Can you guess which tower?

Wow……13 year thread resurrection…………!!!!!!!

Many towers in the books of www.controltowers.eu (1and 2) are converted into houses

As CharlieLima says, control towers have been converted in houses. There are quite a few mentioned in Action Stations but without going through the lot I wouldn’t like to say how many.

Robant – thanks for the interesting local history link and I suspect the control tower you remember from your ATC days was the later (1950s) one. A more functional building of military design, this too was demolished in the late 70s/early 80s – incidently the glasshouse of an identical tower at Booker is now at Brookklands Museum.

As for control towers turned into houses, yes it has been done – Graveley Cambs) and Zeals (Somerset) to name but two. Not that they are that recogniseable as WW2 towers now though.

hummmm has anyone considered converting an old control towers into a house?

Top notch – it is indeed Pendeford Airfield (now mostly a housing estate 🙁 ) near Fordhouses.

The pictures I found on this website:

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/articles/Pendeford/Airport.htm

As a child, in the mid 60’s (until about 14, I think) I used to live on the estate to the south of Marsh Lane – on the Junction of Arundel Road & St Annes Road, nearest the airport (St Annes Rd is a loop – Arundel Rd cuts that loop in half).

I used to attend the ATC squadron (forget the number) located in the base of the tower.

To be absolutely honest, I don’t recognise the buildings – possibly because they were much darker in the ’60’s – these are obviously quite new! Also there is a problem with the number and size of the windows – so maybe it wasn’t that building.

No problem! It has to be the pre-war Wolverhampton Airport (Fordhouses) near the Dowty Boulton Paul factory – nice photos though! Where did you get them and what date(s) are they? I never went there but believe the pre-war hangar and tower survived till about the same time as Heston’s!

Doesn’t anybody have a clue?

Ok – this one might be a little harder:

Well only visited Shoreham once (so far) so as I said, it was a stab in the dark! :p

Geoff…does “your” Museum close for the winter/have reduced opening hours during that time?

Becka

If I remember correctly, the wonderful Heston tower was demolished around 1978/79 – a photo appeared in Aeroplane Monthly at the time. It certainly should have been Listed and would be now if it still survived. However the unique concrete hangar does survive there – I saw and photographed it again only last Summer.

Sadly,the Heston tower/terminal building is gone. 🙁 I’m unsure when it was demolished,but there now stands an oh-so-beautiful warehouse on the site,which is incidentally where Mr Chamberlain waved his bit of paper and declared ‘Peace in our time’.It’s a great shame that it couldn’t have been preserved.Not so long ago,I saw an aerial photo of Heston taken in the 30’s and another taken very recently and compared the two.It seems only a couple of the original hangars still stand,which is a great shame,although I’m assured that what does still exist is now listed.

Couldn’t have been us Becca, we haven’t got an airfield. 😀

Hang on though! Isn’t there a little place down by the south coast…

Geoff.

Nice!

Shoreham’s tower, while beautiful, is quite different.

Does the Heston tower still stand?

Cheers

I haven’t lived down that way for some years although I visited my nan only 2 weeks ago which is when she gave the photos to me. She was under the impression all the buildings she’s pictured in front of had long since gone, but that’s by no means certain.

Incidentally, all the roads are aviation related on my nan’s estate e.g. Brabazon Road, Wright Road, De Havilland Way, Johnson road etc. At least it’s some small semblance of remembrance.

Nice!

Shoreham’s tower, while beautiful, is quite different.

Does the Heston tower still stand?

Cheers

Not sure. Look here:

http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?x=511315&y=177623&scale=5000

You can make out the “igloo” hangar (for want of a better term) at the top of this overhead – it’s a bluey grey shade just to the right of the two large sheds in the centre of the shot, and just above a small triangle of grass. The tower could be there in the lee of the 6-bay shed at the top of the shot – there’s a black shape that looks about the right place and configuration but it’s hard to make it out at this resolution.

Nice!

Shoreham’s tower, while beautiful, is quite different.

Does the Heston tower still stand?

Cheers

Nobody likes a smart @rse webpilot! :p

Heston is quite correct. How the heck did you recognise it? I lived there for years and I’d struggle if I hadn’t been told first!

Heh. It was an educated guess. Motorway and GLA style housing in the background, 30s art deco control tower (sorry, watch office)…

Nobody likes a smart @rse webpilot! :p

Heston is quite correct. How the heck did you recognise it? I lived there for years and I’d struggle if I hadn’t been told first!

My nan and mum both used to work for the CAA there and previously to that, for Fairey Aviation. In fact my Great Grandfather worked for Fairey’s after demob from service on the Western Front in WW1 and suffered terrible respiratory problems from doping aircraft – so fairly strong family ties. My nan still lives in one of the houses backing on to the fields in the lower photo.

Heston!

Absolute stab in the dark – Shoreham