NATS Altitude - Episode 3 - The Birth of Air Traffic Control: 100 years of keeping the skies safe

On 25 February 1920, the UK Air Ministry gave approval for the construction of a new building at London Croydon Airport, to be ‘erected 15 feet above ground level’ and with ‘large windows to be placed on all four walls’.

This building was to be known as the ‘Aerodrome Control Tower’ and at a stroke coined both the term that has remained synonymous with Air Traffic Control for the past 100 years and a design that remains instantly recognisable.

Host Ady Dolan (Heathrow Air Traffic controller) is joined by Adam Spink (air traffic controller and history enthusiast) and Ian Walker (Chair of Historic Croydon Airport Trust) for an exploration of what life was like for those early air traffic innovators, and the foundations they laid that we still rely on today to keep the skies safe.