Originally Posted by
chevvron
I may be wrong but I vaguely recall these mics were used in RAF control towers for the AATCs to communicate with vehicles on the airfield; the AATCs could not operate aircraft band radios just the vehicles and the system was referred to originally as 'Pye' and later as 'Storno'.
From the late 1960s to the mid-2000s, that is more or less what they were used for at LBA - so the TWR ATCA could use the UHF ground frequency. The Tulip was eventually supplanted by a more ergonomic handset which could be used on the telephone network too.