One of our airfields is missing!
Gnome de PPRuNe
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Ah, fair enough, Googling the village name also reveals a fair bit!
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Originally Posted by chevron
Why be so secretive? The identity is in the public domain on aeronautical charts and in the AIP under Restricted Area R104.
That said, back in the day a lot of these generalisations just came down to photographic interpretation of aerial photos. If it looked like an industrial site, it was marked as works, even if it was something else.
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Fair point HighTow. Marking a "Works" or "Depot" more specifically would be difficult even if you weren't going to print "Secret Nuclear Research Facility".
I was in northern Pakistan many years ago, in the bit that's likely to get you bombed by a Predator drone now. Apparently most of the maps were based on aerial photos taken after the war when it was still British India, once the maps were made they had to send someone around the remote bits to ask the names of all the villages and prominent landmarks.
You can picture bored soldiers waiting desperately for demob trudging the lonely passes armed only with a rough copy of the map, a basic grasp of the language and a War Department pencil (signed for in triplicate).
Having returned from their travels the maps were printed and sent for proof reading. It was only then noticed that quite a few of the villages were called "Don't ask me I'm new here" or "P*** off I'm busy" etc.
Sadly as far as I know no comedy names still appear on the maps, although I suspect there are other examples even in the font of all modern cartographic knowledge that is Google Earth.
I was in northern Pakistan many years ago, in the bit that's likely to get you bombed by a Predator drone now. Apparently most of the maps were based on aerial photos taken after the war when it was still British India, once the maps were made they had to send someone around the remote bits to ask the names of all the villages and prominent landmarks.
You can picture bored soldiers waiting desperately for demob trudging the lonely passes armed only with a rough copy of the map, a basic grasp of the language and a War Department pencil (signed for in triplicate).
Having returned from their travels the maps were printed and sent for proof reading. It was only then noticed that quite a few of the villages were called "Don't ask me I'm new here" or "P*** off I'm busy" etc.
Sadly as far as I know no comedy names still appear on the maps, although I suspect there are other examples even in the font of all modern cartographic knowledge that is Google Earth.
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Story from Italy: in mid 70s aerial photas became available from NASA. In Italy the agents for NASA are the Italian Air Force. Italian friend of mine ordered aerial photo of Rome (where he lived). Eventually photo arrived.
However, in Italy it's against the law (old Mussolini law like so many current Italian laws) to depict military installations on photos or maps.
Caught in Catch 22, Italian Air Force had Snopaked 22 spots on the photo, pinpointing exactly the location of all military installations in Rome.
There's something endearing about Italian bureaucracy....
However, in Italy it's against the law (old Mussolini law like so many current Italian laws) to depict military installations on photos or maps.
Caught in Catch 22, Italian Air Force had Snopaked 22 spots on the photo, pinpointing exactly the location of all military installations in Rome.
There's something endearing about Italian bureaucracy....
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Of course the main reason there are so many laws from Mussolini's time is that with the exception of Burlosconi all Italian parliaments last about a week before breaking up in acrimony. And Berlosconi hasn't got round to changing anything because he's been busy doing other things.
(Currently the other thing is 17 and called Ruby if the La Republica are to be believed)
(Currently the other thing is 17 and called Ruby if the La Republica are to be believed)
