Times gone by
a short excerpt form a post I made on another forum that may (or may not) be of some interest -
Could you imagine doing this flight now?
29th November 1983 (for those who do not know, at the height of the cold war) on a leg from Compton Abbas to Leavesden (now sadly like so many other airfields in my book either closed, inaccessible or too bloody expensive to even contemplate landing at) which was 8 miles due East of Bovingdon VOR.
If you draw that route on the current South of England map via the BNN VOR you will see that this would take you just to the south of Newbury racecourse. Put that track into GoogleEarth and you will see that it takes you right over the top of a very large disused airfield that even the younger pilots amongst us would (or should recognise the name of) Greenham Common. At that time of course home to the Women’s Peace Camp and more importantly an untold number of nuclear Cruise Missiles, and although we overflew, we didn’t even speak to them, (probably) we were in contact with London Information but we just overflew above the ATZ and not a problem.
Even when our country and indeed the whole world was subjected to perhaps even greater threats than those we face now, common (no pun intended) sense rather than paranoia prevailed. Lord Carlisle please take note you also must remember when we lived in a free country and the defence of those freedoms was not dependent upon the ever encroaching power of and surveillance by the state and the inevitable and subsequent curtailment of our liberty. (Rant now over)
ZM