Neatishead - strangely, bigger than Buchan
I remember going to Neatishead on a jolly (ahem, I mean... educational visit) from West Drayton in 1989 as a young and enthusiastic LAC scopie. It was a large, busy Ops room then. After posting to Buchan, I was told that it was "only the CRC for the south, nothing much goes on there, Buchan is where the action is".
After interminable Tankex ops over the North Sea, staring at one tanker feeding another for hours on end, I began to doubt the veracity of the WO Ops. And the story about the underground ops room not being complete is a tall tale. It was built for the latest kit that was due to be introduced sometime around 1979. It was only 11 years late - which is bang on time in Cold War RAF terms.
I too remember heady Cold War days, when all that stood between us and eating cold beetroot soup were a Type 80 at Peterhead that could give you a suntan in 60 seconds, some leaky Phantoms, and 19 year old scopies helping 22 year old FCs decide right from left. Happy days!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
