RAF Tangmere ControlTower

[Bob]

I wonder if anyone can supply the answer to this question I have been asked?

What was the exact date that the control tower was built at Tangmere ?. My research says 1944. If that’s correct then what preceded it and are there any photographs ? I am researching the fateful night in December 1943 when James McBride was killed trying to land in thick fog. Both Bob Hodges and Hugh Verity say that they were in the control tower as the incident with Steven Hankey and James McBride unfolded. But if the control tower was not built till 1944, then they couldn’t have been

[Lyffe]

Bob

I think this might answer your question http://www.controltowers.co.uk/T-V/Tangmere.htm . The website covers most UK airfields .

Edit: It might be useful if you could provide the source of your information as the names you quote are meaningless to the rest of us.

Brian

[ianh]

Hi Brian
Hugh Verity's book, "We landed by moonlight".
Ian

[Bob]

The names are those of 161 Sqdn Lysander pilots

[Bob]

Lyffe, thanks for the link but still puzzled. The photo of the tower is the one that was built in 1944. Local sources say that one was destroyed in an air raid in 1940, so what was used in between.?

[Ross_McNeill]

All the statements are correct.

The Watch Office (note terminology), in the link, was the third to have been built.

It was to 1941 drawing 12096/41 but this does not determine the exact date of construction - just the design date of standard drawing.

As a Grade II listed structure it is recorded by English Heritage and this confirms construction date of 1944 of a Watch Office type to 1941 design.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listi...-entry/1403165

The Watch Office that was damaged in 1940 air raids was to a 1927 design drawing but as above could have been built any time from drawing creation in 1927.

Watch Office was really just a location for a number of daily watch duty rooms eg Met, Duty Pilot, Flying Control etc but usually not until post war that visual Control rooms were added on top.

All that would be needed to carry on the function of 1940 damaged Watch Office would be office space and that could be provided by repair and augmentation of surviving structure. Flying Control could and was transferred out to the active runway.
https://www.alamy.com/ww2-airfield-f...207403342.html

So there will always have been a Watch Office of sorts for them to have been in - just not the one in the location pictured.

Ross

[Bob]

Thanks Ross, I will pass that on. I think it will answer the question. Cheers

[Lyffe]

I'll add my thanks, Ross, but I hope you don't mind if I add a little more to the story which is copied verbatim from the Historic England website at https://historicengland.org.uk/listi...-entry/1403165

The control tower at Tangmere was built in 1944 as a replacement to earlier facilities. Initially (prewar?) the active squadrons had locker and rest rooms within annexes to the aircraft sheds. But, as this proved unsatisfactory, an old flight office building near the sheds was converted into a small but detached watch office, providing heated accommodation in two rooms: the watch office itself and a rest room. This building, along with the aircraft sheds, was destroyed in German raids on the base in 1940 (Probably 16 August) The watch office facilities were moved to the fire tender house on a temporary basis while the present building was completed. The present building saw active service in the latter part of World War II and also has associations with the later occupation of the base by Meteor jet squadrons, the RAF's High Speed Flight and the breaking of the world airspeed records here.

Brian