CNATCS
 

Wonder if there is some elderly sould out there who can help me please? Purely for personal reasons I'm trying to list all the Controllers of the NATCS. I've only got as far as Geoffrey Stallibrass and AM Sir Ivor Broom. Any more please?

Keith ? ex-LHR

Not sure if he went that far?

Give us a clue, HD, who or what are or were CNATCS and NATCS?

Controller National Air Traffic Control Services and National Air Traffic Control Services.

Back in those days they had a civvy one year and an RAF chap the next.

Bill Woodruff

Arnold Field

Ah, thanks. I was probably serving time in the Colonies for misdemeanours at the time.

Thanks guys. Verna Woodruff was on my radar course. Nice lady but the last I heard she wasn't too well.

Any offers of RAF chaps?

Air Vice Marshal Sir Laurence Frank Sinclair. The very first CNATCS.

AVM Sir Ian Pedder. Took over as CNATCS in August 1981. Had a gorgeous PA - I remember drinking champagne out of her shoe in the bar at Eastern Radar one evening. :ok:

Ian Pedder.. That's one name I was thinking of. A real, down to earth, gentleman. I was working Heathrow SVFR once when he visited, especially to look at SVFR problems. I was unaware but the Sup had told him my name. All I knew was this charming chap kneeling beside me (no room for an extra chair).... he put out his hand "Hello Brendan, I'm Ian Pedder". One of the nicest blokes I've met.

Tom Stonor was CNATS when I went through CATC in the late 80s.

Keith Williams?

I remember Ian Pedder too. When the LTMA revision took place in the mid 70s, I fed him some details of the local press in the Amersham/Chesham area of Bucks. He phoned me personally to thank me.

I remember having a long discussion with Sir Ian re. Licensing; it was most enlightening - also refreshing to have a VSO chat openly and at length with a mere minion!


NATCS/NATS ... was it in the '60s that they lost Control?http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...ilies/evil.gif

Did Keith Mack hold the post in the mid 1980s?

Chevvron. I'm not surprised. He was a decent man and somewhat different to another "Air Rank" person I had dealings with.......

Keith Mack was CNATS about '85-86, about the time CAA thought they had too many ATCOs and trawled to see if anyone would be interested in redundancy.


Re Ian Pedder - my old Herc' nav' mate Jim Clark worked for him when he was an OO at HQ. This was before Jim became an ATCO and subsequently joined 'B' Watch at LATCC.


I remember Jim telling me that he was tasked with preparing a lot of paperwork on something like changes to airspace and he had a lot of angst and non co-operation from a snotty RAF Wg Cdr ATCO. Before the big meeting Pedder called Jim to his office and asked if everything was in order - Jim being an honest chap replied that it was apart from the lack of help from said Wg Cdr. At the start of the meeting Pedder stood up and looking pointedly at the RAF man, made a great show of thanking Mr Clark for his efforts. Top man!


Was Bill Semple CNATS about '97-98?

Brian,
somewhere I still have the letter from 1985/'86. It was signed by John Page, who had been on my initial and final selection boards six years previously.
I think you are correct regarding Bill Semple, somewhere I still have his 'My Vision' brochure.

I think I met Ian Pedder's daughter once.......

She never mentioned you....

Bill Semple sat next to me on Heathrow GMC one day. Naturally, I offered him the chance to talk to a few aircraft.... but he politely declined! That video he "starred" in which we were all forced to watch was pretty dreadful. If you meet Marty Swann ask him about Bill....

I still have the list of staff featured in The Book and it shows Keith Williams reaching DATO(NATS) but not CNATS.

Thanks everyone for the input.

I think Bill Semple was the last one.

Bill Semple
 

Silly Bemple was the second Chief Executive of NATS, after Derek McLauchlan (who may or may not have also been the last Controller - if not, Tom Stonor was the last to hold that title).
In the early days, the military Controller was an AVM, but Ivor Broom, Ian Pedder and Tom Stonor were full Air Marshals (they would generally have served as DCNATS as an AVM before becoming controller. Civil Controllers got CBEs, military Controllers got knighthoods.

National Air Traffic Control Services lost "Control" when responsibility for ATC and its support services were transferred to the CAA when the Authority was founded in 1972. The sign outside LATCC had "control" painted out at this time, rather destroying its symmetry!

NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC
_CONTROL SERVICES
became
NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC
_________ SERVICES

From Whos Who (except *):

Air Vice-Marshal Sir Laurence (Frank) SINCLAIR GC: Controller, National Air Traffic Control Services, Ministry of Aviation and Ministry of Defence, 1962–66

Air Vice-Marshal John Bernard RUSSELL: Controller, National Air Traffic Control Services, BoT, 1966–69

Geoffrey Ward STALLIBRASS: Controller, National Air Traffic Services (Civil Aviation Authority/Ministry of Defence) 1969–74, Joint Field Commander, 1966–69

Sir Ivor (Gordon) BROOM: Controller, National Air Traffic Services 1974–77, Deputy Controller, 1972–74,;

William Charles Woodruff: Controller, National Air Traffic Services, 1977–81, DCNATS 1974-77

Sir Ian (Maurice) PEDDER: Controller NATS 1981–84, Deputy Controller, , 1977–81

Keith Robert MACK: Controller, NATS, 1985–88, Deputy Controller, NATS, 1983–84; DG Eurocontrol, 1989–93

Air Marshal Sir Thomas (Henry) STONOR: Controller, National Air Traffic Services, 1988–91 ; Dir of Control (Airspace Policy), NATS, 1985–86; Deputy Controller, NATS, 1986–88

Derek John Alexander McLAUCHLAN: Chief Exec., NATS, 1991–97, Dir Gen., Projects and Engineering, CAA, 1989–91

*Bill Semple: Chief Exec., NATS, 1997-?

*Colin Chisholm: Chief Exec., NATS, ?-2001, then Chief Ops Officer

Richard EVERITT: Chief Exec., NATS Ltd, 2001–04

*Paul Barron: Chief Exec., NATS Ltd, 2004-2010

Richard Simon DEAKIN: Chief Executive Officer, NATS, since 2010

Re Ian Pedder
 

I was his driver for two years when he was Station Commander at RAF Chivenor. He was a gentleman and treated me well. Later when he was a AVM he paid a visit to Brawdy, when he saw me standing by a staff car, he came over and spoke with me for about 10 mins. Never saw him again, he was a good man and one I had total respect for.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter ?????

I think Lord Boyd Carpenter was chairman of the CAA. Other names that may have held that post, (I think), include:-
Sir Nigel Foulkes.
John Dent.
Christopher Tugendhat.
Christopher Chataway.
And possibly others that I can't remember offhand.

Wasn't it Mr Tugendhat who demanded to know why the night shift at LATCC was manned because Heathrow was closed at night.

I remember being part of a picket outside CAA HQ on Kingsway during the ATCA strike in the mid seventies. Some wag had a large placard on which was written 'For Foulkes sake give us the money'

DC10RealMan

You could be right. Was it him (Mr Tug ) who asked on a visit, 'What time do you all pack up for the day and go home ?'

I think it was him... Fairly typical of some of the people we had in charge of us at times!

John (or was it 'Arthur') Dent visited Farnborough once to see if it was a suitable site for a new CAA House. He and some of his cronies went up the radar head in the lift, overloaded it by having too many people in it and got stuck!!

Hi radarman I am that Private Secretary and I remember the evening very well! Thank you for the compliment! I have recounted the story many times, Sir Ian was a lovely man and I had some wonderful trips with him but no one else has ever drunk champagne out of my shoes!