Going back to the original question, the 1950s of course was a time when a lot of items in the UK were still subject to rationing and there were very onerous currency controls in place. There was also a ‘black market’ culture which had built up during the war, which was seen by some as not so much criminal, but a means of beating the bureacracy. Remember the film “Passport to Pimlico”?
In the 1950s there were the best part of twenty active aerodromes along the South Coast, today there are only six (plus according to Kent Police and the BBC, obviously hundreds of farm strips!:rolleyes:). In the immediate post-war era there were certainly a much higher number of uncontrolled light aircraft movements than there are today
It probably added up to a surprisingly large amount of low-level smuggling of small amounts of cigarettes and alcohol etc. However I am sure that little if any was linked to organised crime, or the much more serious issues of security, people-trafficking and drugs that concerns the Police today.
Luckily I think that general aviation is pretty good at self-policing. Most people on airfields know one another and are very quick to pick up on something out of the ordinary….. as that BBC article highlights.
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