Lord Boyd-Carpenter? Looks an awful lot like John King.

But there's no question the star of the shot is the man with the electric hat!

Oops! Not the first miss ident in my long career - Lord King of BA it is!

surfingatco - or should I say Silver Surfer ATCO ?:rolleyes:

Yes, that's Lord King, and the ATSA was Mark but I forget his surname.

......Granata?

......... Barber?

ATSA
 

Mark Hooper - didn't he used to help Hobbsie with UKATTS stuff?

I worked in the Control Tower Bar, aka Dodge, on the ground floor from about 1980 - 1983 when it closed.

Many hours of fun and stories never to be told ;). Curtains pulled at closing time punters left by the front door and those in the know re-entered around the back, Happy Days!

The bar was a staff bar that had a public license, the guys who ran it also ran the Queen's Building bar.

"Control Tower Bar"?
Holy Moly!
A tradition methinks NATS should re-instate.

Allegedly, the new CTB, (control tower building), at EGCC, will not have a bar, but there will be a branch 'Greggs' nearby.

surfingatco,
interesting photograph.
Note how John Kings' fingers are clasped in the same fashion as those of the Duchess Of York.

I also had the pleasure of visiting in 1984 as part of my prep for the ATCO board interview (I didn't succeed - became an engineer instead). As I recall it was a 'give us a call when you are outside on the doorstep' sort of arrangement.

I seem to remember being told at the time (my memory prompted by the pictures above) that there had to be a CCTV to cover the view of the intersection obstructed by that radar head. How did that come about - did no-one think of sightlines when they were planning the radar installation - was it really a problem?

There was no CCTV showing the intersection abeam the radar head when I was there (1972-1993). In fact, we asked many times for CCTV to enable us to see the cargo cul-de-sacs but had no joy. Meanwhile, the Police had CCTV all over the place, including cameras on the tower, to watch road traffic.

Thanks HD - thinking about this, I must have wrongly linked a passing comment about the not-so-ideal placing of the Heathrow radar, and a CCTV (again early 80's) at East Midlands tower to cover a holding point (?) due to a new/extended cargo building (?)

I seem to recall that the 'buried' Charlie stands (C14, C16) were at one point to be kitted out with CCTV for our benefit but the baggage handlers union objected.

Now, I cannot think of a single reason why a baggage handler would feel threatened by CCTV whilst going about his daily routine, but maybe others could?:E

Jh5c

It was EMA that used to need CCTV to see the RW27 holding points W1/2 and A1/2 because where the old ATC VCR was meant that these were blocked from sight by a combination of the terminal and the RFFS station.

Was one of a whole number of reasons (not least of which was how the new west pier of T1 would have blocked the view to M, H and G runway holding points) why they got the new tower and combined APP/AGL/ATE building whilst the old VCR and RADAR rooms were still serviceable (And are still in 24/7 use by Apron control and the Ops crews)

For LAS1997,

This may have been posted already, but the VCR has been removed intact (alright, in pieces) in the last few weeks and will be displayed at the museum at RAF Cosford.

I visited in about 2003, while waiting to go to work. Rang the doorbell and asked if there was any chance of a quick visit. There was and I want to thank all concerned, but don't know any names, sorry. It was early afternoon and I think I watched a Concorde land amongst others. I was very impressed by the professionalism of all the controllers, alongside the 'Heath Robinson' style gizmo's - a combination which is so quintessentially British!

I also flew in and out of EGLL many times, and was very appreciative of all the controller's skills, which were and are the best in the world, in my opinion.

(I was the tw@t in pilot's uniform).


U

I managed a visit too as member of a flying club. Very British indeed ! I thinks one of my party asked about modernising the system and was politely told that if a pen broke then you just used another one.

The room was running just about flat out but the air of coolness and quiet professionalism was astonishing. It made you proud to be a Brit :ok:

Coloured felt-tip pens, some pieces of paper, binoculars, a clock, a wireless set, a telephone and a comfy chair...what more would one need...

Er, a mug of tea?

and a Lamson Tube, for entertainment.