Before dawn on March 6th, 1935 over £21,000 of gold was stolen from Croydon Aerodrome in the UK. That’s around £1.2 million in today’s money (2024). The gang arrived at Croydon Aerodrome by taxi: Cecil Swanland, John O’Brien, Silvio ‘Shonk’ Mazzarda, and ‘Little Harry’. With a duplicate set of strong room keys, they managed to take off with the gold. Swanland was later arrested and sentenced to seven years of penal servitude. The case against O’Brien and Mazzarda fell through, and ‘Little Harry’ was never identified. The gold was never recovered. Where is the gold? Discover the facts of the case in some of the clippings below, orstart a 7 day free trial to delve deeper into newspaper archives.

Articles and Clippings about The Croydon Aerodrome Robbery

Croydon Aerodrome Robbery, 1935 06 Mar 1935, WedEvening Chronicle (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England) Newspapers.comCroydon Aerodrome Robbery, Daily Herald, 1935 20 Mar 1935, WedDaily Herald (London, London, England) Newspapers.comCroydon Aerodrome Robbery, Sentencing, 1935 30 Apr 1935, TueWestern Daily Press (Bristol, Avon, England) Newspapers.comCroydon Aerodrome Robbery, acquittal, 1935 27 Apr 1935, SatThe Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com