Lakenheath - nuclear store

[slogen51]

Oh no! Now it's out there in the public domain

Cue coach loads of CND every time a C-17 turns up!

Why does this thread even exist??

[roughcutter]

Prosecco? That's a woman's drink, give me a guiness everytime!

[slogen51]

That's a bit sexist

A Long Long time ago, I can still remember.... I used to see a girl who drank Guinness and ESB - that is what I call a nuclear store! The fall out!

[PA200]

Prosecco? That's a woman's drink, give me a guiness everytime!

A drink made popular by a generation of RAF Engineers drinking Spumante in Deci! And sometimes getting into trouble because of it.

As to to Special Weapons and the press coverage, I remember the EDP reported many years ago that they were stored under the runway at Marham!

They were a little confused with the vaults that were being installed into the HAS's at the time.

[Finty]

Nothing gets past the old boys on here when it comes to gen, I can just imagine them finding a nuke in the forest end and returning it to the base before the USAF even realised it was a missing!

[quid21]

I read that the nuke store was mothballed a decade. Its hardly a surprise really as the region has already entered a period of turmoil that is likely to last 50 years - I can't see Western-Russian relations improving any time soon, so chances are this is the new Cold War, albeit with a real war on the sidelines.

[Blackcat1]

Prosecco? That's a woman's drink, give me a guiness everytime!

A drink made popular by a generation of RAF Engineers drinking Spumante in Deci! And sometimes getting into trouble because of it.

As to to Special Weapons and the press coverage, I remember the EDP reported many years ago that they were stored under the runway at Marham!

They were a little confused with the vaults that were being installed into the HAS's at the time.

Ah the old Nasty Spumante

[Bilvo]

£39 million quid for a 144 bed dormitary sounds a tad on the expensive side to me.

Must be a local authorty contract so the majority is being syphoned off into someone pocket.

[Bilvo]

I was lead to believe there is unconventional ordinance there already.

Indeed and just up the road at Marham.

"These aren't the droids you're lookoing for..."
"Move along, move along..."

[EGDR]

Why on earth would Marham have American nuclear weapons with no aircraft able to deploy them and not a single inkling of it being earmarked for USAF contingency use? The vaults there were installed for WE.177s and those have not existed for well over 20 years.

[NorvilleRogers]

I was lead to believe there is unconventional ordinance there already.

Indeed and just up the road at Marham.

"These aren't the droids you're lookoing for..."
"Move along, move along..."

Really? The only nuclear weapons owned by the UK are on the Trident subs, all others I thought were long gone. The RAF do not have any.. so what do you think is at Marham?

[sschofield]

I was lead to believe there is unconventional ordinance there already.

Indeed and just up the road at Marham.

"These aren't the droids you're lookoing for..."
"Move along, move along..."

Really? The only nuclear weapons owned by the UK are on the Trident subs, all others I thought were long gone. The RAF do not have any.. so what do you think is at Marham?

There's nothing "special weapon" related at Marham, and as suggested in other posts, hasn't been since the WE.177s were retired 20-odd years ago.

The UK doesn't have a tactical nuclear capability any more, although there's an option to "dial down" the yield on the Trident warheads to a level that probably doesn't class as strategic any more. Although I read something recently that said there's no such thing as tactical weapons, they're either strategic or "sub-strategic", which I'm not sure I agree with completely!

[22A]

There has been a special weapons store at Lakenheath since the late 1950's I think. If you look back at the record for nuclear accidents there was a famous one where a
B47 skidded off the runway and ploughed into the storage area. A lot of panic for a while until the fire was sorted out.

https://scalar.usc.edu/works/brokenarro ... se-england
The four crewmen [of the aircraft] were killed. "It is possible that a part of Eastern England would have become a desert" had the TNT exploded and showered radioactive materials over a wide area, said a now retired Air Force general who was in the U.K. at the time.

In his book "The unsinkable aircraft carrier", Duncan Campbell states the firefighters were told to ignore the aircraft and concentrate on the igloos to keep them cool. It also states someone ran out of the gates, jumped into a cab shouting "Go, anywhere, just go"!

[luxto]

There has been a special weapons store at Lakenheath since the late 1950's I think. If you look back at the record for nuclear accidents there was a famous one where a
B47 skidded off the runway and ploughed into the storage area. A lot of panic for a while until the fire was sorted out.

https://scalar.usc.edu/works/brokenarro ... se-england
The four crewmen [of the aircraft] were killed. "It is possible that a part of Eastern England would have become a desert" had the TNT exploded and showered radioactive materials over a wide area, said a now retired Air Force general who was in the U.K. at the time.

In his book "The unsinkable aircraft carrier", Duncan Campbell states the firefighters were told to ignore the aircraft and concentrate on the igloos to keep them cool. It also states someone ran out of the gates, jumped into a cab shouting "Go, anywhere, just go"!

A 7th Air Division photographer happened to be filming that B-47E, 307TH BW 53-4230, doing multiple touch and go's and recorded the crash. Due to its bicycle landing gear arrangement landing a B-47 could be tricky if both the fore and aft gear didn't contact the runway at the same time. On this t/go the B-47 had begun to porpoise with the front gear touching down first followed by the aft. Further down the runway the situation worsened with loss of control leading to the starboard wing and number 6 engine dragging on the ground - seconds later there is a fireball on the side of Lakenheath's "Tower Hill". This film was shown as a training aid to B-47 crews alerting them to the dangers of porpoising.

[cat1]

Roll on the end of the school summer holidays

You wouldn't possibly be referring to those who feel the need to yell at the top of their little voice boxes and use reimaged words (rad, sick, etc.) Everytime an F15 does a go around?
No sorry, I wouldn't know what you're talking of...

[Snoop 95]

they're back:
https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/lakenheat ... n-9331873/

[Hawkwind26]

they're back:
https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/lakenheat ... n-9331873/

They never went away ; just have many more topics to protest against these days. And quite entitled to stage a demonstration as we thankfully live in a fairly democratic nation. Yes, it peeves off the regular and "old school " spotters who still refer to them as the great unwashed ( probably relevant back in the 60 and 70s ) but nowadays we see many intelligent, aged, retired workers and showered folk protesting for a myriad of environmental issues. Just side step or ignore them, moreso when they're spoiling your hobby. They're pacifists whilst most military aviation enthusiasts are unknowingly warmongers..... even if under a cloak of defending NATO countries.

I am in the same camp as the person, far from the madding crowd, sitting in a beer garden quaffing a pint or sipping a Lambrusco, watching and listening to the same aircraft as the human Ibex on the hillside. Extreme or gentler, its still a thrill.

[22A]

"A citizen's inspection"; never heard of one of those before. Are we (one of) the only nation(s) that permit this.
Looking at how the two groups were dressed; I'd be more inclined to listen to those Quakers than pay attention to the CND group.

[Philwinward]

I would have the that in the event of “war”, nuclear or otherwise, all military facilities in the UK would become targets , army, airforce, navy
and support/ manufacturing sites. Not just frontline US bases supposedly holding nuclear weapons.

[TealRain]

Not to mention ALL regional seats of Government. All were and most likely will be targeted, regardless of whether there are any nearby military installations. The fact that these folk don’t seem to be able to grasp this displays quite a flaw in their argument.