RAF Greenham Common August 2012

[RustProofHawk]

Opened in 1942, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces during World War II and the United States Air Force during the Cold War. After the Cold War ended, it was closed in 1993.

The airfield was also known for the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp held outside its gates in the 1980s.

Greenham Common airfield was one of several wartime airfields in the Salisbury Plain area and was originally intended for use as an RAF Bomber Command Operational Training Unit. It was built to the Class A airfield standard, the main feature of which was a set of three converging runways each containing a concrete runway for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern connecting to an enclosing perimeter track, of a standard width of 50 feet.

The land for the airfield was acquired in May 1941 and the runways were built in early 1942 with one main and two secondary runways with assorted loop and pan dispersal hardstands connecting to an enclosing perimeter track, of a standard width of 50 feet.

The runway today is all overgrown and you can freely walk around it

now days the bomb storage part has about 5 fence's if i remember correct but all are very easy and its public land anyway, it has a secca who lives in a caravan on site for some reason but we didn't hear a thing.

it was quite a while ago now but im sure it wouldn't have changed much

 

[skeleton key]

So so wanted to get over here

Really nice thread RPH.

Nice to see it without the dirty brigade hanging off the fences

 

[Wevsky]

Good report that mate

 

[RustProofHawk]

cheers guys, its well worth a look

 

[Ninja Kitten]

now that does look interesting...i love old machinery..

 

[silverainbow]

Its amazing to see it all these years later, I remember it being on the TV in a really big way when I was younger and all those people hanging around outside the fences "Freedom Fighters", or were they "Hippies" protesting over the Nukes :dunno:

 

[Shush]

that looks right good! thanks for sharing

 

[Harry]

I find this site fascinating and If the world was going to end, it might have started here - 96 nuclear missiles, each of them four times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, could've been devastating! You've captured it well, thanks for the share!

 

[darbians]

That looks cool. Thanks mate. I was right by here the other day too!

 

[klempner69]

Still not done this yet..need to see that metal plane the Fire Service used..great report mate.

 

[Scattergun]

This is on my growing list of places to visit when I hit the south. Really interesting read mate

 

[Ghost]

Now that I like and that I would like to do, thanks for sharing