Off topic, but I have an anecdote from 1950s Wittering.
My aunt had worked at Wittering as a driver when she was in the WAAF during World War Two. The age of piston engined aircraft.
A decade or so later, as a civvy she was back there driving a NAAFI van.
I think that at that time Vulcans operated there with nuclear weapons.
The story goes like this.....
There was a Vulcan on the start of its take off roll. My aunt, used to the speeds but in the age of piston planes saw it at some distance and proceeded to drive the NAAFI van across the active runway. She thought there would be plenty of time. The Vulcan crew disagreed, and aborted take off. My aunt then, oblivious to the trouble she had caused drove behind another Vulcan clearly not aware what two brace of Olympus would be pushing out the back.
She got a shouting at from an NCO which if you knew my aunt was a pretty brave thing to do!
At no point she told me had anyone given hear any training in driving round an aerodrome filled with jets. She new nithing of taie off speeds, jet efflux, FOD, etc. She'd worked around Lancs, Liberators, DC3s and fighters in the war. Whoever made the rules then, they were lacking.
Last edited by tyne; 2nd Sep 2012 at 22:14.