Beagle,
A wretched place for engineering test flying with its short runway and dismal weather factor
I am not sure that I would agree. 6000ft of slightly upsloping runway with both approach end and overrun cables never presented a problem to Tornados, F4s, Jaguars, Harriers or Hawks - don't know about VC10s. The weather factor was also pretty good and on a par with Chivenor. The biggest limitation used to be the lack of approach aids - no TACAN, PAR or ILS. However the specially licensed circling approach to RW26 from an ILS to RW32 at Cardiff got round that.
As I recall, the biggest problem with the airfield was that the southern taxiway was used by both aircraft and vehicles driven by people without airfield driving licences because it was the only on-site road connecting east and west camps. There were several close calls, a civilian petrol tanker driving down the main runway in front of a landing Tornado being one and a collision between a JP under tow and an ignorant motorist being another.