Tamworth Tower 1968-1980

TW TWR


This integrated Control Tower and passenger terminal at Tamworth, NSW, is fairly typical of the Towers built in the 1960s. It is brick-built using a somewhat unusual style of bricks. The Tower was commissioned on 1 October 1969.

The photo above (enlarged below) was taken in December 1980. The aircraft on the apron is an East-West Airlines Fokker F.27 Friendship. East-West Airlines was founded in Tamworth in 1947 and retained a major base there until its demise in 1994 when the re-named Eastwest Airlines was fully absorbed into Ansett Airways.

 

TW TWR


The photo below (enlarged beneath) shows the Tower and passenger terminal from airside when brand new, before the Tower opened, in December 1968. The two large towers behind the Control Tower are supporting the airport's NDB antenna.

The aircraft is an East-West Douglas DC-3 and the two large hangars were the main East-West maintenance base. As of 2017, they are occupied by Qantaslink.

 

TW TWR
 
TW TWR


This Control Tower is no longer in use, a new Tower having been built between 1995 and 1997 to support operations by the BAe Systems flight screening programme operated for the RAAF. A new, modern passenger terminal has also been built where the old terminal wing was, to the right in the photos above.

The photo below shows DCA Fokker F.27 Mk I Friendship 100 VH-CAT taxying from the terminal building at Tamworth. The aircraft framing the shot is a Douglas DC-3, probably of East-West Airlines. The DCA F.27s were regular visitors to airports all over Australia, and in Papua and New Guinea, performing their role of flight inspection of visual and radio navigation aids.

 

VH-CAT

 

(Photos: 1&2-CAHS/Mike O'Grady collection; 3&4-CAHS/Wil Heitbrink collection; 5-CAHS collection)

 


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Tamworth