10 amazing vintage ATC tower views!

We hope you have enjoyed, or are still enjoying, a fine summer! It's time to start things up again for the new season!

​Today, we want to bring you some great vintage ATC tower views from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s!

1. Philadelphia International Airport

An amazing 1950s image of Philadelphia's air traffic control tower. The tower was opened in 1953, together with the passenger terminal. In the early years, the tower had a staff of 54, controlling about 700 daily departures and arrivals. Image credit: Philadelphia International Airport

See more great images of PHL in the early years.

2. Los Angeles International Airport

The old LAX control tower in 1960. This tower was replaced in 1961 when a new control tower opened as part of a new Jet-Age passenger terminal complex. That tower, in turn, was replaced in 1996. Image credit: LAWA

​Read more about LAX in the 1960s.

3. Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport

A 1962 shot from the tower of the legendary Kai Tak Airport. 

Kai Tak was closed on July 6th, 1998, when the runway lights were turned off for the last time from the tower.  Image credit: HKISD

See some amazing images of Kai Tak airport in the 1960s.

4. Washington Dulles Airport

A view of the Dulles Airport tower in 1962. Opened on November 17, 1962, Dulles didn't come into its own until the 1980s, when United established IAD as a hub.

​Before that time, controllers had plenty of time to enjoy the fabulous view of the Virginia countryside. ​Image credit: Library of Congress

5. London Heathrow Airport 

Heathrow's air traffic control tower in the 1960s. A properly dressed, civilized bunch! Image credit: UK CAA Archives via Peter Bish

Read about Heathrow's early plans to build additional runways.

​Read here how Heathrow's Terminal 4 could have ended up in the location of Terminal 5.

6. New York John F. Kennedy Airport

Controllers are trying to keep order during the summer of 1968, when congestion at JFK reached never-seen-before levels. Image credit: New York Post

Read more about the infamous summer of 1968 at JFK Airport.

7. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Controllers are overlooking Schiphol's platform, ca. 1968. The view is toward what is now the D Pier. Image credit: Schiphol Airport via Michael Prophet

See some great nostalgic images of the KLM 747. Understand why Schiphol built the infamous runway in the middle of nowhere.

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8. ​Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport

Cincinnati's controllers are looking out over the airport's boarding concourse. Image credit: CVG Airport

9. Zurich Kloten Airport

Zurich's tower in 1969. Image credit: ETH Library

See more amazing images from Zurich Airport's early years.

10. Frankfurt Airport

The Frankfurt Airport tower in 1972, shortly after the opening of the new "Terminal Mitte" in March that year. ​Image credit: Frankfurt Airport

Read more about the design and early years of Terminal Mitte.

Bonus: Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

A controller is observing the takeoff of a Northwest Orient 727-200 on a rainy day at MSP, sometime during the 1970s. Image credit: Metropolitan Airport Commission 

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