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Leaky air traffic control tower in line for repairs

News imageBilly McCrorie An old air traffic control tower with the words Flying Control written on it, a plane outside and a tree next to itBilly McCrorie
Water is getting into the old control tower creating risks for visitor safety and its displays

Plans have been lodged to repair a former air traffic control tower in southern Scotland in order to protect the displays at an aviation museum.

They would see replacement doors, roofing and railings put in at the site at Heathhall near Dumfries.

Operators say there is currently a safety risk as, on days when there is wet weather, water is finding its way into displays and also onto floors and stairs creating a slip hazard.

They have submitted plans to Dumfries and Galloway Council to carry out the improvements to the C-listed building in order to let it have a "longer life as the centre piece of the museum".

News imageBilly McCrorie The inside of a wartime air traffic control building with desks and dummies sitting at them and another one looking out of the windowBilly McCrorie
The tower gives visitors a glimpse of how it was used during wartime

RAF Dumfries opened in 1940 and was the biggest airfield in south-west Scotland.

It was home to maintenance units and also used as a training base.

After the war it was used for scrapping aircraft and became a training centre for National Service recruits before closing in 1957.

It started a new life in the 1970s following the formation of the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group which excavated aircraft wreckage in the area.

Looking for a permanent home to put its artefacts on display it moved onto the Heathhall airfield - initially in the former pilots' flight hut and then in the larger control tower which opened to the public in 1979.

It has grown since then - one of the "jewels in its collection" is a Spitfire which was recovered from Loch Doon in Ayrshire, before being painstakingly put back together.

News imageA Spitfire plane loving restored inside an aircraft hangar
The Loch Doon Spitfire is one of the main attractions at the museum

The operators - all volunteers - are now seeking to carry out work to safeguard the museum control tower's future.

"The air traffic control tower is used to house a number of exhibits," they say in their planning application.

"The current state of the building is that we have water ingress either through the roof or the walls.

"[On] wet weather days water is finding its way into displays but also onto floors and stairs and is a slip hazard."

There are other issues they hope to tackle as well.

"The doors and frames are rotting and will be, if left, a safety hazard as two of the largest doors are now not secured to their frames due to the hinges having fallen off the frame due to the rot of the frame," they added.

"The proposed use is the same as the current use, but with the knowledge that displays will not be ruined, the floors and stairs will be safer and the tower will have a longer life as the centre piece of the museum."