L.A.P. vs Heathrow
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L.A.P. vs Heathrow
One for HD and perhaps it should be in History/Nostalgia. Did the controllers at 'London's main airport' use the term London Tower or Heathrow Tower talking to aircraft back in the Fifties before the name change from London Airport to London Heathrow?
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It changed in the 70s. It was still London Ground/ Tower/ Approach/ Director when I started. It changed when somewhere called Gitwack suddenly became London'd #2 airport.... Bizarre.
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HD... over on abix we've nailed down the date for the official name change from London Airport (L.A.P) to London Heathrow Airport as between 1January and 1April 1961 with a corresponding change from Gatwick Airport to London Gatwick Airport. The codes changed from LON to LHR and GWK to LGW by March 1963 apparently. So presumably the Tower switched from being 'London' to 'Heathrow' on the official date? Would there have been any confusion between the Tower name and the Area name back then?
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All I can tell you is that I started at LAP in November, 1972 and the R/T callsigns were "London xxx" then and for sometime after. The precise date of change I cannot recall. If you mean confusion between London Tower and London Airways/ Radar, I recall none. I recall an Aer Lingus pilot who always used to call us "Tower of London".
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Originally Posted by HEATHROW DIRECTOR
I recall an Aer Lingus pilot who always used to call us "Tower of London".
Heathrow was 'London Approach' etc. at the same time that Gatwick was 'Gatwick' etc. for a period. 'Heathrow' came later. Can't remember when, I haven't had my medicine today...
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Type 14 surely rotated 360 degrees? Details here.
Last edited by Bern Oulli; 8th Nov 2011 at 13:27. Reason: Edited to add the URL for radar nerds.
