My Father did his National Service in the RAF and joined the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell in (I think) 1955. He tells the story that a USAF F-104 landed at Harwell, having got lost looking for Upper Heyford. I think this must have been in the early 1960s.
The WW2 Harwell runway was rather short, and after various debates on whether to dismantle the Starfighter and truck it out, or try to fly it out, the decision was made to do the latter. A crack USAF test pilot was brought in, and JATO bottles were attached to help get it off the ground. Unfortunately the JATOs on one side failed to ignite, the aircraft veered sharply off the runway and ended up nose down in the deep foundations being dug for a new and substantial building. He claims that all the staff on site came out to watch the events unfold. Not long after the Harwell runway was covered in soil a foot or so deep and grassed over, to stop anyone else landing there by mistake.
Does anyone know if this account is in anyway true? I can't find any reference to it on-line.