055166K
 

Well done Stu! Much appreciated.

Brian W

Thanks to all of you for your contributions.

I am only interested in those that served in the UK Services but thanks for the offer for the US controller.

When I have exhausted one or two other avenues I will put together a list and post it here.

Keep 'em coming!!

Amazing story

Wg Cdr Peter Ward-Hunt - Telegraph

WJQ McGrath
 

Training officer at Aldergrove in my time ( 1964/5 ) I understood that he was William James Querke McGrath, that he was indeed the aircrew member who walked over the mountains to freedom on a broken leg (the version I was given was that he walked over the Alps as an escaped prisoner into Switzerland, rather than as an evader into Spain, but heroic either way!)
He was known simply as "Q" or "the wee man"

Permit me to add the name of Bob Seed - SATCO Pershore in the early '70s.
I was told he'd flown Spitfires, but I know not when. No doubt someone can find that info.

I've dragged a few more names out of my grey cells:-

T R Newton - the boss at Birmingham in 1974, he had been an ATCO1 since 1949, I guess must have been in WW2.

On C Watch at LATCC in the '70s,

Archie 'Jock' Moffatt
Stewart McIvor
Bernard McDonnell
Reg Prior
Jimmy Cox
Norman Whitelock
Graham Stevens
Bob Rowland-Rouse - he may possibly have been just too young
John Woodbridge - who may also have flown Lancasters
Dick ( R K L ) Yeo

There must have been a similar number on the other 4 watches, 'Talkdown Man' may be able to recall some.

Norman Whitelock, now there's a man. When he was Watch Sup on C Watch Heathrow he used to do strip-bashing for the last hour to get an extra ATCA on an EG!

John (Jack) Costello was an ATCO at Luton when I started. Didn't say much about the war but I gather he was in the Royal Artillery and evacuated off the beaches at Dunkirk. Back in Blighty 'was bored' and transferred to RAF.

Only remember two stories.
As an instructor on Wellingtons, student opened up too quickly on take off and aircraft shot off the side heading towards the control tower.
"What did you do, Jack?"
Sucks on pipe . . .
"Do? Do? What do you think I did? I retracted the undercarriage of course."

He flew an Anson during the Berlin Airlift, checking the Eureka beacons at the Berlin airfields. They wouldn't give him a gap in the landing stream so fitted in visually in between.

I am sure I must have known others.

Great idea this thread.

More than just a stroll to Spain it seems: :)

THE ROLE OF THE IRISH IN WW2 from Ireland?s Own 2013. by CON McGRATH | Erne Heritage Tours

ATC RAF Brize Norton in the late 1970s was where I had the pleasure of working with Master Pilot Lapka. A Polish pilot who flew in the RAF during WW2; I'm afraid I don't know what he flew, though.

Then there was the field examiner...Jimmy Stewart? Mosquito pilot I believe. I was in the bar in the officer's mess one lunchtime at Boulmer, towards the end of my cadetship when he sidled up to me and asked me what my reaction would be if I were to be posted to Glasgow. I said I'd be quite pleased, so he asked me to put that down on my preference chit that we all had to complete. A week later with some months to run at Border radar I was posted to Glasgow.

Maybe Stanislaw Lapka born 1915 died 1978 302 squadron Spitfire pilot in Battle of Britain?

Bernard McDonnell was my Dad. Trained up in the early 50's at Blackbushe. Used to cycle to HR from Woking, couldn't afford his own car 'till 1958! Approach Control at HR then West Drayton. I remember being taken up into the old tower a couple of times in late 50's, the dark radar room and the observation room at the top. Retd from West Drayton 1979. Passed away in 2009, and Mum in Sept this year. Had a ATCO colleague called Pat Carroll, also deceased, although I think Mrs Carroll is still around.
Entered active service WW2 early 1945, (delayed/transferred training) 55 squadron (navigator) but missed Alamein (1942) Kept in touch with his crew at least up to the '90's.
Had a brother, Jo, killed in a Hurricane off I o W, 1942. I have service records.

