Equipment, Communications and Navaids

 

ECN0a This just came no location specified. Believed to be a NATS station. Use the comments tab above to let us know where it is please.

Steve Balfour tells us that “The comms tower, with the green grass/blue sky is near EGPK/EGPX. It’s marked on the 1:25,000 Explorer Map, just SE of Wardlaw Hill, between Troon & Dundonald. I’ve added some map extracts showing the location and 4 shots I took when I was at nPC in 2010. Three are taken from the ‘Ballast Bank’ in Troon. The green dome is part of Marr College, and the prominent white building is Highgrove House Hotel. The shot with the golfers was taken from outside The Marine Hotel, which is next to the 18th Hole at Royal Troon.”

ECN0b

ECN0c and d  the NATS site at Brown Carrick Hill, . The wide-angle shots were taken from Troon, The close up shots were on 21/03/11.

ECN0e and f

ECN0g and h 2 OS extracts showing the location, to the south of Ayr.

ECN0i

ECN0j RAF ATC radio trucks RAF Wahn.

MoCA 1950s ILS presentation slides

above is a document that contains  a set of Ministry of Civil Aviation black and white slides about the Instrument Landing System in its early days. Also from the MoCA is another set describing the navaids and communications needed to support airways operations.

UK Airways infrastructure MoCA

ECN0k from Dave Smith who says “I’ve just found this 1944 Ballykelly BABS assisted approach procedure chart amongst my stuff. The original was in a photo sent to me in the 1980s by a former Liberator pilot who flew from there.”

beam approach beacon system (BABS)

BABS Mk1C Still Air

Blind landing May 1947     This remarkable article in Flight describes efforts in 1947 to develop a better visual instrument to assist pilots in interpreting the output from a beacon approach system which in 1947 would have presumably been Rebecca/Eureka or BABS (see above). Within the technological limitations of 1947 the author is developing proposals that verge on the use of virtual reality and head up displays. The Air Ministry had already trialled a system for projecting a night fighter’s air interception radar display onto the pilots windscreen.

Malcolm Hemming has sent me a document entitled ” Telecommunications equipment and its maintenance” which seem to serve as an introduction to this section. Tels Mx [789444]

Communications

ECN1

a rather grand but no longer anonymous microwave tower thanks to Danny Glover who says    “ECN1 is the Post Office/BT site at Harraby, Carlisle – see this link. This mainly carried television and telephony but there is an ATC link – in the literal sense. The Linesman radar at Bishops Court used a microwave link via the Post Office site at Ballygomartin, then over the existing route to Carlisle. From there it’s not known whether it continued via Manchester and Birmingham or went across to join those from the east coast sites on their way to West Drayton.  Most of the details of the Linesman (Post Office) and Mediator (CAA) microwave links have been pieced together – I’ll share more information when I get it properly organised.”

ECN2

this might be something called the MCVFT at Croydon (or it might not).

what look like a comms relays on Tiree, a receiver and a transmitter array dated  March 1985.

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Anonymous mast demolition

ECN7

Galdenoch VHF Radio Centre

ECN8

Grantham Mk III and Mk V

ECN9

ECN10

Hillingdon mast demolition Jan 1964

ECN11

Mangersta

ECN12

ECN13

RAF Aldergrove mast perhaps on Black Mountain or Divis 1948

ECN14

The next seven photos are of Pailton radio monitoring station.

ECN15

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ECN19

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ECN22

Rhu Stafnesh – was this associated with the flying boat station at Rhu near Helensborough?

Rhu Staffnish (I think that is how you spell it). It is on the Mull of Kintyre, near Campbeltown, nothing to do with the Rhu seaplane experimental station which is on the Clyde near Helensburgh. Dave Lacey

ECN22a NATS Green Trough Receiver

ECN23

Rothwell radio station

ECN23_2  ROTHWELL

ECN24

Trimingham

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ECN27

ECN27a

four photos of Warlingham

Winstone radio station closure

ECN28

The last CAA HF service being switched off at Winstone radio station by Jack Jewitt the longest serving member of the staff at the station. Jack, a rigger, went to Birdlip/Winstone in 1946 and said he’d give the job a try for a week to see how it went

ECN30

The last service message being composed and sent to Portugal from the control room at Winstone.

Left to right Godfrey Elmer – Officer I/C Winstone, Bob Morris ATE II at Winstone, Reg Baker – later at LATCC but who sent the first message on the circuit many years ago.

Navaids

an anonymous Outer Marker

ECN31

ECN32

Dover DVOR

ECN32_2 DVOR PROJECT

ECN33

Dover VORTAC?

ECN33a Mayfield DVOR and DME 1980

ECN33b Biggin DVOR and DME 1980 with the Tower in the distance

ECN33c Pole Hill

ECN33d Daventry

ECN33e Midhurst

ECN34

ILS Glidepath

ECN35

ILS Localiser

 

ECN36

Goodwood DVOR

Equipment

ECN37

ECN38

Trails of replacement Barrel lights (the cream units) at Gatwick and Stansted

 

ECN39

CAA Wickham railcar, Snae Fell, Isle of Man

latest version is available as a model

ECN40

PAPI Light unit

below: the ubiquitous ministry workdesk

These desks in a variety of designs were built to equip state ATS units in the 40s, 50s and 60s, Many examples will be seen in photographs of towers, ops rooms and equipment rooms throughout this site. They were of a modular design, standard heights, widths, slopes and depths were introduced as were standard equipment stowage bays, usually 6 inches high and multiples of 3 inches wide. Horizontal work surfaces were removable and replaceable with, for example flight progress strip bays. Some “necessary” design features seem so dated now, with built in recesses holding cast metal cigarette ash trays. Remarkably by modern (2015) standards the desks were made of solid oak, light coloured and attractive and if they got scruffy they could be sanded down and re-varnished. Moreover the modular design meant that when a unit closed they could be refurbished and reused. I remember seeing a control desk in the NATS stores at Hurn that had a label showing it was formerly used at Preston ATCC at Barton Hall.

ECN41

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equipment testing and calibration

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standby battery power

ECN47

flight progress trip holder loader

ECN48

ECN49 HONILEY VOR

ECN50 MCT VOR

ECN51 POLE HILL VOR

ECN52 STRUMBLE VOR

ECN53 Berryhead VOR