Does anyone apart from me remember UHMRA?
Picture the scene...
Jodel flying North from Denham. 1 x 720 channel radio, nothing else.
'Upper Heyford G-XXXX'
'G-XXXX Upper Heyford unintelligible southern drawl'
'Upper Heyford G-XXXX say again'
G-XXXX you're not painting'
U-H G-XX that's 'cos we're made of wood'.
About as useful as a chocolate teapot. Shortly after this exchange, we saw a F111 pass beneath us. We looked in the direction it had come from and sure enough, there was the second one, just above us.
We determined that the Russians would invade on a weekend in August, in wooden aeroplanes.
Last time I flew over Upper Heyford, it was covered in cars. Sic Transit...
Oh, and another thing. We used to get an excellent service from Luton Approach on 129.55, when the controllers were employed by Luton.
'G-XX turn left for identification'
'G-XX you are identified. Radar information service'.
Luton's radar was presumably good enough to get a return from the engine. After that, responsibility for Luton's approach was transferred to NATS and we lost the service.
TOO