For those interested in ATC history and indeed some pictures of a few of those mentioned here take a look at the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers' (GATCO) ATC history website at https://atchistory.wordpress.com/ Anyone is welcome to contribute to naming people or adding information on units, radar, buildings etc

Gietta
 

Many thanks for the newspaper article concerning Q McGrath's escape. What a fantastic story! Previously I only had the briefest outline from one of the other controllers at Aldergrove. Q himself never spoke of it nor, like many of his contemporaries, of any of his other wartime experiences.

In case any former ATC staff are interested Social | GATCO

You do not have to be a GATCO member.

Alan Pring. ex PATCRU flew Hurricanes [I think] we also had a Lanc tail gunner as an ATCA in the tower at Manch Bob ???? I made a model of his a/c with a Rose/Rice twin.50cal rear turret. Bert Spalton I think flew Hudsons, Phil Miles was ex Meteor but probably served in the war as did John Brown Manch tower watch manager

Loki

I never knew that Jimmy Stewart was a Mosquito pilot. Very great respect to him !

John "Duff" Cooper was on B watch LATCC in the 80s , Wellington &/or Lancs.
. Still see him around Sandhurst.
I was always lead to believe Woo married Willy Messerschmidt's daughter!!

40612
Loving retirement.

A number of familiar names there. I think when I started in 1967 most of the controllers were ex aircrew.
Jock Ellis at Scottish.He told of flying his Typhoon into a sanddune during a sandstorm
Asso at Scottish, Bunny Crane, ex Mosquito IIRC and had done some flying for films

There's an incomplete list of RAF Officers here,World War II unit histories & officers. Although I suspect many were FS and not mentioned there

Worked with Norman Whitelock at Hack Green in the 60's.


Neil Broadbent (EX RN/FAA.) Bob Drinkwater ex Lanc rear gunner and
?Chadwick (he was an ADC to the Duke of Kent who was killed in the Sunderland crash.......all at ATC Manchester at the time.

TR Newton was at EGBB ATCO i/c ex RAF (NON aircrew).
George Russell ex RAF Upper gunner Lancs ..was at AIS EGPK and then i/c AIS EGBB


Few more but the memory is not what it was!! (retired in 1986 after 27 yrs

Harry and Hugh (Q) McGrath
 

Q is well covered elsewhere. He was a legend at Aldergrove though he had left/retired before I got there in 1969. Harry was I think someone quite different. Harry ran the Aerodrome FTU at Aberdeen at which I was a student in 1967. Harry did indeed have a limp; plus thumbstick, deerstalker and plus fours too. I don't think Harry was air crew. The story was that he served under Fritzroy Maclean (Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle Maclean) in Yugoslavia, working with Tito's partisans. Exactly what Harry's military status was remained a bit obscure - possibly SOE though Maclean had served with the SAS in Africa.

Ex RAF in ATC
 

Pete Dinham ( ATC at EGKK in the 70's) was in the RAF and was an "extra" in the Dambuster film when it was being filmed at Hemswell......
Iman

How about Basil Friendship, ATCO.

A real character at Stansted when I was there in the late 70's. Sergeant Friendship, DFM and bar (the non-com equivalent of the DFC, and much rarer...). Posted to France with No 3 Sqn (Hurricanes) on 10th May 1940. Started with 2 HS126s on the 12th, 2 Me109s and a Ju87 on the 14th, an Me109 and a Heinkel 111 damaged on the 15th, He111 on the 17th, Ju87 on the 18th, shared a He111 on the 19th and finished with an Hs126 on the 20th....

Totally irreverent with managers and one-time publisher of "Transmit".

Top bloke.

Bob Cheyne, lastly at IANS in Luxembourg. If he wasn't ex-mil. his moustache certainly was

FLTLT Tom Currie DFM, ex WW2 SIG and instructor at Shawbury on the GCA courses at Sleap in the mid 60s. A real gent!

Levesley. I thought you may have mentioned Bill Eames who ended up as Chief Officer at Aldergrove. He had left before I arrived there in 1985 but he can still be found in the mess on occasion.

D-Day at 70: War hero Bill Eames on his part in the Normandy landings - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Bill Eames
 

I don't ever remember anyone at EGAA ever mentioning his service. He took over as Chief Officer well before I left in 76 but I don't ever remember any discussion about him or with him that even hinted at his war service. Bill's office was in an adjoining building so he wasn't ever an everpresent in the tower so contact was more fleeting than with the watch keeping staff.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned Larry Curry, ex-SATCO Leavesden. He was badly burned in the war but I know nothing else.

