As a former local boy I was trying to watch that programme during one of the worst thunderstorms I’ve ever seen and missed the Harrier shot.
Chetwynd Barracks used to be called Chilwell Ordnance Depot, much of which has now gone, however there are reputed to be miles of underground tunnels and rooms on site, does anyone have any info on this.
During WW1 they were producing shells and the place detonated killing 134 workers, were they not buried in a mass grave on the site.
When I was a kid they used to have an annual open day, which was always very exciting as they used to repair tanks and other armoured vehicles there, apart from the fact that it was rail linked and they used to do trips round the rail system using an MOD train. Some of the Centurians parked outside in the 60’s were very mysterious, showing battle damage and wearing desert camouflage.
The last open day I went to, probably about 1965-6 when we were nasty teenagers, my mate and I went out of the public area and into a repair shop where we found an armoured car and a Centurion, I still have the pair of wire cutters I found in the armoured car. We got into the Centurion, which seemed in pretty well mint condition and I clambered into the drivers compartment while my mate tried to rotate the turret.
As I was trying to work out how to start the thing, we were grabbed by a group of soldiers who explained very nicely that the tank was very live and ready to go and I would probably have put it through the side of the building, oops, I think that they thought it was quite amusing that we had dodged security and got in there so we were given a guided tour of some of the off limits sites, so I’m afraid my only experience of racing around in a tank was in a Chieftan near Newmarket, good fun though, I highly reccomend it.