ATC History
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As this thread has re-surfaced from the dusty corner ...
Civ ATCA at Southern Centre in '64 [with Spud Murphy]
ARTS at Sopley in '70 with Frank Rittmeyer, Mil ATCO at Eastern [a LOT] and LATCC [with Spud] ... and we're not doing airfields, but cross-check my user name
NATS [too often]
Just off on a long holiday ... I'll check back in late next month.
Oh, and hello to a few people I know here
Civ ATCA at Southern Centre in '64 [with Spud Murphy]
ARTS at Sopley in '70 with Frank Rittmeyer, Mil ATCO at Eastern [a LOT] and LATCC [with Spud] ... and we're not doing airfields, but cross-check my user name
NATS [too often]
Just off on a long holiday ... I'll check back in late next month.
Oh, and hello to a few people I know here
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MPN11... Have you heard of Spud recently? I used to see him a lot about 10 years ago but lost touch. He used to spend a lot of time in Cyprus.
Cheers
Bren McCartney
Cheers
Bren McCartney
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After some time at Heathrow I got to know HP reasonably well, he lived about a mile away from me.
I gave him a chunk of wood that had been propping up a door and he turned it into a magnificent fruitbowl, still in use today 25 years later and 800 miles away.
I gave him a chunk of wood that had been propping up a door and he turned it into a magnificent fruitbowl, still in use today 25 years later and 800 miles away.
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Spud Murphy and his mustache -ahhh......
Spud bought in a tin of biscuits or sweets one day, it proved to be a rather 'limited edition'. Seems the artist had been told to create a 'village scene' for the tin and had been a little too creative, biologically speaking. Spud had blagged one of the few that had escaped into the wild before being recalled.
Spud bought in a tin of biscuits or sweets one day, it proved to be a rather 'limited edition'. Seems the artist had been told to create a 'village scene' for the tin and had been a little too creative, biologically speaking. Spud had blagged one of the few that had escaped into the wild before being recalled.
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Originally Posted by Heathrow Director
MPN11... Have you heard of Spud recently? I used to see him a lot about 10 years ago but lost touch. He used to spend a lot of time in Cyprus.
I just have these abiding memories of him being the nicest ATCO at SATCC when I was there as an ATCA IV, and then a decade or so later in the mid-70s working alongside him on the Sectors at LATCC when I was a Mil ATCO is SEJAO.
I would chuck him a pink crossing strip, which would come back with "GOOMFW" written on it. That told me [do you need a translation?] I should "Take 5" because he was really too busy to allocate a level. Not sure that was in the LATCC MATS, but it made complete sense to us.
Lovely man, and one of my fondest memories of ATCOs.
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Long before I became friends with Spud, I sat next to him at a GATCO Convention in Bournemouth - must have been very late 60s? During the afternoon they showed that old Marconi film of 24 hours of the Heathrow S264 speeded up to take about 5 minutes. There were a couple of BOAC types sitting behind us who let out the odd "phewww". Spud turned round and said, poe-faced: "It's been slowed down for analysis"! Great bloke...
Last edited by HEATHROW DIRECTOR; 26th Sep 2010 at 20:32.
I started my ATC career on D Watch at West Drayton on March 1969. Of the various 'character' ATCOs I can remember, here is a selection:
Len Lavell: don't talk religion to him or he'll try to convert you to Jehovah's Witness
John Reynolds: watch your back; if you do something he doesn't like he'll just report you to the supervisor without saying a word to you.
Len Vass: well what can I say; just one of the nicest guys you could wish to work with. He was selected to give us ATCAs pep talks prior to our ATCO Cadet Interviews. His hobby was building (from scratch) models of railway locomotives. No motors, but they were perfect in every detail down to the correct number of links in the chain couplings. Years later, I worked with his son (he was on the Ops staff at our FBO), and when Len sadly died, he took over the sale of his father's collection of models. What price they realised I don't know, but someone somewhere has them now and should be proud of them.
Len Lavell: don't talk religion to him or he'll try to convert you to Jehovah's Witness
John Reynolds: watch your back; if you do something he doesn't like he'll just report you to the supervisor without saying a word to you.
