Communication Officer John MacLeod
Photograph of John MacLeod at the radio station on Ben Hough in the late 1950s.
Courtesy of Mr Andrew MacLeod
A Communication Officer with Ministry of Civil Aviation, John MacLeod came to Tiree in the late 1940s. Initially he was based in the wartime Control Tower at the airport but subsequently relocated to a building at the top of Ben Hough.
The purpose of the station was to provide radio communications and position fixing services to aircraft flying over the West of Scotland and the Hebrides. In those days air to ground communications were by Morse code and all aircraft carried a radio officer.
If there was an ambulance flight to Tiree or one of the other islands, John would be called out, even in the middle of the night, and would have to climb the steps to the top of Ben Hough, in darkness and often rain and gales.
Black and white photograph of Communications Officer John MacLeod at the Hough radio station.
John MacLeod at the radio station at the top of Ben Hough in the late 1950s. A Communication Officer with Ministry of Civil Aviation, John came to Tiree in 1947 or 1948. The station provided radio communications and position fixing services to aircraft flying over the West of Scotland and the Hebrides.