RAF West Drayton RAF West Drayton was a non - flying Royal Air Force station in West Drayton , within the London Borough of Hillingdon , which served as the main centre for military air traffic control in the United Kingdom . It was co - located with the civilian London Terminal Control Centre to provide a vital link between civil and military flying and airspace requirements . Following the departure of the remaining civil and military air traffic control systems by 2008 , the site was closed and demolished for a new residential development . History . Operations . The station was used to house 700 athletes competing at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London , together with RAF Uxbridge and Richmond . The station became a unit of No . 11 Group RAF in January 1965 . RAF West Drayton was also the home of the Linesman System , hence the main Operations Building being known as the L1 . The system used Link 1 to exchange Air Defence data between the UK and Europe . There were links to Continental Early Warning ( CEW ) sites at : Reitan , Maakeroy , Vaedbek , Niew Milligan , Glons and Doulons . Aerospace System Operators ( ASOps or Scopies ) were responsible for the tracking and identification of every flight - military and civil , that entered or left the UK Air Defence Region ( UKADR ) . This was a labour intensive task in the days before automatic initiation and tracking systems , but a big improvement on the plotting table and small perspex plaques with information written on them . The School of Fighter Control continued to teach plotting and writing backwards until 1990 . The School of Fighter Control moved to RAF West Drayton from RAF Bawdsey , training junior officers to be Fighter Controllers . In addition to teaching RAF officers , foreign and commonwealth students also attended , and there was even one course of Yugoslavian MiG pilots . The station also became responsible for collecting and analysing many reports of UFO s after information was received by the Ministry of Defence . Closure and redevelopment . The Royal Air Force withdrew in 1994 , at which point the English Electric Lightning acting as a gate guardian was scrapped ; only the nose section was retained and sent to the Malta Aviation Museum . Air traffic control services remained , although the section responsible for airspace outside London moved to Swanwick in Hampshire in 2002 . The remaining operation was named the London Terminal Control Centre . RAF personnel remained on the site , as military air traffic control functions for the eastern side of England remained . In November 2007 , the remaining civil air traffic control services moved to Swanwick , and in January 2008 the military operation also left the site . National Air Traffic Services vacated the site in 2008 . The MT section of the Queen ' s Colour Squadron relocated to RAF Northolt . Plans for 773 homes , a nursing home , shops and offices were approved by the London Borough of Hillingdon in July 2010 . Inland Homes named the new development " Drayton Garden Village " , aiming to create a 1930s style village . Demolition work was carried out between 2010 and 2011 . Following demolition work , the additional part of the site is undergoing development under the name " Parkwest " . The Drayton Garden Village development opened officially on 21 October 2011 , with a ceremony led by the Mayor of Hillingdon .