I grew up just down the road from RAE Thurleigh and from my very earliest days (B747 in about 76)can remember many, many types of aircraft in the overhead at low level. Many local people were employed at the airfield and tunnel site and my uncle flew as a boffin / observer on some of the test flights in the Canberra, Meteor, Javelin, Comet, etc.
It was an unbelievabley busy place and to think that there was not a single major crash incident, was quite an achievment for the standards of the day. We half expected it to happen at any moment with all the stuff whizzing about.
The tempo seemed to keep up right until the last flying days in the mid 90's when the airfield closed. I know there is no chance of reactivation, but I'm still hoping!