MOTORWAYS AS RUNWAYS

[Rheged]

In many other UK locations roads were reinstated on former airfields and in some cases the authority simply re-routed the road to use the hardcore of the old runways or taxiways. Examples include the A15 at Elsham Wolds, the A372 at Weston Zoyland, Kimbolton, and my local favourite at Matching Green where the winding country lane is actually part ex-runway, part perimeter track and part aircraft dispersal site!

The periimeter  track at Great Orton (Cumbria) is now a  minor road, with spectacle dispersals off to either side. At Anthorn(Cumbria) the old R N A S Nuthatch airfield peri-track is the road, with Fromson  hangers and gun butts beside it .  Worth a look if you are passing!

[rallymodeller]

In my circles, what is in that photo is known as a "chicane". The idea is to lose as little speed as possible...

[Thiel]

A little off-topic, but you can't have a discussion like this without mentioning Gibraltar Airport.

There is a red light you'll never jump.

[McColm]

When was that picy taken?

[Rheged]

A little off-topic, but you can't have a discussion like this without mentioning Gibraltar Airport.
There is a red light you'll never jump.

It used to be the same at R A F Machrihanish.   A curious place with a fascinating  raft of wild  theories about it.

[McColm]

Pitreave Castle was a bit like that, before the M.O.D sold it and the developers turned it into flats.

[rickshaw]

A little off-topic, but you can't have a discussion like this without mentioning Gibraltar Airport.
There is a red light you'll never jump.

It used to be the same at R A F Machrihanish.   A curious place with a fascinating  raft of wild  theories about it.

Such as from this website:  http://www.dreamlandresort.com/black_projects/machrihanish.html.

I was looking for some sort of photo which would tell me why you think Machrihanish was like Gibraltar but I still can't see how from the high resolution photos of the runway on that website.   Can you tell us why the two are similar?

[Weaver]

There is a red light you'll never jump.

Don't be so sure. Back in the '50s, a North Western double-decker bus doing a workman's special to Woodford jumped the red light on the road which crosses the runway, which is the reason why the North Western ended up with an open-topped bus and why there's one less Lancaster in the world. The driver got sacked from the North Western and was promptly taken on by Stockport Corporation because they were so short of staff. My mum was his guard for one horror-filled shift, during which she discovered at length why his nickname was "Take-a-chance"....

[Rheged]

A little off-topic, but you can't have a discussion like this without mentioning Gibraltar Airport.
There is a red light you'll never jump.

It used to be the same at R A F Machrihanish.   A curious place with a fascinating  raft of wild  theories about it.

Such as from this website:  http://www.dreamlandresort.com/black_projects/machrihanish.html.

I was looking for some sort of photo which would tell me why you think Machrihanish was like Gibraltar but I still can't see how from the high resolution photos of the runway on that website.   Can you tell us why the two are similar?

Traffic lights  are the answer! There used to be a set  to allow the service planes to leave the military airfield and reach the civil terminal.   Occasionally, the R A F used  the old dispersals and  had to cross the road. Somewhere in my collection, I have a couple of colour slides from Summer 1971 (when I was teaching in Campbeltown)  showing a pair of Shackletons taxi ing across the road.  They were LOUD  even when moving on two engines.