Remember that Harriers taking off vertically was strictly for air shows so some sort of strip would be required (cf “Sid’s strip in the Falklands) . Given that the whole area was thick with low flying aircraft at the time it would have needed some sort of avoid around it to avoid a 420 kt Buccaneer or Jaguar bumping in to a landing or launching Harrier. Such an avoid would be promulgated by Notice to Airmen (yes, yes, I know) or NOTAM. Is there a record somewhere of NOTAMS extant on the relevant dates.?
Plonking a “portable airfield” down in the middle of a very busy low flying area would not be a small undertaking, and would attract a lot of attention from the air and the ground. I never heard of such a thing, and I was doing a lot of low flying around then.
Last edited by Timelord; 30th May 2022 at 10:05.