# RAF Bicester, August '11



## mookster (Aug 17, 2011)

Visited with TBM and Zotez.

This place has always fallen under my radar, I'd gone past it a few times in the past but the buildings at the front always looked pretty damn secure so never really bothered. TBM suggested this site the other day though so we went for a poke around today. Initially failing to find access we found it after a while and had a great relaxed explore, although with the glider club in full swing I felt a bit hesitant in the open areas!

A potted history can be found here: http://www.windrushers.org.uk/airfield_history.htm

English heritage describes RAF Bicester as:



> retaining better than any other military airbase in Britain, the layout and fabric relating to pre-1930s military aviation….. it comprises the best preserved bomber airfield dating from the period up to 1945 ….. It also comprises the best preserved and most strongly representative of the bomber stations built as part of Sir Hugh Trenchard’s 1920s Home Defence Expansion Scheme



We got there to find most of the smaller buildings tightly boarded (and most missing the roofs) but we found access to three of the larger structures. The rest will have to wait for another day.

This explore will be remembered for the comedy sinking floors and the huge wasps nest in one of the buildings...as usual TBM was creaming himself over the artwork and I was revelling in the unchavved peely-paint goodness. It was also the first outing for my 550D so some photos might be a bit iffy for the time being, I'm still learning!

























































The second building we got into had obviously been closed much more recently, it was empty, dark and fairly boring and we made a speedy retreat after finding a large wasps nest in one of the upstairs rooms





















We then moved on to my favourite building.


























Lovely original tilework on the floor
















A few randoms from around the site, as you can see from a couple of the photos the weather turned on us towards the end so we decided to put off the bomb store side for more pleasant weather.





















Thanks for looking, more pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157627456228228/


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## krela (Aug 17, 2011)

Cracking, thanks.


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## King Al (Aug 17, 2011)

Cool water tower, I like the way the purely functional concrete design is being decorated by mould, moss and ivy 

Good stuff mookster


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## mookster (Aug 17, 2011)

Cheers guys, it's well worth a mooch I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would seeing as the only photos I had seen of it previously showed some rather burnt out and ruined buildings!


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## urban phantom (Aug 18, 2011)

Nice one mate great job


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## Em_Ux (Aug 18, 2011)

Looks a good explore.

Can't beat a bit of peely paint 

Thanks for posting!


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## godzilla73 (Aug 18, 2011)

Thanks , good pics - often been past this and even stopped on one or two occasions but always looked as tight as a drum. will look again!
Godzy


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## klempner69 (Aug 18, 2011)

Good stuff fella,may have to check this out one day.


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## mookster (Aug 25, 2011)

Instead of making a new thread here are some shots from today's revisit, as we were with first-time visitors to the site we revisited the two best buildings from last time but also found access to a couple more.

We initially attempted the bomb store side but put it off for another day after finding everything knee deep in brambles and hedges and stuff like that but I got a few shots from that side anyway...

We also ran into a group of kids who were playing around on the site who were friendly enough guys, they thought we were security until we waved at them and they slowly wandered over in our direction, they showed us one of the large air raid shelters (handy if there are bombs headed our way!)

So here are photos round two! Unfortunately I didn't get many externals but the ones I did get aren't that great...


































































I loved the old cranes, they all still worked as well!
















More photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157627331920079/


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## smiler (Aug 25, 2011)

What have you got against wasps? Very peaceful ladies they are, unless you piss them off then you got problems, I enjoyed you report and pics, Thanks


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## TeeJF (Aug 26, 2011)

Great stuff Mookster, I love that pic of the corridor that appears to run down hill. Is it an optical illusion or is it going off underground?


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## mookster (Aug 26, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> Great stuff Mookster, I love that pic of the corridor that appears to run down hill. Is it an optical illusion or is it going off underground?



There's a slope which narrows down to ground level where the stores are, it's pretty cool. Lots of acro props holding it up as well, all the buildings are grade II listed so hopefully these will be preserved somewhen.


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## dootsie (Nov 24, 2011)

*dootsie*

The Bicester photos, whilst excellent in themselves. fill me with sadness as I spent two years of my life there on National Service. It was a relaxed camp and I personally had a great time. We had a military band and a dance band in which I played. I have visited over the years and seen the deterioration but I have many photos to remind me what it was like in the 1950's and later. There was even a spitfire as a gate guardian on the square and I have traced it to America where it still flies. Happy days then, sad now.
Dootsie


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## Pincheck (Nov 24, 2011)

very nice mate


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## KingRat (Nov 25, 2011)

Used to pass this place twice a day and prayed for the time it would become unused. Then I moved 

Thanks for sharing and nice pics too


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## alex76 (Nov 25, 2011)

Nice work Mookster i see this place couple of months back when i was on my way back from didcot never made it past the front gate looked to tightly sealed and the fence looked a bit nasty so cheers for sharing bud


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## Ratters (Nov 27, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> Great stuff Mookster, I love that pic of the corridor that appears to run down hill. Is it an optical illusion or is it going off underground?



^^^ i thought exactly the same on that photo.

thanks for sharing


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## mookster (Nov 27, 2011)

alex76 said:


> Nice work Mookster i see this place couple of months back when i was on my way back from didcot never made it past the front gate looked to tightly sealed and the fence looked a bit nasty so cheers for sharing bud



Just gotta look a bit closer next time


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## Cuban B. (Nov 27, 2011)

That looks like quite a decent site, you got some good light coming into it.


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## Nutstrangler (Nov 30, 2011)

Did a Gliding Course there in 1968 or 69 when it was still open and run by the RAF. Had a great time, although the first thing I had to do was strip, repair and rebuild the scroll gear on one of the winches that were used for launching the gliders. I believe that their original purpose was for flying and recovering barrage balloons. The gliders that we used were Sedberghs, a very old side-by-side open cockpit glider. I did manage to blag a ride in a Blanik, an aluminium aircraft, described as "Twenty thousand pop-rivets flying in loose formation".

Thanks for the memories !


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