Originally Posted by
BEagle
Does the number include the 'Royal and Ancient Ascension Island Golf Course'?
Largely volcanic rock which would both damage players' golf bats and cause balls to ricochet in unpredictable directions!
Probably a legacy of the time when only a few corgi carriers and helicopters flew there, but at RAF Benson there was a station course over on the western side of the aerodrome near the ATC tower. One day I flew over from RAF Abingdon with my student, to let him do some solo circuit consol. whilst I watched and drank coffee with the lovely ladies in Local. The drill was to stop by the tower, climb out and solo up the aeroplane, then let the student get on his way. But as I was coming to a halt, I saw a golf ball bouncing down the taxiway towards us. I shut the engine down and watched as the ball came through the (fortunately stationary) propeller arc, over the wing and bounced off the fuselage to land on the grass.... After restarting, I sent the student on his way and went up to Local. A few minutes later, I saw a number of elderly gents vainly searching for their ball. "I guess they're looking for this FOD I found on the taxiway", I told the controller. "Ooh, they won't like that - it's a retired Group Captain and his friends".
Still there, although I’m not sure how many members are serving military.