airfields with bunkers?

Leuchars had NO bunker, if by bunker you mean an underground facility. Yes it had hardened facilities but there were no underground bunkers. As it was only 38 feet AMSL then there would have been problems with the water table.

What became of the underground communications facility (?) at St Mawgan, which I think was being built in the early 90's? Still in use?

The ' Hardened Aircraft Shelters ' thread on this forum is worth taking the time to read as it adds some objective evidence to the discussion.

Last week I heard that the term ' Airfield Bunker ' is the correct term to use for a WW2 time period Airfield prior to the establishment of NATO however they standardized on new terminology post WW2 NATO.

Dave.

Harboda77;156093 wrote:

I can't locate the actual values at this moment in time and the following are my failing memory values so any one who has the accurate data is well come to correct update etc.

The retired airman who was my host had completed his tour at Upper Heyford during the transition period from F4's to F1-11's and they were constructing their hardened shelters that are still visible.

The UH HS's were not designed to protect the occupants from a direct over head detonation and there specification had been some thing like 10MT at 5M and 100MT at 20M.

The specification included resistance to NEMP's with a sheltering Aardvark surviving while its human associates would be incapacitated.

Apparently they had traced the term Bunk back to the 1750's relative to sailors ( Peter's Reference ) and then the extensive use of Bunker during 1914/18 & 1939/45 conflicts ( AFM's Reference ).

They showed some images of German hardened facilities that had been undermined by BW's Tallboy bombs and they lead me to believe that future developments in this type of earthquake weapon would render Cheyenne Mountain obsolete by the year 2000.

They predicted that the Mountain would become a future Colorado Springs visitor attraction as have the ICBM Silo's ?

If I've remembered it correctly the Dollis Hill facility had some thing to do with the GPO and Bletchley Park ?

I also remember being corrected on this forum a few years back when I incorrectly referred to the RAF Oakley BHQ as a bunker.

Dave.

According to the internet, Cheyenne Mountain is being reopened?

Harboda77;156093 wrote:

......The retired airman who was my host had completed his tour at Upper Heyford during the transition period from F4's to F1-11's and they were constructing their hardened shelters that are still visible.......

Dave.

To be historically accurate. 20 TFW transitioned from the F-100 to the F-111. (Yesterday I found the programme for the 1970 open house at UH. Somewhere I have some colourv slides.)

Graham

Harboda77;156369 wrote:

The ' Hardened Aircraft Shelters ' thread on this forum is worth taking the time to read as it adds some objective evidence to the discussion.

Last week I heard that the term ' Airfield Bunker ' is the correct term to use for a WW2 time period Airfield prior to the establishment of NATO however they standardized on new terminology post WW2 NATO.

Dave.

Nato terminology changed frequently. The "bible" was ATP 26, which was updated annually. Terminology was as usual for NATO decided by a committee and would depend upon where the chairman learnt English. (points were lost during taceval if current terminology was not used when reporting the results of a recce mission.) The point I am trying to make is that you cannot be dogmatic about NATO terminology.

Graham

Graham wrote:

To be historically accurate. 20 TFW transitioned from the F-100 to the F-111. (Yesterday I found the programme for the 1970 open house at UH. Somewhere I have some colourv slides.)

Graham

Hi Graham ~ I don't believe that the F4's were from the 20th and they may have been from the 66th ?

I also believe that these F4's were being phased out which resulted in my colleague being returned to the US and that the 20th may have moved in during 1970 so the end of the F4 period must have been around 1969.

Dave.

Dave,

I stand corrected. According to AFHRA, 66 TRW was inactivated at Upper Heyford on 1 April 1970. 17TRS was equipped with the RF-4C from 1969 to 1978, but was reassigned to 86TFW at Zweibrucken on 12 January 1970. 19 TRS flew the RF-4C from 1970 to 1979, but was reassigned to 363TRW at Shaw AFB on 30 January 1970. I suggest, however, that operation of the RF-4C at Upper Heyford was minimal.

20 TFW arrived at Upper Heyford from Wethersfield on 1 April 1970 with F-100s. The F-111s started to arrive in October 1970.

Graham

Alex wrote:

According to the internet, Cheyenne Mountain is being reopened?

Apparently the head of NORAD briefed the press to inform them that it was being reoccupied to protect their servers from an EMP attack.

I also believe that Raytheon were award a half a billion dollar contract to rewire the complex last month.

If what has been released is correct then NORAD & NORTHCOM will become the defense centre for North America and Croughton for Europe.

It must be nearly a decade ago it went into a care & maintenance but as an EMP hardened facility it would make economic sense to refurbish it.

If all of the various deterrents do fail and there was a nuclear exchange then it may also become the Trinitite centre for North America.

mbriscoe;156099 wrote:

Dollis Hill was the GPO's research establishment.

People from there were heavily involved Colossus and some of the other pieces of equipment at Bletchley Park (despite Turing getting the credit for EVERYTHING in the popular media!)

I always thought Dollis Hill was a Chinese lady living near Staples Corner?