That means they will be able to look down on where the foundations of a Saxon church, probably from 1083, were discovered recently, rewriting Darlington’s history and making St Cuthbert’s the town’s oldest church.

The tours are being held on Saturday, September 19, from 10am to 4pm, and will run alongside a day of activities which includes a Photography Heritage Display, a History of the Pews exhibition and live music, from, among others, Cockerton Silver Band.

There will also be a live stained glass conservation studio by the experts who are working on the church, including one who appears on television’s Repair Shop.

The open day will also be the public’s first encounter with the new Voices of St Cuthbert project in which people are being encouraged to leave audio messages about what the church means to them.

“Almost everyone in Darlington seems to have a St Cuthbert’s story,” says project manager Kaitlyn Beattie. “Sometimes it’s about a wedding or a christening. Sometimes it’s because their grandparents worshipped here, or they visited with school. When you put all those memories together, you’re not just telling the story of one building – you’re telling the story of the people who have lived in Darlington.”

People are being asked to record a voice note of up to five minutes on their phones and email or WhatsApp it across, although on the Heritage Open Day, there will be volunteers available to take people’s memories.

“Sometimes it’s the small stories that tell us the most,” says Kaitlyn. “The memory of a particular person, the smell of polish on the pews, walking through the church with your grandparents or singing your first hymn. Those are the memories that bring history to life.”

To take part, or for further information, email kaitlyn.beattie@stcuthbertsdarlington.org.uk or WhatsApp 07704 823610.