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Operation Merlin. Mystery Cache

Difficulty:
5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Geocache Description:

Our first puzzle cache!

This cache has been inspired by Mother Ship (GC26RYF) puzzle caches.
They are amazing!

Thank you MeerRescue.

You are looking for a ...

It's a puzzle cache, so I'm not saying!

Tee hee!

Take care when looking for this cache as it is in a busy muggle area - hence the
difficulty.

Please don't leave any spoilers in your logs. Thanks.

At the outset of the Great War, the Isle of Thanet was equipped with a small and
precarious landing strip for aircraft at Westgate, on top of the chalk cliffs, at
the foot of which was a promenade which had been used for seaplane operations.

The landing grounds atop the cliff soon became the scene of several accidents,
with at least one plane seen to fail to stop before the end of the cliffs and tumble
into the sea, which for the fortunate pilot had been on its inward tide!

In the winter of 1915-1916 these early aircraft first began to use the open farmlands
at Manston as a site for emergency landings. The early airfield was on the area now
occupied by the passenger terminal.

This early airfield quickly grew to include four underground hangars, its own railway
line to nearby Birchington, a power station to generate electricity, barracks for
3,000 men and even an indoor swimming pool!

1940 and WW2 brought the Battle of Britain. Barnes Wallis arrived in 1943 to test his
bouncing bomb at nearby Reculver, before the Dam busters carried out their famous
raid. Roland Beaumont arrived with the Hawker Typhoon which came to be the most
successful ground attack aircraft in WW2. The first jet fighters arrived at Manston,
to attack the flying bombs (1944's version of the cruise missile). The longest and
widest runway in Southern England was then built to allow badly damaged aircraft
returning from Europe a safe haven, with the Fido fog dispersal system to allow
landings in any weather.

RAF Manston continued to be an important RAF airbase until the end of the "cold war"
in the late 1990's. RAF Manston closed on the 31 March 1999, and is now a civilian
airport called London Manston.

In 2002 Manston airport was used as the location for a North Korean Airbase and
scenes involving the Antonov cargo plane in the 007 film Die Another Day (2002)

The coordinates are...

orgcanutatilnoyousagehovtceta
hholccetnoa.ionogottifrfhyent
dogeeesrwtntyenopoietrenozwh
ttroesaeteezozeroenrdogeeesr
wtntyeotnpnininines.xehipcyaa
phgncxi

Good luck




FTF honours go to MeerRescue and MooToo.
e lwdlng ouesxxyxx

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Puzzle clue 1]: Gur xrl vf va gur gvgyr [Puzzle clue 2]: uggc://jjj.pvcure.znguf.fbgba.np.hx/GrnpurefCnpx.cqs [Puzzle clue 3]: Vg'f n genafcbfvgvba pvcure

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)