Is perfume warehouse hiding secret aircraft? (From Your Local Guardian)

Is perfume warehouse hiding secret aircraft?

8:10am Saturday 2nd August 2008 in

By Kirsty Whalley »

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A war-time aeroplane, crushed behind the walls of a perfume warehouse in Croydon, is being kept a secret.

Earlier this year, the Croydon Guardian was contacted by two readers who have seen the ghostly remains of the plane stuck in the wall.

However, Bourjois, owned by perfumiers Chanel, refused to allow our photographer into the warehouse on the site of the Croydon Airport to take pictures because of alleged safety and security concerns.

They were also unwilling to share any information about the origins of the aircraft except for confirming its existence.

Terrence Hart, a retired businessman from Berkshire, was in Croydon in the early 1990s and visited the warehouse.

He said: “One of the employees offered to show me a crashed aircraft, he removed a board in the wall of the building and in the light of his torch I could just make out an old plane with spoke wheels and solid rubber tyres.

“This was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen, the plane, I was told, was one of the first postal aircraft, it had landed short of the runway and crashed the pilot was killed.”

Angie Stagg was helping a friend, now dead, who worked as a cleaner at the warehouse 20 years ago.

She said: “She showed me the remains of the aircraft inside the walls. Rumour was that the unfortunate pilot was still interred there.

“The only thing I remember is seeing a wheel that rather looked like a bike wheel and a bit that I presumed was the fuselage. The whole thing came about was because she had been telling me about ghostly incidents within Bourjois and it was said that the pilot still haunted the vicinity.

“It could not be moved because doing so would make the building unsafe.”

We contacted the Croydon Airport Society who had heard rumours about the aircraft.

Larry Williamson searched through their records and said there were two accidents which might explain how the plane crashed into the building.

On October 17 1943, the engine of a British aircraft cut out while it was taxiing down the runway and smashed into the side of the building.

They also have records of a German plane crashing into the wall of a factory at the site in the pre-war period.

Frank Anderson, chairman of the society, said: “The description of the aircraft which your gentleman saw suggests that it was an early aircraft from the 1920s.

“The Bourjois factory was very badly damaged by bombs in an attack by German aircraft in 1940, so if the mystery aircraft was 'hidden' in the factory it is unlikely to have survived to be seen by someone a few years ago.”

The Croydon Guardian contacted the warehouse and eventually spoke with David Grimes, a manager there, who said that they knew about the aircraft and had the records relating to why it was there.

However despite repeated requests, Chanel refused to allow us to take a picture of the aircraft or share any information they have with us or the Croydon Airport Society.

A Chanel spokeswoman said: “I am afraid we do not wish to communicate on the topic of the buried aircraft.”

With those final words the identity of the plane and the fate of its pilot seem destined to remain buried in the walls of the Bourjois warehouse.

Do you know anything about the 'secret aircraft'? Let us know in the comments section below.

Comments(19)

Mr J Jones says...
3:15pm Sun 3 Aug 08

"Angie Stagg was helping a friend, now dead, who worked as a cleaner at the warehouse 20 years ago."

Deceased would be a better word. Please demonstrate some respect, Kirsty.