Wartime: wooden desks, the Aldis lamp and binoculars
Prestwick opened in 1933 as a grass training field with a small civil tower. In the war it became the eastern end of the Atlantic ferry route, and in 1943 a control tower was built up through the roof of Orangefield House.
The 1944 RAF and Ministry of Information photographs of that cab (public domain) show angled, outward-leaning windows in pale green steel frames with bolted joints, a glazed pitched roof, and controllers at a desk along the glass with black radio control units, handset telephones, a hand microphone, a gooseneck lamp, binoculars and an Aldis lamp.
The desk in this era
The plate shows a wooden desk with black R/T control units and their cords, a hand microphone, two dial telephones, a green gooseneck desk lamp, an Aldis signal lamp on a stand, a watch log and a crash bell push, with a clock and a wind dial on the wall, under pale green window frames and a glazed roof. It was generated with Grok Imagine using the 1944 Prestwick photographs (TR1785, TR1789, TR1790, TR1794, D20358) as reference. Artist’s impression (AI-generated with Grok Imagine, based on period photos).
// What happened
From 1943 to 1962 the tower cab sat on the roof of Orangefield House, a 17th-century house that had been a hotel since 1933 (Secret Scotland; atchistory calls the room the “RAF watch room”).
- Dec 1933The airfield opens, known at first as Monkton. [ABCT: Prestwick]
- c.1935A photo captioned “Original 1935 Civil Tower” shows the first tower. [atchistory: Prestwick Airport]
- Feb 1936Scottish Aviation’s No 12 E&RFTS (flying training school) starts. [ABCT: Prestwick]
- 1941The Palace of Engineering is moved to Prestwick from the 1938 Empire Exhibition. [HES listed building LB51683]
- 1941–42Concrete runways are built. No 44 Group (Ferry Command) is based here from Sept 1941; more than 37,000 aircraft pass through during the war. [ABCT: Prestwick]
- 15 Aug 1941Transatlantic Aircraft Control forms at Powbank Mill, moving to Redbrae House on 21 Oct 1941 (Air-Britain, quoted on atchistory). [atchistory: Prestwick Airport]
- 1943A control tower is built up through the roof of Orangefield House, a hotel since 1933. A 1944 photo shows angled cab windows. [Secret Scotland]
- 1944RAF and Ministry of Information photographers record controllers in the tower with binoculars. [Wikimedia Commons (1944 RAF photos)]
- 1946Civilian control: 1 Apr per ABCT and Secret Scotland; Air-Britain says Transatlantic Control, Approach and Tower passed to the MCA on 1 May. [ABCT: Prestwick]
// Equipment in this era
| System | Status |
|---|---|
| Voice switch and telephones | At Prestwick (sourced) |
| Radio: VHF, UHF and standby sets | At Prestwick (sourced) |
| Radar displays and the ATM | At Prestwick (sourced) |
| Lighting control panel (AGL) | Not known |
| Met display | Typical UK practice |
| Weather instruments | Typical UK practice |
| Flight progress strips | Typical UK practice |
| Signal lamp and the Aldis | Typical UK practice |
| Binoculars | At Prestwick (sourced) |
| Crash alarm | Typical UK practice |
| NOTAMs and briefing | Not known |
| Military links and hotlines | At Prestwick (sourced) |
| UTC clocks and indicators | Typical UK practice |
Not yet in use: ILS, ATIS, Surface movement radar and A-SMGCS.
// Photographs
