Description

Control Tower Calling book by Nigel Morter

This is a substantial and beautifully crafted, hard back first edition. Printed and bound in Cornwall with a stylised dust cover by renowned designer Jamie Keenan. The book contains several war-time photos in the body of the text and has colour plates of the restoration of the control tower.

Price: £30

Post & Packaging prices by Royal Mail (click here for Country pricing zones) – if you wish to purchase multiple copies for international shipment, please contact Nigel before you place your order.
£10        UK
£20        Europe zone 1 & 2
£25        Europe zone 3
£35        World Zone 1
£38        World Zone 2
£40        World Zone 3

In his book, Nigel Morter covers the short but important secret history of RAF North Creake intertwined with the tale of how he 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Based on extensive primary, unpublished and archival research, the book explores the operation of the German’s sophisticated early warning radar system that could track, plot and intercept Allied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.

“It has been captivating piecing together the story of this station from fragments of history found in local and national archives, press cuttings and libraries. Pulling the threads of legends from families and memories from veterans together into a compelling narrative of this station”

Nigel Morter – Author of Control Tower Calling

Nigel Morter biographical details:
Nigel Morter runs the Control Tower B&B near Walsingham in North Norfolk with his wife Claire. A former Principal Lecturer and Subject Leader in Labour Studies at London Metropolitan University.  Nigel left HE in 2013 coinciding with the recent move to Norfolk. A book was the inevitable outcome of moving to the Control Tower given the combination of the untold story of the station mixed with his academic inclinations derived from 15 years working in higher education. The research, while making constant reference to secondary sources (particularly for the context of the war, Bomber Command, airfield construction etc.), makes eye-opening use of primary research in establishing this unique and unwritten story of RAF North Creake and the people who served there. Opening up the Control Tower as a Bed & Breakfast in 2014 has given him unique access to unpublished materials as beyond his own quest for research material, veterans from RAF North Creake and their families have approached him with memories, documents and diaries – research that would have never emerged were it not for the ‘hub’ that the Control Tower provides. This has compelled him to document this fascinating story before it’s lost.