Sadly, Basil Friendship passed away in 2001.

I just remembered - good friend of mine, with whom I have long lost contact - was Trevor Devine St John-Murphy - "Spud" to his mates. I believe Spud flew Mossies. Typical ex-RAF aircrew Spud had a huge handlebar moustache and he was as mad as a hatter. Doing outbound radar at SATCC one day a Comet asked to stop climb with a pressurisation problem. Spud, recently having had a fam flight on a Comet, told him it was probably the pressure dome at the back of the aircraft. Minutes later the Comet asked to continue climb and asked how Spud had known the cause. "It's this new radar; very sensitive you know!"

Mention of Spud Murphy who I met at LATCC c1971 reminds me of assistant Arthur Bramall who like Spud, hard a large amount of face fungus.
Arthur once told us that during his flying training, he was given a check ride by another instructor who told him to do a steep turn. He omitted to say 'one' steep turn and they did 13 before the instructor told him to stop!!

Spud Murphy
 

Does anyone herein remember Spud's biscuit-tin? IIRC - and it's nearly 40 years ago mind - a local-to-him bakery had a run of biscuit tins made with a scene out of Lowry gracing the lid and sides. Unfortunately, they'd not checked the artwork before placing the order, and the first batch were released into the shops with a scene more out of one of Ron Jeremy 's movies. Spud managed to get one of these before the shelves were cleared.

Was that the one with the cricket game on the lid? I had one, sold it at auction a couple of years ago for 400 quid,

BOB?? Was Bob Drinkwater. Rode to work occasionally at the old tower in Manchester on a big hunter!

I knew George to at Brize from 1980, he left sometime prior to 1983 to Cosford (he lived in Wolverhampton) from where he retired so definitely not Stanislaw Lapka.

I worked with George Lapka also at Brize I was there 1980 to 1983 he left before I did to go to Cosford ATC prior to retiring he lived in Wolverhampton.
He told me he flew Hurricanes at the start of the war supposedly during the Battle of Britain period before moving on to Spitfires and eventually Mustangs which he told me he was flying on D-Day staffing the beaches for the invasion and air support there after. However I have searched many sites and found no mention of him as a Battle of Britain pilot nor anything to confirm what I was told is true but he definitely was a Master Pilot so did fly as Sgt or Master aircrew in that period. There where also two Master Navigators at Brize at that time one in ATC George Elland interesting guy who explained the fine art of astral navigation to me on one nights shift then there was a Master Nav in charge of Flight Planning too he was Master Nav Edwards (first name escapes me) he lived in Witney and retired during my time at Brize I believe.

Master Navigator "Ness" Edwards was in the flight planning department at Brize whilst there was another Master Signaller/Air Electronics Officer who worked in the navigation department who, I was told served on Lancasters with the very secret 101 Squadron based at Ludford Magna in Lincolnshire during World War II and for some reason was known as "Harry Chunkers" There was also Master Pilot Jack Meakin in the ATC tower at Brize who was a post war Meteor and Javelin pilot and instructor.

Tony Boo
 

I have a copy of Kenneth G Wynn's book 'Men of The Battle of Britain'. There is a Lapka mentioned, Stanislaw not George. After service with the Polish Air Force he joined 302 Sqn when it formed on 13/7/40 flying Hurricanes. He survived the war, settled in England and died in 1978.

I met Larry Curry back in the early 80s. Didn't know him at all well but I'm pleased to say he was instrumental in the early days of my career during a rather sticky patch. Also believe that Vic Jackson worked at an ATCO around that time - previously on Vampires and the King's Flight, I was told.

Have trawled through previous posts but couldn’t find mention of these two. John Halloway, Heathrow and LATCC, previously Spitfire and Hurricane in the far east and Reg Hussey, LATCC ATCO 1 crew chief Lancaster pilot with, at least two tours, unfortunately, they bit him some 30 years later but he came through it. Great blokes to work with for a young sprog like I was. I was, and I remain, greatly honoured to have considered them friends. Unfortunately, I lost touch with Reg but met regularly with John and his wife Val (also in ATC at Heathrow and LATCC) until their demise in November last year. Greatly missed.