Overview

""An intimate, revealing and, at times, surprisingly moving account of the domestic life of a wartime airfield and the men and women who served there."" Control Tower Calling covers the short but important secret history of RAF North Creake intertwined with the tale of how the author, Nigel Morter, and his wife, Claire Nugent, found and fell in love with the airfield's control tower: a superb example of modernist architecture. The story tells of their escape from routine, sensible careers to start a new life running a bed and breakfast on a former Second World War airfield in North Norfolk. In parallel to the story of their escape, Nigel explores the history of the airfield within the context of the bombing war. From construction, operational life, decline and disposal, all life on the airfield is here. As Nigel & Claire restore the Control Tower back to its iconic modernist look, we learn of such things as airfield design priorities, the perils of operational life, the development of air traffic control, wartime socialising and the tragedy of loss. Based on extensive primary, unpublished and archival research, the book explores the operation of the German's sophisticated early warning radar system that could track, plot and intercept Allied bombers - a radar system that led to a crisis in the bombing campaign when losses reached unsustainable levels. It discusses the formation of the RAF 100 Group and the birth of electronic warfare, revealing the secret yet crucial role RAF North Creake played in jamming German radar through the use of innovative 'Radio Counter Measures'. This book is both an engaging account of a life-changing passion project and also a significant contribution to a neglected area of research in the history of the bombing war. Control Tower Calling is a worthy tribute to the vital efforts and heroic wartime sacrifices of RAF North Creake... it's also a perfect reflection of the love, devotion and creative brilliance that Nigel and Claire have brought to the Control Tower itself.

Full Product Details

9781738544417

Table of Contents

Reviews

If you have not yet read this amazing book, then you jolly well should! This is the story of RAF North Creake through the eyes of the couple who bought the control tower and, whilst being very respectful of its history, have turned it into a delightful and successful B&B. But the book is so much more than that. Chapters alternate between that story, and the whole wartime story of the airfield, with many, many quotes from people who served there, both air and ground crew. The reader is given a riveting impression of both life on the station and life - and death - in the air on operations. The author has done his homework very thoroughly and his description of all the aspects of the bomber war is both moving and thought provoking. I rarely read a book from cover to cover but I have this one - I could not put it down. I have read many books about the reality of life in Bomber Command. For me Control Tower Calling is head and shoulders above the rest and I shall certainly read it again and again. My book of the year by a mile! Dr Steve Bond, Aviation Author An intimate, revealing and, at times, surprisingly moving account of the domestic life of a wartime airfield and the men and women who served there. A story made even more relevant and lasting by the inner narrative of the Control Tower's long and respectful renovation by the author and his family. Nigel Morter has achieved a rare and precious thing: a blend of both national and personal histories that focuses on the telling detail, and which wholly avoids the nostalgic impulse and faux-celebratory tone that too many similar accounts succumb to. Control Tower Calling is a fitting tribute to the extraordinary times and those extraordinary lives now vanishing all too swiftly behind us in an age increasingly desperate to find meaning, relevance, and reassurance in its own past. Gary Armitage (Rober Edric), Novelist

Author Information

Nigel Morter runs the Control Tower B&B in North Norfolk with his wife Claire Nugent. From a Labour Movement background, he left school at 16 and became a trade union activist while working for a local authority. After completing a BSc in Environmental Science, he was employed as a Principal Lecturer in Labour & Trade Union Studies teaching graduate and post-graduate programmes. Nigel left HE in 2013 coinciding with a recent move to Norfolk. With unique access to unpublished materials from veterans and their families who approached him with memories, documents and diaries, he felt compelled to document this fascinating story of RAF North Creake before it was lost.

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