Jimmy Jeffs
George James Horatio Jeffs, commonly known as Jimmy Jeffs was a civilian air traffic control officer at Croydon Airport, London. He was issued Air Traffic Control License No. 1. dated 22 February 1922, and is credited with developing several early procedures for preventing aircraft collisions.
Early life
George Jeffs was born on 27 January 1900 in Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire. He was educated at Kedleston Grammar School and served in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force during the First World War, and subsequently at the Air Ministry.Early air traffic control
In 1922 Jeffs was recruited as Civil Aviation Traffic Officer to Croydon Airport. It was then that Air Traffic Control first developed. One of the first air traffic officers at Croydon Airport, others included Bill Lawford, Commander Deacon, Captain John Percival Morkham and Mr Russell. H. W. Chattaway from Instone joined later. Jeffs was retrospectively issued Air Traffic Control License No. 1. dated 22 February 1922. Initially he used aircraft radio reports and his own calculations to locate the planes and represented them with different coloured pins pierced onto a large cross-channel routes map that he stuck to the back of an old cork bathmat. As the aircraft moved along their routes he adjusted the pins accordingly. Later, he added flags to mark call signs and altitudes. He developed several early procedures for preventing aircraft collisions.In 1934 Jeffs was transferred to Heston. In 1938 he was appointed Inspector of Air Traffic Control in the Department of the Director-General of Civil Aviation at the Air Ministry.