Mooncrest ; See what you've started ? Us ole codgers creeping the thread , a bit, but it's still nostalgic.
Gypo ; Shame. You would have found me playing drums at Dick Stacey's in Brewer and I would have been delighted to buy you a cold one.
On thread though Mooncrest, you will have got your answer. It was a crewing nightmare and most operators seemed to settle for a combination of "w" patterns with local Bases too. Mostly, it seemed to be local CC rather than a full-on Base. Managers didn't favour seperate Bases because they felt it gave them lack of control.
In my really early days as an Ops Duty Officer for BIA we had bases at LGW, Blackpool, and Channel Islands. It all got really mixed up in the fog season. A real crewing nightmare.
In my latter days, "Based" in Bahrain but operating Bahrain-CDG-Manch. Min-rest in the Excelsior Hotel at Manch airport & then in the back of a coach for heaven's sake to LHR next day. Looked out of the window as we coached down the M6 I mused " cripes, joined GF to get away from all this ".