Post by volkerboehme on Oct 22, 2008 13:04:01 GMT -5
The Lydda (Greek/Latin) were an ancient tribe who settled in the relevant location long before the rise of the Roman Empire. The sculptor E. Harvey's allegorical design for this British air terminal has no relevance to either fascism or zionism. It may have inspired the design of various 'pilot insignia' and eventually became 'pop art'.
popartmachine.com/item/pop_art/LOC+1480548
Construction of Lydda aerodrome was mandated by the British Administration in 1936. Palestine, which encompassed most of both modern Israel and Jordan, was a British mandated territory seized from the Ottoman Empire during WW1. By the mid 1930s a new airport at Lydda (English) or al-Lydd (Arabic) was required to expand British aviation interests in the region and beyond. Lydda is home to the tomb of St.George (the patron saint of England) and this probably influenced the location chosen for this major new British airport. It was immediately much used by KLM and became their western terminus for flights from the Dutch East Indies after the invasion of Holland in 1940. In practice KLM made more use of Lydda than Imperial Airways (later BOAC) as they continued to concentrate on flying boat services via Lake Tiberias.
cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/003151/11
Both Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France continued to use Beirut in Lebanon to access the middle and far east even after Lydda opened in 1937. Due to the threat posed by Vichy French air forces and consequential Luftwaffe presence in Syria the airport became RAF Lydda in March 1943.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Lydda
After the war Lydda became a dual RAF station and airport. Lydda was fully demilitarised again during 1948 in the hope that it would become the region's principal airport (displacing Beirut). It was immediately bombed by Israeli aircraft followed by an Israeli ground campaign for its control. Quickly under Israeli military control both the city and the airport were renamed Lod (Hebrew). Consequently many regional and some international airlines rerouted their services to and through Beirut in Lebanon, enhancing the strategic and international importance of that city and its airport, with a substantial reduction of commercial traffic through Lydda which became a joint Israeli air force base and airport from 1948.
FSAviator
popartmachine.com/item/pop_art/LOC+1480548
Construction of Lydda aerodrome was mandated by the British Administration in 1936. Palestine, which encompassed most of both modern Israel and Jordan, was a British mandated territory seized from the Ottoman Empire during WW1. By the mid 1930s a new airport at Lydda (English) or al-Lydd (Arabic) was required to expand British aviation interests in the region and beyond. Lydda is home to the tomb of St.George (the patron saint of England) and this probably influenced the location chosen for this major new British airport. It was immediately much used by KLM and became their western terminus for flights from the Dutch East Indies after the invasion of Holland in 1940. In practice KLM made more use of Lydda than Imperial Airways (later BOAC) as they continued to concentrate on flying boat services via Lake Tiberias.
cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/003151/11
Both Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France continued to use Beirut in Lebanon to access the middle and far east even after Lydda opened in 1937. Due to the threat posed by Vichy French air forces and consequential Luftwaffe presence in Syria the airport became RAF Lydda in March 1943.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Lydda
After the war Lydda became a dual RAF station and airport. Lydda was fully demilitarised again during 1948 in the hope that it would become the region's principal airport (displacing Beirut). It was immediately bombed by Israeli aircraft followed by an Israeli ground campaign for its control. Quickly under Israeli military control both the city and the airport were renamed Lod (Hebrew). Consequently many regional and some international airlines rerouted their services to and through Beirut in Lebanon, enhancing the strategic and international importance of that city and its airport, with a substantial reduction of commercial traffic through Lydda which became a joint Israeli air force base and airport from 1948.
FSAviator