Flyhistorisk Museum Sola · Other exhibits
Airport Control Tower 1953–1983
This is the top floor of the control tower that stood at Sola airport between 1953 and 1983. The top floor of the control tower was part of the air traffic control services. Its task was to direct aircraft on the ground and in the air to ensure safe travel. From the six-storey building, the air traffic controllers had a clear view of the entire airport area and the surrounding airspace. They approved take-off and landing, guided pilots on the final approach to the airport, and ensured that aircraft and vehicles moved safely on the ground within the airport area.
After full restoration, the top of the control tower will be placed on top of a three-storey building. The control tower will provide insight into air traffic control services and also become a viewing platform, giving an overview of the aircraft collection on display here.
The world’s first airport control tower opened at Croydon Airport just outside London in February 1920. This became the first airport in the world to introduce Air Traffic Control Service (ATCS). The first control tower was a simple wooden structure, five metres tall, with windows on all four sides. From here, air traffic to and from the airport received information about other traffic, weather conditions, and the general situation at the airport. Modern control towers are usually placed on top of very tall structures within the airport area, with windows on all sides of the tower. Air traffic controllers gain an overview of traffic through visual observation of the airspace around the airport and activity on the ground, and by advanced radar and computer systems. Communication between air traffic controllers and pilots takes place through verbal radio communication.
THE MUSEUM’S AIRCRAFT
The first control tower in Norway opened atSola Airport with the opening of the airport in the spring of 1937. In 1953 the control tower that had been used since 1937 was replaced by this one. The new control tower was placed on top of the old one, making the tower six storeys high. The old control tower on the floor below was converted into an airport approach control room. In the spring of 1983, the 1953 control tower was replaced by the current control tower at Sola Airport. It was then dismantled and donated to the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo, where it was exhibited for several decades. After it was removed from exhibition there, it was donated in 2021 to Flyhistorisk Museum Sola. During the winter of 2024/25, the Museum’s Friends Association began restoring and reassembling it. Along with the original framework, the museum also received the control tower’s original consoles and instrumentation.
Throughout the Second World War this H7 sign was mounted on the front of the control tower building. It was placed there when the building was constructed in 1937. After the German occupation of the airport, the entire tower building was camouflaged by local labor who also painted the H7 sign. The H7 sign was the official sign of King Haakon the 7th of Norway and it became an important illegal symbol of resistance against the Germans during the war.
