RAF Benson, sshhhh!
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Pumas aren’t odd.. are they? 
I noticed that the author has just retired and has probably got more time of his hands these days.. I notice too, he uses ‘we’ when complaining to the ‘right to have peace and quiet’, I’m assuming he has the backing of the village then, which has presumably only just woken up to the clatter. He’s a bit of an accomplished photog as well. I wonder if he bothered as much about the impact of his footprint on the Masai Mara as he does, the SH Force on his back garden.
I don’t think we can simply use the Defence of the Realm card as the joker to any objection (driving our sqn armour back in convoy from Salisbury Plain through the narrow streets of Devizes at 0230 was a bit of a chuckle). But whenever someone tries to pre-empt an objection to asinine behaviour by suggesting ‘I’m a firm supporter of our Armed Forces I'll have you know, but..’ and then seeks to undermine their right to train properly and have a better chance of coming back in one piece, it’s a bit like a closet racist seeking to evade recognition of the fact by saying ‘Ha! I’ll have you know that a lot of my friends are black’.
I noticed that the author has just retired and has probably got more time of his hands these days.. I notice too, he uses ‘we’ when complaining to the ‘right to have peace and quiet’, I’m assuming he has the backing of the village then, which has presumably only just woken up to the clatter. He’s a bit of an accomplished photog as well. I wonder if he bothered as much about the impact of his footprint on the Masai Mara as he does, the SH Force on his back garden.
I don’t think we can simply use the Defence of the Realm card as the joker to any objection (driving our sqn armour back in convoy from Salisbury Plain through the narrow streets of Devizes at 0230 was a bit of a chuckle). But whenever someone tries to pre-empt an objection to asinine behaviour by suggesting ‘I’m a firm supporter of our Armed Forces I'll have you know, but..’ and then seeks to undermine their right to train properly and have a better chance of coming back in one piece, it’s a bit like a closet racist seeking to evade recognition of the fact by saying ‘Ha! I’ll have you know that a lot of my friends are black’.
Gentleman Aviator
The main protagonist that used to complain about the noise at EGNX was the retired SATCO from ermmmmmm EGNX who had bought a house whilst being the SATCO in the adjoining village!
...... wasn't an ex-SATCO, but was an Air Trafficker - who should have been kind of familiar with what went on!
Wonder if the OP has also complained about the noisy Meteor which operates at Chalgrove, often accompanied by load bangs or the whoosh of a rocket.
Several years ago, the Fulham Football Club forum recounted a tale by a supporter who lived close to the ground. He answered his door one evening to a well spoken lady who asked him to sign a petition to get the football ground closed. She and her husband had bought a one and a quarter million pound house near the ground in june/july and had moved in claiming not to know the was a football stadium there. It's only been there since 1879; you would have thought they'd asked the estate agent what the floodlight towers were for!
Several years ago, the Fulham Football Club forum recounted a tale by a supporter who lived close to the ground. He answered his door one evening to a well spoken lady who asked him to sign a petition to get the football ground closed. She and her husband had bought a one and a quarter million pound house near the ground in june/july and had moved in claiming not to know the was a football stadium there. It's only been there since 1879; you would have thought they'd asked the estate agent what the floodlight towers were for!
One day in 1967, when SDO at RAF Kai Tak, I took a phone call from a lady living at Clearwater Bay. She was complaining about the noise of the visiting 20 Sqn Hunters as they did some gentle rocketing on the nearby range. I explained the situation, need for training, noise only occasionally and a few other bits but the lady was unconvinced and talked about not moving had she known about the range.
Her final comment was: '....now I and my family are living here, you should move the range elsewhere'.
O-D
Her final comment was: '....now I and my family are living here, you should move the range elsewhere'.
O-D
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Whilst on exercise at the former RAF Finningley, before it became 'Robin Hood International', we were contacted by the civvy security about a complaint from a local about the noise the Chinooks and Hercs were making.
Being the 'non-sneaky beaky' folks on the exercise I and my boss were dispatched to follow up the complaint. Arriving at the complainants ex-OMQ what sign was in the window? "Support Doncaster International Airport".
Being the 'non-sneaky beaky' folks on the exercise I and my boss were dispatched to follow up the complaint. Arriving at the complainants ex-OMQ what sign was in the window? "Support Doncaster International Airport".
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When the Turkish invasion of Cyprus kicked off in July 74, I was a SLOJO at Brize. At the time, the runway was closed for repairs, so the evacuation flights came into Fairford.
