Collection Item

Aero Clubhouse

The Aero Clubhouse is one of the few surviving pre-Second World War Brooklands buildings not on the Museum site, standing on Sopwith Drive next to the Paddock Retail Park

On 28^th May 1932, the new Brooklands Aero Clubhouse was officially opened and coincided with a very impressive flying display organised by Brooklands Aviation Ltd, set up in 1931 to manage the aerodrome, and the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. 'Air & Airways' magazine promoted the event as 'England's Greatest Civil Air Display' adding that it would feature aerobatics by the Royal Air Force, high speed pylon racing, parachute descents and 'stunt flying'! Special guests included three notable world record-breaking pilots Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson and Jim Mollison - all of whom were major celebrities at the time.

More recently known as The Control Tower, the distinctive 'art deco' influenced Clubhouse was designed by a young Scottish architect named Graham R Dawbarn (1893-1976), who founded leading airport architects Norman, Muntz and Dawbarn in 1932 and whose work included large terminal buildings in similar 'Minimalist style' at Birmingham and Jersey airports later that decade. Dawbarn also designed (in the shape of a question mark) the BBC Television Centre officially opened at White City in West London in 1960 which was later Listed but sadly closed in 2013 and is now being redeveloped for commercial and residential use.