Post by Spooky on Mar 16, 2005 14:46:49 GMT
Roundshaw Estate was built on the site of the old Croydon Airport, which itself was built on the site of two First World War airfields at Waddon and Beddington. When Croydon Airport was taken over by the Royal Air Force in 1939, it was the most modern airport in the country and was to become a very important fighter base during the Second World War for the defence of the South of England during the Battle of Britain. After the Second World War the need for Croydon Airport diminished with the building of Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, but was still used for commercial traffic until 1959.
It was at Croydon Airport in January, 1947, that a Dakota, bound for South Africa, taxied down the runway in a blinding snowstorm and crashed into another aircraft bound for Central Europe. Both planes caught fire and 12 people were killed, including three nuns who were travelling to Nyasaland.
The phantoms of the three nuns have been seen walking around Roundshaw Estate and were reported frequently in the mid-1970’s. On one occasion a nun was seen in the bedroom of a new house and was said to have told a little boy a bedtime story. A phantom nun has also been seen in another house, causing the occupant to ask the authorities to be transferred to another house.
Late in 1971, a dustman removing some rubbish early one morning, was surprised to see a motor-cyclist roaring at high speed past the boiler house. What startled the dustman was the fact that the motor-cyclist had no face. It is thought that he was the ghost of a Battle of Britain pilot who had crashed at the end of the runway on take-off, when sent to intercept a German raider.
When the boiler house was being built, sounds of community singing were heard coming from the area and these noises have been heard quite frequently since. The boiler house was built on the site of the NAAFI and it was during a surprise German raid on the airfield during the Second World War that a number of RAF and WAAF personnel were killed, when a bomb scored a direct hit on the old building whilst the airmen and airwomen were singing around a piano.