Greenham Common

[gibson617]

Went for a walk around the old airfield last week . Not much left but interesting anyway !

_MG_0156 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0150 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0138 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0133 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0130 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0128 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0126 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0120 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0119 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

_MG_0145 by cottamtrevor, on Flickr

[condor]

Ancient Monument ! Our wheelbarrow is older than that , as is the MZ125 i'm learning on !

rgds condor .

[graham luxton]

Very sad to see whats happened to Greenham.
Saw over 200 B/EB-47's pass through there during its SAC Reflex days.
Spent a day in the Control Tower during Sept'70 while Ex. Flintlock was being held there - lined up in front of the hangars were 4 C-123K's, 2 C-130E Skyhooks, 2 C-47's and 2 U-10D's. Couldn't deceide which were the rarest, the C-123's or the U-10's.
The next year 3 W.Virginia ANG C-119's were deployed for Flintlock'71 but these parked in the SW area of the base.
Although most people remember Greenham for its great IAT's there were many other times when it was well worth a visit!

[N48284]

It is indeed very sad to see it like this, I guess we can be thankfully that it's not been turned into a housing estate though (yet). Having lived only minutes from the base all my life i do feel sad when driving past.
As Graham said it has seen some gems over time but especially the Cold War years.

I hope you don't mind Gibson617 but here is one of my Dads shots from '63


USAF SAC B-47E sat at RAF Greenham Common in 1963. by Melvyn Morley, on Flickr

[NickB]

It is indeed very sad to see it like this, I guess we can be thankfully that it's not been turned into a housing estate though (yet). Having lived only minutes from the base all my life i do feel sad when driving past.
As Graham said it has seen some gems over time but especially the Cold War years.

I hope you don't mind Gibson617 but here is one of my Dads shots from '63


USAF SAC B-47E sat at RAF Greenham Common in 1963. by Melvyn Morley, on Flickr

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!

Please sir can I have some more?

Thanks
NickB

[gibson617]

Great shot of B-47 at Greenham . I would be very interested to see any more you might have .
At the moment I am reading a very interesting book :
In Defence of Freedom ; A History of RAF Greenham Common by J.J Sayers . Available from http://www.lulu.com if anyone is interested !

[graham luxton]

Thanks for posting that shot Andy and thanks to you're Dad for sharing it - suspect a lot of us would like to see more.

I remember 20188 - it was assigned to the 384th Bomb Wing at Little Rock AFB, Ark. The Wing maintained an Alert Force of 12 B-47E's at Greenham July'63 - March'64 rotating 4 a/c in and 4 a/c out per week. A total of 60 of its B-47's were noted there, some being deployed several times. In fact, 188 was deployed 3 times (all in '63) spending the standard 3 weeks on alert on each occasion.

-a snapshot of what it was like:

Thurs 1 Aug'63 (Runway 11 in use)
Alert Force B-47E's - 15251 20174 20178 20182 20188 20368 20372 20387 20597 20610 32096 32317. Arriving for 3 weeks Alert duty after overshoots were 20590 and 32264.

KC-97G 30172 100th BW, 100Air Ref Sqd Pease AFB, (also on alert)

KC-135A 80082 385thSAW, Offutt AFB arr/dep
T-33A 0-35831/TR-831 66TRW, Laon AFB - overshoots
C-54G 0-50546 3918thCSG Upper Heyford - overshoots
U-8D 83073 US Army - unit?, arr
EA-3B 146454/? VQ-2 NAS Rota arr for a nightstop - forgot to note down the code, must have been the shock of seeing it!

Derelict on the base were B-47E's 20258 and 32134

Anson's VM312 and VM330 overflew so did an unidentified Valletta

hope these snippets have been of interest,

Graham

[POL]

Certainly interesting for me, thanks! (I'm 23!)

[N48284]

I will have a look through the negs and scan some more if they are good enough quality.

Graham what a fantastic snippet of Greenham at its best.

[NickB]

Graham...this is great - a real insight into was GC was like when alive. Please don't hold back!

I sometimes sit out in my back garden in Speen and wonder at the types that must have flown over it in years past...

[helgafly]

I'm with EGCC on this one- I'm also only 23 and it is fabulous to see and read such a wealth of information on places which I have never had the chance to see operational, neither have I been able to visit (yet!). Thanks to all....

[NickB]

Graham - funnily enough, the EA-3B Skywarrior 146454 you mention above is the only one I've ever seen at the IAT @ Fairford in 1991! :-)

[LM47]

Good old days indeed!
Never got to see a B-47.
The EA-3Bs were very regular visitors to Lossiemouth so I suppose my reaction to a B-47 there would have been the same as Graham's to an EA-3 at Greenham!
I have 146454 logged as '7' in January 1964.
This subject is almost worthy of it's own column (Airfields then and Now ?)
Thanks to all who posted
RG

[cgull123]

I too grew up in Thatcham and went to many 80s shows. We witnessed the nuke launchers in convoy, peace women and lived in the shadow of a potential cold war soviet nuke strike. Now living in Lincolnshire I went back a few years ago to urbex the bunkers:

[Paulgul]

So is the control tower still used for anything, those aerials look in good condition after all these years.
An air tattoo at Greenham in 1976/1977 (ish) is what first got me interested in aircraft, both military and civilian. - A long time ago

[NickB]

Plans for the tower are to convert it into a visitor centre - here:

http://www.localberkshire.co.uk/news/ro ... ep-closer/

I don't usually support cutting down trees, but of this occasion I really hope they clear the mini-forest that has grown in front of the tower since GC closed...

[Paulgul]

Thanks, lets hope they get all the red tape sorted, should make an interesting centre

[herbert]

Anybody know what that bomb shaped thing is?