Air traffic control at Croydon Airport
Control de tráfico aéreo en el aeropuerto de Croydon
- Date
- 1920 · confidence medium
- Place
- Croydon, London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- British Air Ministry
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
In 1920 Croydon Airport organised air traffic with a control tower, radio telegraphy and pilot advisories, the world's first air traffic control. Ground controllers gave approach and separation information to aircraft.
Croydon is usually cited as the first control tower (1920); Archie League began in 1929 in St. Louis as the first US traffic controller and Cleveland had the first radio tower in 1930. Priority depends on the definition.
What it led to
- air traffic control at airports and on air routes
- radar separation after the Second World War