Slightly off thread but similar story:-
Thorney Island in the 60' and early 70s had a very well organised 'anti' lobby in the local area with a number of retired Admirals/Generals/Air Marshals at the head. The SDO's Orders even had instructions on Operation Knitting which was what to do if the locals tried to occupy the outer guardroom at the Deeps. OCU night flying had to be done in Libya / Malta to avoid antagonising the locals. The OCU used to carry out airdrop training at Tangmere, and a retired Admiral living on a hill on the approach had a theodolite in his garden and used to measure the height of the aircraft above his house such that crews had to delay their descent to drop height until they had passed his house, as if crews under training didnt have enough to think about.
One senior officer who stood out from the rest was Lt Gen Sir Brian Horrocks, described by Eisenhower as 'The outstanding British General under Monty' and well known in the 60s for presenting a TV series of Great Battles and WW2 documentaries. He used to wander around the village in an old combat jacket with a friendly smile - a real gent and a class above the others. One day he was in the pub in Emsworth when a bevy of these retired nimbeys were complaining about the RAF. Horrocks got up saying, 'Gentlemen, at Dunkirk you were asking where was the Air Force, now that you have them I suggest you put up with them', and walked out. I remember Horrocks vividly, dont remember the others , except for the grief they gave us and the fact they used their Service contacts to undermine the current generation of servicemen. One would have hoped that such people would have known better.