Tales From The Control Tower is based on the author’s personal
experiences of the Royal Air Force. It starts in 1968 with anecdotes
about Basic Training at Swinderby where recruits learned drill,
marching and given an introduction to service life. From there the
Tales move on to Gaydon, a ‘V’ Bomber station where Joe
experienced the RAF at its best and its worst, being billeted in a hut
with twenty rough necks from the RAF Regiment. At the Air Traffic
School at Shawbury Joe was trained in air traffic procedures. During
his time there both the piston-engine Provost and the D. H. Vampire
were in the final months of service with the RAF. The station was
also a storage facility and give details of the many different types of
aircraft that were being housed there, awaiting scraping or repair...
Having passed out of Shawbury the story moves on to Manston,
where there are various anecdotes about working in the control tower,
the foam landings, diversions and one particular incident involving the
Red Arrows, that could have lead them to being disbanded.
There are anecdotes about the life style of airmen, the drinking, the
women and the strange humour! This period was interesting because
it was the ‘Twilight Years’ of the veterans of WWII and of also of
piston-engine type aircraft such as the such as the Beverley, Hastings
and the DC4.
Joe Bamford has produced an amusing ‘easy read’ about air force
life that is very different to the usual ‘Gung Ho’ type story.
234 x 156 mm • paperback • 224 pages • 35 b&w illustrations
Joe Bamford served for six years
in Royal Air Force (1968-74) as an
assistant air traffic controller. He
served at Manston and Akrotiri in
Cyprus. Joe has a B.A. Honours
in Sociology from Warwick
University.
He is the author of
The Salford Lancaster, Eyes of
The Night and Devotion To A
Calling.
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