Selfridges had an Aviation Department!

Can you imagine going to a department store to buy compasses, maps, a parachute….or even an aircraft!!!

What? You can’t? No?… Well neither can I.

But that is exactly what you could do in the 1930’s.

You could pop down to Oxford Street, London, take the elevator to the 3rd floor to their aviation department. Staffed by ex RAF personnel

If you had a spare £600 you could buy yourself a de Havilland Gipsy Moth (which is a biplane from the De Havilland moth series…….. the most well known being the Tiger Moth….

They had an in-store Flight Simulator and you could arrange flying lessons. They stocked parachutes, compasses and well, as the advert says, anything aviation just ask.