Once the repairs were finished, normal business resumed, resulting in a greatly increased number of flights passing over Witney at a lower level.
As a result the Witney residents' association sent in a complaint and I was tasked to entertain a couple of representatives to dinner in the Officers' Mess to discuss the problem.
I asked the mess manager to kindly reserve a table next to a window at one end of the dining room - roughly (it always seemed to me) opposite that point on the runway at which the fully-laden VC-10s were at max chat as they rose gracefully into the sky. Conversely, again as it seemed to me, on landing, reverse gear was,apparently, fully engaged. Suffice to say windows rattled!
The meal proceeded well - punctuated at regular intervals by moments of silence enforced by the passage - in or outbound - of an aircraft. My guests were impressed!
I then suggested we took coffee and carried on our conversation in my room, which was also on the runway side of the Mess.
At the end of the evening, having thanked, etc., they commented that what they had to put up with in Witney was as nothing compared to what those who actually lived and worked at Brize had to live with.
Staish was, apparently, happy to receive a letter from the burghers of Witney, indicating no further action would be taken, well done chaps and chappesses, keep up the good work!
Once the repairs were finished, normal business resumed, resulting in a greatly increased number of flights passing over Witney at a lower level.
As a result the Witney residents' association sent in a complaint and I was tasked to entertain a couple of representatives to dinner in the Officers' Mess to discuss the problem.
I asked the mess manager to kindly reserve a table next to a window at one end of the dining room - roughly (it always seemed to me) opposite that point on the runway at which the fully-laden VC-10s were at max chat as they rose gracefully into the sky. Conversely, again as it seemed to me, on landing, reverse gear was,apparently, fully engaged. Suffice to say windows rattled!
The meal proceeded well - punctuated at regular intervals by moments of silence enforced by the passage - in or outbound - of an aircraft. My guests were impressed!
I then suggested we took coffee and carried on our conversation in my room, which was also on the runway side of the Mess.
At the end of the evening, having thanked, etc., they commented that what they had to put up with in Witney was as nothing compared to what those who actually lived and worked at Brize had to live with.
Staish was, apparently, happy to receive a letter from the burghers of Witney, indicating no further action would be taken, well done chaps and chappesses, keep up the good work!
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Sadly the noise complaint bandwagon has become a profitable industry. If it's any consolation, civilian airports get ripped off even more. Many of the complaints are simple extortion; if there's enough of them, they get paid off. A few years back complaints at Manchester doubled. It turned out that half of them, nearly 1,800 complaints were made by just three individuals, one of whom was an ex pilot.
I did a tour at Machrihanish in the early 80s as SNCO I/c VASS, and often got to meet Mr Mac:
As we had a commitment to support NATO P3 and Nimrods on anti sub ops, our exercises often covered long hours. My boss, a Warrant Officer, was Duty officer one evening when Macca's house (over the back of Ranachan Hill). Was given a dose of Searchlight from a VP5 P3, he was not amused. My boss asked him when he phoned if he had had the same problem with the Swordfish aircraft based there in the 1940s. The phone went dead, say no more. Even in those days, light pollution was a problem , it seems!
Smudge
As we had a commitment to support NATO P3 and Nimrods on anti sub ops, our exercises often covered long hours. My boss, a Warrant Officer, was Duty officer one evening when Macca's house (over the back of Ranachan Hill). Was given a dose of Searchlight from a VP5 P3, he was not amused. My boss asked him when he phoned if he had had the same problem with the Swordfish aircraft based there in the 1940s. The phone went dead, say no more. Even in those days, light pollution was a problem , it seems!
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On the subject of noise, given that they are about to rip the runway up in sections at my local in deepest Lincolnshire and rebuild it. I am going to suffer from a lack of noise.
Can we get some based stuff to overfly it regularly just so they remind the locals they are still around
On the plus side the ACPV moving down the road might be more fun
V1
Can we get some based stuff to overfly it regularly just so they remind the locals they are still around
On the plus side the ACPV moving down the road might be more fun
V1
Or, the lady from Heighington, who wrote to the Lincolnshire Echo to ask if there was any truth in the rumour that Waddington Vulcans having their engines tested, were mounted on a turntable, to ensure equal distribution of noise amongst all the local villages.
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FWIW, my wife, living in AMQ at Finningley while I was stationed at Worksop, said she enjoyed seeing and hearing the Vulcans taking off and landing. Once heard, never forgotten!