Len Vass: well what can I say; just one of the nicest guys you could wish to work with. He was selected to give us ATCAs pep talks prior to our ATCO Cadet Interviews. His hobby was building (from scratch) models of railway locomotives. No motors, but they were perfect in every detail down to the correct number of links in the chain couplings. Years later, I worked with his son (he was on the Ops staff at our FBO), and when Len sadly died, he took over the sale of his father's collection of models. What price they realised I don't know, but someone somewhere has them now and should be proud of them.
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HD
Was it Spud who got things slightly mixed up in the hold, when a Trident pilot said something like "London, there`s another aircraft at my level"?
To which the reply came "It`s not your level, it`s mine, I`m busy, and you are sharing it"
Was it Spud who got things slightly mixed up in the hold, when a Trident pilot said something like "London, there`s another aircraft at my level"?
To which the reply came "It`s not your level, it`s mine, I`m busy, and you are sharing it"
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I agree about Len Vass. Whilst I was home on leave from Africa I contacted Len to see if I could visit LATCC. He duly fixed it and I sat in on TMA(S), where he was the Crew Chief, for an evening. I corresponded a lot with Len whilst I was overseas. A thoroughly nice person - an amusing to be with too!!
When I left school in 1961 I became a Clerical Assistant at MoA HQ in Woburn Place where there were plenty of ATCOs. George Endersby and Charlie Fearn were in an office opposite mine. Lucky Craven was downstairs. Used to play snooker with John Griffiths and there were many, many more. All great characters and all, sadly, long gone. My first Watch Sup at Heathrow was Geoff Large who is, I believe, still alive and well... as is JK!
When I left school in 1961 I became a Clerical Assistant at MoA HQ in Woburn Place where there were plenty of ATCOs. George Endersby and Charlie Fearn were in an office opposite mine. Lucky Craven was downstairs. Used to play snooker with John Griffiths and there were many, many more. All great characters and all, sadly, long gone. My first Watch Sup at Heathrow was Geoff Large who is, I believe, still alive and well... as is JK!
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Along with Pelton I too was a 'socially disadvantaged engineer' in SADO but I never let it show to my much richer ATC colleagues!!
Ref Spud (aka Trevor Murphy) the tales about him could keep this forum going for years. My most vivid memory was acting as driver and baggage carrier at a trade day Farnborough (when NATS used to get an allocation of tickets) Spud made a bee line for the Air Macchi hospitality tent with me lugging his MK1 video camera and batteries. He walks straight in only to be greeted by all and sundrie as a long lost friend. This included their chief test pilot with whom Spud engaged in a long conversation in fluent Italian. We then visited the trade displays where he accosted the ex- JFC (A.F.) by smacking on the back and calling him several names you dont hear on Blue Peter. AF duly responded in kind and offered drinks on Plessey at the end of the show. Returning to the Air Macchi tent we imbibed in the free lunch and much wine whereupon Spud fell asleep at the table and missed the whole afternoons display and we missed out on sundowners with AF.
Ref Spud (aka Trevor Murphy) the tales about him could keep this forum going for years. My most vivid memory was acting as driver and baggage carrier at a trade day Farnborough (when NATS used to get an allocation of tickets) Spud made a bee line for the Air Macchi hospitality tent with me lugging his MK1 video camera and batteries. He walks straight in only to be greeted by all and sundrie as a long lost friend. This included their chief test pilot with whom Spud engaged in a long conversation in fluent Italian. We then visited the trade displays where he accosted the ex- JFC (A.F.) by smacking on the back and calling him several names you dont hear on Blue Peter. AF duly responded in kind and offered drinks on Plessey at the end of the show. Returning to the Air Macchi tent we imbibed in the free lunch and much wine whereupon Spud fell asleep at the table and missed the whole afternoons display and we missed out on sundowners with AF.
More than just an ATCO
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Spud's biscuit tin
I had one, quite a few scratches on it it made 100 quid at auction; mint it would have been 400. The brand name on the jam pot would have raised a few eyebrows as well
I remember John S. - Richard Partridge was another name from round then. He came to Euricontrol then left to drive an old ambulance to India. He's now back in the UK, married a few years ago. John Kimberley, Maggie Ireland and PLJ Hooper were a few others who crossed the channel.
