Background
McWiggan was born on the 26th May 1918 to Thomas and Esther McWiggan in Glasgow. His family moved to Gateshead in Northern England a few years after he was born.
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Thomas McWiggan
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Thomas Johnstone McWiggan Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CEng, FIEE, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, SMIEEE, FIET joined the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1946, was involved in the introduction of Ground-Controlled Approach Radar into civil aviation and was Director-General of Telecommunications at the Civil Aviation Authority from 1970-1979.
Education
He attended the Secondary School, Gateshead which later became Gateshead Grammar School. During this time he attended evening classes at the Rutherford Technical College, Newcastle. Boots awarded him a scholarship to attended the School of Pharmacy at University College Nottingham full-time from 1938 - 1939.
Career
When war broke out in 1939, his profession of Pharmaceutical Chemist prevented him from being conscripted into fighting in the army. He was in the 1945 Birthday Honours as an Acting Flight Lieutenant. McWiggan joined the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1946.
From 1947 he held a succession of posts concerned with radar, navigational aids, communications development and engineering.
He worked alongside Arthur C. Clarke on GCA radar, which was used in the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949. He was Secretary-Treasurer of the "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Professional Technical Group on Aerospace and Navigational Electronics" while in Washington.
In 1965 he became Director of Telecommunications (Plans), in 1967 Director of Telecommunications (Air Traffic Services) and in 1969 Chief of Telecommunications. He was made Director-General of Telecommunications at the Civil Aviation Authority (Civil Aeronautics Administration) in 1970.
He was presented to Prince Philip during the Duke of Edinburgh"s visit to the London Air Traffic Control Centre building, West Drayton on 11 July 1975.
He was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to Civil Aviation in 1976. In April 1978 he attended a meeting for the International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations, in Montreal. He was a strong advocate for the United Kingdom Doppler Microwave Landing System (DMLS) to be adopted worldwide instead of United States-based TRSB, but the decision to adopt TRSB was made.
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) held a farewell retirement dinner for McWiggan on 1 June 1979 at the Officers Mess at Royal Air Force Uxbridge.
Following his retirement he held the post of Secretary General, European Organisation for Civil Aviation Electronics, until 1987. He was subsequently an aviation electronics consultant for many years after that.
He published various technical papers and gave talks throughout his career.
Membership
In 1961 he was appointed Telecommunications member of the United Kingdom Mission to the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, United States of America.