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Didn't some developer knock up a whole bunch of houses on some land he owned on the approach to one of the Scottish bases whilst the runway was being resurfaced, they were all sold off before the runway was finished and those enquiring about jet noise were told can you hear any?
Since 'picking up on this thread' (#16) on Saturday I have been assiduously studying the heavens to collect data for the assistance of the doughty Mr Etchells in his campaign.
It is now 4 o'clock ish on Wednesday and the log for the period reads
Sunday - one Cessna thingy (152/172 ish) at c 1500 ft climbing in a southerly direction, spotted out of living room front window (audible when next door shut off lawn mower).
Tuesday - one Puma thingy heading southerly at c 1000ft, spotted out of living room back window and making noise equivalent to passing lorry (and I live on a 1/2 acre plot surrounded by trees/hedges which hide most traffic noise).
Tuesday - two west to East contrails in late evening
The close Benson campaign is gathering speed !!
It is now 4 o'clock ish on Wednesday and the log for the period reads
Sunday - one Cessna thingy (152/172 ish) at c 1500 ft climbing in a southerly direction, spotted out of living room front window (audible when next door shut off lawn mower).
Tuesday - one Puma thingy heading southerly at c 1000ft, spotted out of living room back window and making noise equivalent to passing lorry (and I live on a 1/2 acre plot surrounded by trees/hedges which hide most traffic noise).
Tuesday - two west to East contrails in late evening
The close Benson campaign is gathering speed !!
Last edited by Senior Paper Monitor; 10th Sep 2014 at 16:50.
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On the subject of noise, given that they are about to rip the runway up in sections at my local in deepest Lincolnshire and rebuild it. I am going to suffer from a lack of noise.
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If someone had an issue with airfield noise having moved in to a new house, surely they should be claiming from their solicitor for not noticing a huge airfield in the local searches. After all, that is what they pay the for!
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Only one question - was Benson an operational airfield when he moved to Chalgrove? If so, his choice. - P1ss off!
See Miller V Jackson.
The Supreme Court in Feb 2014 (Coventry v Lawrence) declined to overturn this rule, accepted for over 180 years, that it is no defence to say that the claimant came to the nuisance.
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ValMORNA:
What about the Vulcans?
FWIW, my wife, living in AMQ at Finningley while I was stationed at Worksop, said she enjoyed seeing and hearing the Vulcans taking off and landing. Once heard, never forgotten!
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The judges then used to have a far finer grasp of language, far more common sense in evidence. I hope this bloke isn't aware of the change and is setting the sce.. hang on, I hope he wasn't but has now read this thread. 
So on the facts of this case a court of equity must seek to strike a fair balance between the right of the Plaintiffs to have quiet enjoyment of their house and garden without exposure to cricket balls occasionally falling like thunderbolts from the heavens.
Some years ago, in addition to my 'day job' flying, I also ran a very busy RAFFCA flying club.
Now and again we'd receive the odd complaint about our little puddlejumpers pottering about in the circuit. Which was a bit odd, given that the noise of a PA28 is rather less than that of a VC10 (that's given the game away!).
One local lady was a horse-ist, whose enquiries were always friendly and polite, so we did our best to avoid annoyance to her several hundred kilograms of walking Kennomeat, for which she was gracious enough to thank me. But one moaner in the local town was not so pleasant - he whinged to the mayor and we received her official correspondence....
..which was epic! She wrote that she loved the friendly sound of our little aeroplanes over her house and would hate to see us changing our circuit pattern. She also wrote that she would be contacting the person who'd been complaining, to explain why the locals supported the RAF, including its recreational activities. In half a syllable....
Then followed the first time I've ever rung the Stn Cdr to explain about a 'negative noise complaint'!"
Now and again we'd receive the odd complaint about our little puddlejumpers pottering about in the circuit. Which was a bit odd, given that the noise of a PA28 is rather less than that of a VC10 (that's given the game away!).
One local lady was a horse-ist, whose enquiries were always friendly and polite, so we did our best to avoid annoyance to her several hundred kilograms of walking Kennomeat, for which she was gracious enough to thank me. But one moaner in the local town was not so pleasant - he whinged to the mayor and we received her official correspondence....
..which was epic! She wrote that she loved the friendly sound of our little aeroplanes over her house and would hate to see us changing our circuit pattern. She also wrote that she would be contacting the person who'd been complaining, to explain why the locals supported the RAF, including its recreational activities. In half a syllable....
Then followed the first time I've ever rung the Stn Cdr to explain about a 'negative noise complaint'!"
Last edited by BEagle; 26th Oct 2014 at 08:50.