Senoir Controller
Thank you for your reply. I don't think the fairer sex were always displayed in a secondary role. My wife always considered, and still does, that the role of 'Homemaker' was far more important than running a company or being General Manager London Centre. I do agree however that the fairer sex are much better represented in careers such as ATC and piloting. In fact when I was posted to EGLL in '86, for a unit strength of 75 operational ATCOs only 4 were ladies. By the time I retired in 2000 on my watch of 13 controllers (including Thames ) there were 5 including the Watch manager.In fact one of my daughters-in-law is an ATCO at Swanwick.
Smoking - ugh! As a young man I was a Hercules navigator and often the only non-smoker on the crew. As an ATCO at London Centre in the 70s, it (smoking ) was awful. You could be working on a 'Flat-Top' radar console surrounded by pipe, cigar and cigarette smokers. At last in '89 it was forbidden - happy days.