Chevvron, I must have left just before you joined (I went to Sopley as an ATCA 2). Terry Thomas was the ATCA 1 at the time.
I also spent a few months on NMU at Gatwick, a great place to earn money with all the overtime, John Dancer was there at the time, as was Daphne Donkin. I think being sent down there was a result of threatening to punch John Renolds' lights out. Southend were phoning details on a dep via IBY ( 11 handwritten strips IIRC with only the first and last having all the details. At the same time, they were requesting clearance from the DO (Reynolds). As fast as I could write the strips I put them over but Reynolds suddenly decided that all the strips should have all the details and threw one back, hitting me just above the eye. Trying to pull him across the top of the board was not a good idea,
. Fortunately a lot of people had witnessed the incident and he was forced to apologize. A week later I was in Gatwick for several months..
A couple of years later, in Luxembourg, there were a few more names, Bob Cheyne and Brian Greenhalgh and later in Brussels, Gerry Wigglesworth, Roy Evans, Geoff Gillete and Brian Easy who should have spoken perfect French by the time we moved to Maastricht because every time he was asked to do radar he had to go for a French lesson.
I had one, quite a few scratches on it it made 100 quid at auction; mint it would have been 400. The brand name on the jam pot would have raised a few eyebrows as well
I remember John S. - Richard Partridge was another name from round then. He came to Euricontrol then left to drive an old ambulance to India. He's now back in the UK, married a few years ago. John Kimberley, Maggie Ireland and PLJ Hooper were a few others who crossed the channel.
Chevvron, I must have left just before you joined (I went to Sopley as an ATCA 2). Terry Thomas was the ATCA 1 at the time.
I also spent a few months on NMU at Gatwick, a great place to earn money with all the overtime, John Dancer was there at the time, as was Daphne Donkin. I think being sent down there was a result of threatening to punch John Renolds' lights out. Southend were phoning details on a dep via IBY ( 11 handwritten strips IIRC with only the first and last having all the details. At the same time, they were requesting clearance from the DO (Reynolds). As fast as I could write the strips I put them over but Reynolds suddenly decided that all the strips should have all the details and threw one back, hitting me just above the eye. Trying to pull him across the top of the board was not a good idea,
. Fortunately a lot of people had witnessed the incident and he was forced to apologize. A week later I was in Gatwick for several months..A couple of years later, in Luxembourg, there were a few more names, Bob Cheyne and Brian Greenhalgh and later in Brussels, Gerry Wigglesworth, Roy Evans, Geoff Gillete and Brian Easy who should have spoken perfect French by the time we moved to Maastricht because every time he was asked to do radar he had to go for a French lesson.
Last edited by Lon More; 28th Sep 2010 at 08:26. Reason: rchanged link
Indeed Lon, Terry Thomas was in charge of us lowly ATCA 3's when I joined. He got a class to class and was the principal trainer for FISO's in preparation for them doing the FIR.
One of my early stints on the FIR was with Ian MacIntosh. We were filmed for a training film in which I had to hand him a slip of paper from which he read out the Hurn weather. The back of my head (with hair in those days) was clearly visible in the finished product.
Anyone remember an assistant called Arthur (don't remember his surname); was always incident prone; 'tache similar to Spud Murphys
One of my early stints on the FIR was with Ian MacIntosh. We were filmed for a training film in which I had to hand him a slip of paper from which he read out the Hurn weather. The back of my head (with hair in those days) was clearly visible in the finished product.
Anyone remember an assistant called Arthur (don't remember his surname); was always incident prone; 'tache similar to Spud Murphys
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OK, since enough of you have told the truth about Jolly Jack to ensure that his lawyers are kept busy elsewhere, I'll throw my hat in the ring.
I was a junior member of the ATC Tech Committee at LATCC in mid-late 73 (the title might have been summat a bit more complicated, because by that time the world and his poodle had a committee for something or other.....) it was chaired by TC, and Jack R was there as well.
