# Upper Heyford Airfield Tour November 2010 (Pic Heavy)



## hydealfred (Nov 18, 2010)

A brief history as the site has been posted on DP many times before.

Upper Heyford opened as an airfield in 1918 and from then until its closure in 1994 had a long and varied career. The field started flying with the Royal Flying Corps and then was used by the Royal Airforce through the war. With the coming of the Cold War the base was taken over by the America’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) in May 1951. Runway lengthening took place with Boeing KB-29P’s tanker aircraft arriving in December 1951. In June 1953 the first Boeing B-47’s bombers arrived which would have made Upper Heyford a very noisy and smoky place to be. The B-47’s were nuclear capable and stayed until March 1965 when the SAC mission ended and the base was taken over by United States Air Force Europe (USAFE). McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo aircraft of the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing then flew from the airfield until the squadron disbanded in April 1970. 

Next came the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing with their General Dynamics F-111E fighter bombers. These were later joined by the ECM version of the F-111, the EF-111A which was a very powerful electronic countermeasures aircraft. It is reputed that four EF-111A’s flying over Europe could basically shut down all communications and radar coverage. EF-111A’s took part in the bombing of Libya - Operation El-Dorado Canyon in 1987 where an F-111F from Lakenheath was lost during the mission. I was at Upper Heyford the morning after this mission which was a surreal moment for me. The F-111’s of both varieties from Upper Heyford were used during the Gulf War in 1991 flying some missions as low as 200 feet using their terrain following radar. 

With end of the Cold War Upper Heyfords days were numbered with the last three of the wings aircraft leaving on 7 December 1993. One F-111E - 68055- was flown to the Museum at Duxford where it resides today. Following closure the runways were used to house large numbers of unsold cars. Today the base is pretty much intact and is home to various commercial activities. 

I remember well the air shows held at the base as it was like a little bit of America in England. Ice Cold Budweiser beer, proper burgers with friendly American crews stating such facts as “hey bud you look like you could use a burger and a beer” Very frequently I took up the offer. Some shots of the air shows held here in the 80’s can be found here - 

http://airshowspast.fotopic.net/c1888439.html
*
The following photo’s were taken during a tour organised by the Airfield Research Group (ARG) (http://www.airfieldresearchgroup.org.uk/). Please do not under any circumstances try and get into any areas shown as security is very tight, you will be spotted and in all likelihoods arrested. For anyone with an interest in such subject matter as posted here, the ARG are worth looking into joining as they organise many tours that take in normally inaccessible areas of airfields. *

The Control Tower - no access due to asbestos risk 







Tower signage 






Station flag poles 






One of 48 hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) - designed to withstand bomb blasts in order to protect aircraft 






Internal view of HAS 






Not sure of its purpose - located in HAS 






Motor for opening HAS doors 






HAS control electrical control cabinet 






Observation tower located within the HAS area 






Taxi way signage 






Avionics Building 






Door signage in the Avionics Building 






Wall art in the Avionics Building 
















Corridor within the Avionics Building 






Electrical distribution board - Avionics Building 






Self explanatory sign 






Decontamination equipment 






Shower head in decontamination unit 






Some shots within the Hardened Command Centre 






This board shows the final crews and aircraft sorties that flew from Upper Heyford 






Aircraft munitions status board - note B61 & B57 at the top are nuclear weapons 






Aircraft status board 






You never know who's listening in 






This map covered an entire wall but has mostly been removed 






Phone contact listing 






Not really sure what this does ??






The all important clock 






One of the remaining hangars 






This sign is located inside the Station HQ building 






And to end - some of the superb wall art within the Station HQ building 





















Thanks for looking.


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## klempner69 (Nov 18, 2010)

Great stuff Alf..I had the chance to see this tuesday but didnt want to risk the wrath taking a sickie..well done mate.


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## Zotez (Nov 18, 2010)

Did you not visit the school?


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## hydealfred (Nov 18, 2010)

No the tour mostly concentrated on the airfield - we only briefly went to the accommodation - domestic side of things.


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## night crawler (Nov 18, 2010)

Great report what more can I say.


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## tommo (Nov 18, 2010)

shame about the tower but the rest if it is great and i know stu is itching to get in there lol there is always next year stu

cheers hydealfred 

i went here when i was about 17 at worked for a ford, ford use to do all there PDI's of new cars there not sure if they still do and on what part it was it was a long time ago, i know alot of other car makes where there also, all brand new cars un-plated waiting to be send all round the country


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## Munchh (Nov 19, 2010)

Blown away alf, this is excellent!


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## Foxylady (Nov 22, 2010)

Superb stuff, Alf. Such a lot of interesting things. The wall art is great.
Cheers for that...and for the link, too. Oddly enough, I was just thinking earlier about getting permission to see the WW2 part of another airfield that's very much live and inaccessible.


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## highcannons (Nov 22, 2010)

*F111's and Jack Daniels*

weird looking at these pictures, used to go there when it was live to one of the biggest piss-ups in the uk! The Firemans Ball.....


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## Caveman (Dec 1, 2010)

I visited this place when it was live...the 'Weather Dept' sgn showed where I was working as I worked on fax machines that recorded detail sent out by Bracknell. This gave me the opportunity to travel all over the Southern Counties visiting many airfields of all types. RAF Fairford was another one that I was a regular visitor to.

Excellent pictures...well done for getting the wall art photographed as this will be desecrated soon.


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