Rab-k: if we cut you lot adrift you'd remove Wee Alex and his cronies PDQ when they whack up the taxes to pay for what you've come to rely on. At the moment the level of financial support from Westminster means that of the 5 million Scots only 163,000 are net taxpayers.

So Jockistan costs England money - rather more than it will cost us for this New Liarbour Jock government of no talents to bail out the Jock banks whose greed has caused them to go bust.

OK? :ok:

What I'd loke to know is, what were the underground storage areas used for?

And were they as big as hangars or just big enough for nuke depth charges etc?

Anyone been in for a look?

Interesting, at what point does banter become racist?

exscribbler,

IMH and un-PC opinion your banter was just that - banter. It's a skill that has been sacrificed to the gods of diversity and equality. Nothing racist about it at all and nothing that hasn't been previously encountered in crew-rooms and tea-bars across the Service. I've been called a Welsh sheep-sh****r before. Fair enough, but I'm from the tribe who are supposed to have had cranium re-assignment by our neighbours from across the Tweed.

Interesting point.

I bet you your last quid that a lawyer will argue (for money, obviously) that Lowlanders and Highlanders can be regarded as a different 'race' based on their own perceptions of the other.

It's not the colour of your skin, as any white-skinned Barbadian will tell you.

Are you doing this cos I is from Surrey?

Bugger me, I spent 2 years there and there were rumors of the Aurora, so I suppose these areas could of been attached to the Auroras' super secret underground facility, that supposedly had a hypersonic maglev tram that ran in a tunnel all the the way to Patrick AFB in Florida, whilst guarded at each end by the Nephilim. :}

Diedtrying

When you say 'bugger me', is that some sort of instruction?

A mate of mine who is a lawyer acted for a third party who had the rights for the minerals (stuff under the surface) at MAC. He never did find out the extent to which his client had been taken a loan of- perhaps not at all eh?

Must have been a dreary couple years. I used to operate in their myself.:ok:

Haha, no, it's definitely not an instruction or request. My 2 years there went fairly quickly in a drunken haze............... ah the good ol days. :E

I've got to say that the two years I spent at MAC were fantastic, great friendships were made despite the isolation and perceived adversity, more like a good Det rather than a posting - some great memories - I wonder if Mr Branson would be interested - just for old time sake after MAC was instrumental in his rescue in 1987?

I recall the great winter storm of 1987 being reported from an emergency BBC studio in London, reporting various wind speeds - which were regular events at MAC! (hence no trees!) Watching skips move across the Supply yard on pure wind power was a common scene - followed quickly by the debate on who forgot to lash it down and who was going out now to lash it down!

Another event was a 9 Sqn Tornado which had blown at least two tyres, 3 or 4 minutes after ATC got to the aircraft the Fire Section arrived in the trusty old MK7 fire engine arrived! It was a very long runway for a 40 odd year old fire engine some would say! All it normally did was follow Logan Air in to the terminal - to pick up the papers for the NAAFI!

Oh those innocent times, as I recall when it closed as an operational Unit the volunteer waiting list for some trades was nudging 10 years!! I wonder what Campbeltown will do now, it never had a lot going for it except the base and the dairy - it must be a very quiet place now!

Although this base has often been associated with mysterious top-secret aircraft and UFO sightings, there is little solid evidence to suggest that this base is or ever was the "Area 51 of Britain." The history of the Machrihanish base goes back to the early 1900s when the Royal Navy established a facility there to operate maritime patrol aircraft and airships. Following World War II, Machrihanish became a Royal Air Force base being jointly operated with British European Airways and later Loganair, a commuter operator. The local Air Ambulance Service was also operated from the base.

With the growing Soviet threat of the 1950s, the facility was expanded and the main runway extended to a massive 3.2 miles in length both to serve British Vulcan bombers and for use as an emergency landing strip for NATO P-3 Orion and other patrol aircraft. While such a long runway is somewhat unusual and has often been cited as a reason top-secret aircraft like the Aurora would be operating from Machrihanish, the layout and location of the base argue against this. First, the base is surrounded by the community of Cambeltown making it difficult to conceal the activities of noisy jet aircraft. In addition, the base is located next to the Machrihanish golf course, one of the most popular golf courses in Scotland. Finally, the base never had the infrastructure of hangars, fueling facilities, and control facilities to operate any significant number of aircraft. However, this is not to say that no secret or mysterious activities were known to occur at Machrihanish. In fact, the United States maintained a Navy SEAL commando unit at the base and their equipment was stored in some of the hangars. In addition, British SAS commandos occassionally used the facility for training exercises. With the end of the Cold War and cuts in defense spending throughout NATO, the base at Machrihanish was closed in 1995.

courtesy of -

Aerospaceweb.org | Ask Us - Machrihanish Air Base

Ah the United States Navy SEAL commando unit, what's not publicised is the fact that they finished their training at MAC, yup, they would send them to us (a new batch every 6 months)and we would teach them how to drink like real men.:} My favorite was to take them down into town (Campbeltown) on their first night and introduce them to the joys of Newcastle Brown.:ok:

I rarely come into these forums, but : I want to pick up on the above comment that the Machrihanish runway is 3.2 miles long. I am sure that is incorrect but would prefer one of you fine military men to put it right. What I can find is that the runway is about 3000 to 3050 metres long, depending on source, or about 10,000 feet, ie. less than 2 miles. I am 99.99% sure that the UK's longest runway is LHR's 27R/09L, which is 3902 metres.

Campbeltown runway is 3049 meters.

BC

Yup 3049m, where they may be mistaken is it is in fact 3 miles from Campbeltown (or 3.2 if you want to be pernickitty) :eek:

"At the moment the level of financial support from Westminster means that of the 5 million Scots only 163,000 are net taxpayers."

And very grateful we are - keep it coming exscribbler, it really is much appreciated. Oh and thanks for bailing out our banks too, damm decent of you lot.


As for Machrihanish, another one gone, soon be down to single figures, how sad.