99% of teh discussions did not need ATCA input, so I got to snooze a lot. One of the topics had universal approval, except Jack, and I remember TC losing his temper ( ie he raised an eyebrow) and said 'well it looks like 5 watches wwant to play ATC and Jack Reynolds doesn't'. Cue for one humble Assistant to try and be invisible whilst smirking....
Geoff Gillette - when he went to YooroControl eight of us rented his house in Preston. No, it wasn't an 8-bedroomed place, so it got cozy at times. There were 6 white stones outside the house, each with a letter, which gave the house name, 'LLADOS'. We assumed it was a welsh word until one day (or night, it IS possible that alcohol was involved) one of us realised it read SOD ALL backwards, and promptly rearranged it thus.
We had a 'Preston reunion' last October and went by to look at teh house. Remarkably, it is structurally intact still..... although the traces of the police cordon can be seen.....
I was a junior member of the ATC Tech Committee at LATCC in mid-late 73 (the title might have been summat a bit more complicated, because by that time the world and his poodle had a committee for something or other.....) it was chaired by TC, and Jack R was there as well.
99% of teh discussions did not need ATCA input, so I got to snooze a lot. One of the topics had universal approval, except Jack, and I remember TC losing his temper ( ie he raised an eyebrow) and said 'well it looks like 5 watches wwant to play ATC and Jack Reynolds doesn't'. Cue for one humble Assistant to try and be invisible whilst smirking....
Geoff Gillette - when he went to YooroControl eight of us rented his house in Preston. No, it wasn't an 8-bedroomed place, so it got cozy at times. There were 6 white stones outside the house, each with a letter, which gave the house name, 'LLADOS'. We assumed it was a welsh word until one day (or night, it IS possible that alcohol was involved) one of us realised it read SOD ALL backwards, and promptly rearranged it thus.
We had a 'Preston reunion' last October and went by to look at teh house. Remarkably, it is structurally intact still..... although the traces of the police cordon can be seen.....
Last edited by Minesthechevy; 28th Sep 2010 at 07:09.
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<<aka Trevor Murphy>>
Trevor St John Murphy purleeese....
Turning to other characters.. wonder what happened to Jack Frith, who used to contribute to PPRuNe? Last i heard he was living in France, with various other ATC refugees. He moved from Heathrow to LATCC and worked the TMA. I recall one conversation I had with him when there was a Trident to follow a Shed, or some other awful thing, on a CLN departure. When asked what separation he wanted he responded "Frighten me on 125.8"!
Trevor St John Murphy purleeese....
Turning to other characters.. wonder what happened to Jack Frith, who used to contribute to PPRuNe? Last i heard he was living in France, with various other ATC refugees. He moved from Heathrow to LATCC and worked the TMA. I recall one conversation I had with him when there was a Trident to follow a Shed, or some other awful thing, on a CLN departure. When asked what separation he wanted he responded "Frighten me on 125.8"!
More than just an ATCO
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After completing our initial training in Instilux, as it was in 1970, 3 of us were sent to the UK for initial traing; myself and Mick Lewis went to redbrae and Tony Gleadell went to Preston.
As usual, I proceeded to FU big time (supervisor's daughter
, although I didn't know it until she introduced me to Daddy) and soon ended up back in Brussels, appropriately living in a room near the Manekin Pis!. About this time I was called into HQ for a (one sided) dixcussion on the subject of my future career. So, faced with the prospect of actually having to work for a living, I decided to keep my head below the parapet for a couple of years. ( I think Jim Creegan started to get it in the neck from then on)
BTW. Not only was Reynolds a miserable
, he was also a tight-fisted one. I remember he used to come to work on a NSU moped and most of us tried to run him off the road as he weaved away along Porters Way 
As usual, I proceeded to FU big time (supervisor's daughter
, although I didn't know it until she introduced me to Daddy) and soon ended up back in Brussels, appropriately living in a room near the Manekin Pis!. About this time I was called into HQ for a (one sided) dixcussion on the subject of my future career. So, faced with the prospect of actually having to work for a living, I decided to keep my head below the parapet for a couple of years. ( I think Jim Creegan started to get it in the neck from then on)BTW. Not only was Reynolds a miserable
, he was also a tight-fisted one. I remember he used to come to work on a NSU moped and most of us tried to run him off the road as he weaved away along Porters Way