There's been a long-standing dispute between Spain and Great Britain as to ownership of much of the Gibraltar peninsular of Spain.
They kind of go back and forth on this, Spain claiming the original description of the land did not include the whole peninsula, and England claiming it did, and besides, they've occupied it for a long time --
sort of an "adverse possession" claim, I guess.
I got sidetracked on this because of another post I recently made on the runway at the old Stapleton Airport in Denver, which ran over Highway I-70, and I knew the Gibraltar Airport also had a road, Churchill Avenue, crossing its runway.
Anyhow, I was amused by this passage in the arguments:
long arguments ensued between Spain and Britain as to how far north the 'undoubted right' of Britain extended from the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar. It was finally accepted that a distance of 600 Toises (about 1170 meters --Terry), being more than two cannon shots distance between the British guns and the Spanish guns, would be considered “the neutral ground”.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputed_status_of_the_isthmus_between_Gibraltar_and_Spain
I had to laugh at that... a cannon shot being a measurement of a safe distance at the time.
Today, the range of two cannon shots might be 60 miles, not even counting hypervelocity artillery.
The area, with the runway sticking out into the Atlantic Ocran:
A plane taking off from the Atlantic side of the runway:
https://youtu.be/Oq6jQm-jPZk (0:55)
This is one of the best videos from the high vantage point of the rocks. The plane crosses Churchill Avenue just before rotation.
Terry, 230RN
