Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Garlic?!

Posted by James Turnbull, Tuesday, 21st August 2007

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Written on the ground beside the runway of an old World War 2 airfield is the most bizarre large type yet: “Garlic?!“.

This airfield used to be RAF Hibaldstow, which has been inactive since 1947. Currently the site is used by a skydiving school, so I contacted them to ask if they’ve branched out into selling foodstuffs.

The person I spoke to explained that they were not in the garlic business, and what we are actually looking at is about 10,000 abandoned tyres that used to be stored to the South of the runway.

The tyres were frequently arranged into various messages for the landing parachutists and, more often than not, the message was something rude.

She couldn’t guess why the tyres spelled out “Garlic?!” on the day this aerial photo was taken, but said that we’re lucky it wasn’t something less “family friendly“!

Thanks: Neil Bradley & Target Skysports

7 Responses to 'Garlic?!'

  1. Cookie monster says:

    I think anyone familiar with the comedy stylings of a certain Peter Kay may know this one. I think they ran out of tyres to do “BREAD?”
    Also i love in that article that the tyre dump was ranked ’seventh worse in the country”!!!!
    I didnt realise there was such stiff competition….or even that there was a competition. Is Simon Cowell on the judges i wonder?

  2. Mrb says:

    They should have gone for “Rola Cola”

  3. david says:

    I’m going to go ahead and guess that based on what the woman said, Google will have to keep that “Garlic!?” up for awhile, since they’ll probably get something less presentable in the next pass…

  4. Lee says:

    I dislike Peter Kay a lot. I really don’t find him funny at all.

    Those tires must take ages to re-arrange.

  5. nathar says:

    I’ve just shown this to a friend who jumped from this site for several years. He is amazed it isnt something ruder. He did tell me the type of thing thats normally written there but this is a family friendly website right? :)

  6. Tim says:

    hmm, are vampires involved?

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