Upper Heyford - 16th June 2019

[Knife 04]

Good afternoon Gents

Arranged to visit Upper Heyford last Sunday for one of their Heritage Tours. Great day out in some great company, some local and some not so (some of the Suffolk contingent managed to put in an appearance). Just a few shots from the day - hope you find of interest

Panoramics of the 'Pit' in the Command Bunker
'The Pit' - Command Bunker, RAF Upper Heyford by Darren Currie, on Flickr

'The Pit' - Command Bunker, RAF Upper Heyford by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Some 'Wall Art' that remains
20th SPG Armoury - Upper Heyford by Darren Currie, on Flickr

'Ammo' building B-61 wall art - 'IYAAYAS' (as they say at Welford) by Darren Currie, on Flickr

TAB-V 9 '1st Lt Robert W Ahern' Art - 'Fightin' 55th' by Darren Currie, on Flickr

'BATT CAVE' - Weapons Storage Area - Upper Heyford by Darren Currie, on Flickr

20th SPS Building - Upper Heyford by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Wall Art - Special Weapons Storage Area by Darren Currie, on Flickr

77th (T)FS Building - Rendering now partially deteriorated by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Mural at the rear of Shelter 9 in the Victor Alert Area
TAB-V 9 '1st Lt Robert W Ahern' Art - 'Fightin' 55th' by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Tower
RAF Upper Heyford SAC Era Control Tower by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Haunted SAC Era Security Tower at the Weapons Storage Area - Watch for the Lady on the White Horse!
SAC Watch Tower - Special Weapons Storage Area by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Video of the doors opening on Shelter 9 in the Victor Alert Area
TAB-V 9 '1st Lt Robert W Ahern' Art - 'Fightin' 55th' by Darren Currie, on Flickr

As Nigel said in his thread and Steve's comment in his - this really is a worth while visit (my 4th now I think) and it is thoroughly recommended to all interested

http://www.upperheyfordheritage.co.uk/tours/

A big thanks to Nick Forder for assistance in arranging and of course our great guides on the day - you were brilliant dealing with our requests

best

Darren

[vulcanxl425]

Very atmospheric Darren. Thanks for posting.

[lhrlima]

Glad you enjoyed it Darren, I echo your comments regarding the Guides and quality of the tour. I found it fascinating, atmospheric and upsetting in that it’s all over, but so glad we have the opportunity to see it! I can’t wait to return, probably several more times!

[1marshn30]

Love the Black and white watch tower mate Thanks for organizing the trip round mate .
Have done some more digging around on the HAS names and if you are happy I will tack them on this thread when I have uploaded the photos.
Ni

[Knife 04]

Thanks for the responses guys - appreciate it

Apologies I dont think the video link works - it works if you go over to Flickr though

Love the Black and white watch tower mate Thanks for organizing the trip round mate .
Have done some more digging around on the HAS names and if you are happy I will tack them on this thread when I have uploaded the photos.
Ni

Not a problem at all mate - you post away. Mine are only a selection from the day!

All the best

Darren

[paddyboy]

Hi Darren

Nice record there of what must have been a great trip

Take care,old fruit

Paddy

[1marshn30]

Thanks Mate I had forgot I had already started on the memorial thread .
Don't mention Flickr at the moment as tried to do the update loggin and now can't access the Photos on the App
Ni

[1marshn30]

Upper Heyford domestic side street sign by marshn2010, on Flickr

Heyford Tour 2 by marshn2010, on Flickr

Before going round onthe tour took a little trip round the old part of the Domestic side before it is swallowed up by the new houses and got the above pics.
Ni

[1marshn30]

Some famous names on the HAS Boards

P6162890 HAS47 Gen Carl Spaatz by marshn2010, on Flickr

P6162889 HAS44 Capt Eddie Rickenbacker by marshn2010, on Flickr

[1marshn30]

Hi all here are some more of the HAS board names and some background notes on the names

P6162844 2LT Leland K Henslee 55Fs P-38J 42-68136 18/4/44 by marshn2010, on Flickr
P6162843 Capt S.C Rosevear by marshn2010, on Flickr

P6162842 2nd LT Peter A Boele 55FS P-38J 42-104395 25-5-44 Walcheren Holland by marshn2010, on Flickr

P6162833bHAS5 MaJGen Oscar Westover 21/9/38 4Th CinC USAAC by marshn2010, on Flickr

P6162835 HAS6 1LT John J Connor 55FS P-38 J 42- 67901 KI-C 8/5/44 by marshn2010, on Flickr

P6162832 Has 7 Lt Col John B England 357FG Died whilst making an emergency landig at Tours France 17/ 11/54 by marshn2010, on Flickr

P6162851 HAS10 Gen Henry H Arnold successed Maj Gen Westover as CinC USAAC by marshn2010, on Flickr

[jag56]

Excellent pictures! Done the tour myself on August 3rd, I agree with everything you said about the tour. Excellent guides ,fascinating stories told and so much to see. Will also go again. Nice post!

[Thunderbolt II]

Only just seen this thread, excellent and highly evocative of an era now long gone, unfortunately. I'm intrigued by the haunted weapons storage area, would like to hear more on that subject! Many thanks for posting these.

[Knife 04]

Only just seen this thread, excellent and highly evocative of an era now long gone, unfortunately. I'm intrigued by the haunted weapons storage area, would like to hear more on that subject! Many thanks for posting these.

Morning Thunderbolt

Not so much the WSA but the guard tower itself - when I get a second I will post it up (unless anybody else wants to..)

Darren

[Thunderbolt II]

That'd be great, cheers! Something about USAFE, Cold War and spooky stuff, lots of tales from Alconbury- https://sjhstrangetales.wordpress.com/2 ... alconbury/
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommun ... topic=1560
https://www.spookyisles.com/beast-of-raf-alconbury/
Not to mention Bentwaters and Woodbridge.
England must have seemed a spooky old place to young airmen straight from the States.

[Radiomike]

Upper Heyford domestic side street sign by marshn2010, on Flickr
Before going round onthe tour took a little trip round the old part of the Domestic side before it is swallowed up by the new houses and got the above pics.
Ni

I know it's been a few years but I recently read this post and remembered that I have a letter written to Group Captain Tait in August 1957 from the USAF Commander at Upper Heyford, Colonel Kenneth W. Shultz. He talks about the housing development and how they would like to name the streets after Lord Trenchard and officers of the RAF who distinguished themselves during the second world war.

Coincidentally, 50 years later my good friend worked for a company that rented the base which could store up to 10,000 vehicles, they installed an automated key retrieval system and had mini-buses available to reach the far corners of the base. The heated and de-humidified hangars were used as workshops and at one time they were supposedly on 7 days notice to vacate the site should a conflict occur.

[1marshn30]

Hi Radiomike
Thanks for that. I got some more before they pulled down a lot of the old baze housing so will post them but they kept the old road names and built ew bulds

[1marshn30]

Hi Radiomike here is one og got on a walk round ion the 14 of Sept this year on part of the new builds on what was the airfield side


NI