RAF V-Bomber Bases in the UK

REF;120488 wrote:

I'm trying to locate the following V-Bomber ORPs, any ideas?

Brawdy (Possibly 2 at the north end of runway 20)
Kinloss (think its where my screengrab is but I'm not sure)
Bruntingthorpe (no idea)
Coltishall (no idea)
Elvington (no idea)
Leuchars (no idea)
Manston (no idea)
Prestwick (no idea)
Stansted (no idea)
Wattisham (no idea)

Also, apart from Akrotiri and Luqa, where there any other overseas V-Bomber Dispersal Airfields and where were the V-Bomber ORPs located at these two as well?

Masirah and Thumrait (Midway) in Oman?

Hi

Here's some rough drawings I did a while ago to try and work out how the 2 aircraft ORP's were used at airfields such as Middleton St George, Leconfield that utilised the 1950's ORP (drawing number 2449/53) instead of having new ones built such as those at Brawdy and Lossiemouth.

This is of course guess work on my part, taking the main info from a site plan of Middleton St George dated 1963.

The areas in red are what I think where added for the vforce.

MSG and Wattisham for example are almost mirror images




Leconfield and Coltishall are also similar




Here is how I think the Vulcan may have parked on these ORPs. I think the extra triangle pieces of concrete where put in to support the right undercarriage of the vulcan (or stop it from rolling onto the grass), these have mostly gone from other airfields but remnants can be seen if you flick through Google Earths historical imagery. I'd also assume that the square concrete area off the taxiway at each of these sites was for ground equipment and the small area above the triangles of concrete would have likely stood Reyrolle power distribution points.

Could be a daft answer here, my dad lived in the small village of Burtonwood as a boy and tells me that the bombers always took off in the direction of Liverpool he used to watch them when they visited.

Thanks

Hi Ref,

Here's a list of dispersal airfields from the book Cold War, building for nuclear confrontation 1946-1989 for comparison

Dispersal for 4 Aircraft
Ballykelly
Bedford
Burtonwood
Kinloss
St Mawgan

Dispersal for 2 Aircraft
Boscombe Down
Brawdy
Bruntingthorpe
Cranwell
Colishall
Elvington
Filton
Leuchars
Lossiemouth
Machrihanish
Manston
Middleton St George
Leconfield
Leeming
Llanbedr
Lyneham
Pershore
Prestwick
Stansted
Valley
Wattisham
Yeovilton

Dispersal Other
Aldergrove
Carnaby
Kemble
Shawbury
Tarrant Rushton

It doesnt say what the function of Dispersal Other was?

kev123;120657 wrote:

Could be a daft answer here, my dad lived in the small village of Burtonwood as a boy and tells me that the bombers always took off in the direction of Liverpool he used to watch them when they visited.

Thanks

Take off into the prevailing wind which in UK tends to be westerly.

thank you

Thanks Stevo, that list of yours throws up another few that I wasn't aware of.
Aldergrove
Carnaby
Kemble

Where were the dispersals at the above three.

Also, does anyone know where the dispersals were at Stansted? Was Stansted still a military airfield when it was used as V-Force Dispersal or had it gone civvy by then?

REF;120689 wrote:

Thanks Stevo, that list of yours throws up another few that I wasn't aware of.
Aldergrove
Carnaby
Kemble

Where were the dispersals at the above three.

Aldergrove and Carnaby are in the GE folder Richard...
I'd think the dispersals at Carnaby would have been in a similar position on the runway to those at Manston.

Also, does anyone know where the dispersals were at Stansted? Was Stansted still a military airfield when it was used as V-Force Dispersal or had it gone civvy by then?

I'm still trying to track down any dedicated dispersals at Stansted, but it was a civvy field from 1957 apparently.

Is the GE pin on the dispersal locations Paul?

I thought Stansted was a bit odd, and Prestwick for that metter but I know the military (US) PIK.

Now to have a look at Kemble on GE!