I was watching Top Gear last night and they visited MIRA (test site for vehicle safety and build etc) near Nuneaton.
From the shots it looks like they are based on an old airfield complete with period control tower, does anyone here know which airfield it might have been?
By: Fouga23 - 27th November 2007 at 10:28
That gunsight in the Fouga looks remarkedly like a British Mk 14 gunsight.
Very pretty plane. Be nice to see the instrument panel.
Bri:)
Fouga has a French licence built GGS MKIV E gunsight, so yes, British 😉 I’m looking for one!
By: pagen01 - 26th November 2007 at 19:48
I’ve got a Control Tower pic of every site I have visited, I see a challenge coming on!
By: Mark12 - 26th November 2007 at 19:04
Ah! The site of many a happy hour on the handling circuits, but strictly no cameras.
Mark
By: Rlangham - 26th November 2007 at 18:51
Be a bit hard as they’re very strict with who they let in there (my friend that lives next to it accidentally trespassed and was threatened with a £1000 fine), but my brother plays football for the local team and they play on the MIRA site, i’ll ask him if he’d be able to get a quick snap on his mobile phone
By: BlueRobin - 26th November 2007 at 18:38
Robert Truman doesn’t seem to have a photo for his controltowers website. Can anyone help?
By: Resmoroh - 26th November 2007 at 13:17
Willis & Hollis quote RAF Bramcote (with satellites at Nuneaton and Bitteswell) as being the home(s) of:-
105 (Transport) OTU – Wellingtons
1513 BAT Flight – Oxfords
5132 Bomb Disposal Sqn
6211 Bomb Disposal Flight
all as at Dec 1944
HTH
Resmoroh
By: Rlangham - 26th November 2007 at 13:08
Very local to me in Leicestershire – my best mate lives in the village next to MIRA. Wellington’s of 29 (I think, although that could have been Bruntingthorpe) OTU were based there. It’s a few miles east of Nuneaton, if you go down the A5 past Nuneaton you’ll go past it. See all manner of unusual vehicles going in and out of there – ones i’ve seen include Challenger 2 MBT’s, Saxon APC’s and Rolls Royce’s and other luxury cars with black tape over the bodywork to disrupt the shape of them. There’s also a Duxford connection with the control tower – the observation building on top of the Duxford control tower came from RAF Nuneaton, thanks to Dick Nutts who formerly owned the Douglas Boston
By: bri - 26th November 2007 at 11:58
That gunsight in the Fouga looks remarkedly like a British Mk 14 gunsight.
Very pretty plane. Be nice to see the instrument panel.
Bri:)
By: Fouga23 - 26th November 2007 at 11:13
I keep waiting for olliver to arrive:)
By: pagen01 - 26th November 2007 at 10:30
Thanks for the quick replies, it looks so obvious now! Must admit I didn’t know that there was an RAF Nuneaton.
By: Resmoroh - 26th November 2007 at 10:13
RAF Nuneaton – in 44 Gp of Transport Command as at Dec 44 as an OTU
HTH
Resmoroh
By: Mark12 - 26th November 2007 at 10:13
RAF Nuneaton.
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November 26, 2007 at 10:03 am