Now now children
Never thought I would see willy waving in this particular forum.
Right then, firstly I am ex RAF. I worked in Air Support Command Ops 1970/72. One of my duties was Flight Mounting, (cant say that nowadays in polite company). Now to my point, the squadrons were tasked on a monthly basis to do continuation training. Part of this was to do approach and overshoots at what where then designated MDA's (master diversion airfields). Manchester, Finningley, LHR, and some I cant remember. These airfields were obviously chosen for their 24 hour ops and length of runway. So then, Britannia, VC10, Comet, Hercules, Andover, nostagia fills the air........I imagine this practice still takes place here and there, budgets permitting
GGR