V Bomber Base's

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

Which RAF aerodromes in the UK were the main bases for the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant?

[Fake Sealion]

Not sure about the early 1950's ones but they include in no particular order -

Scampton, Waddington, Finningley, Marham

[Fake Sealion]

Plus......Cottesmore, Conningsby, Gaydon, Honnington, Wittering & Wyton

There was also around 35 bases in the UK where the V force could deploy should the balloon have ascended.

[The SSK]

If it ain't in Wikipedia it ain't worth knowing

List of V Bomber dispersal bases - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-Bomber_Dispersal_Bases)

[Milt]

V Bomber Bases

Perhaps the only base/establishment to have all 3 at the same time would be Boscombe Down.

I recall that there was a fleeting opportunity for an airborne photo shoot of the 3 in formation on Battle of Britain day in September 57 when we launched at the same time for over flights of multiple RAF bases. Had Gp Capt Goodman in the right seat of a Vulcan so had to behave myself. Does anyone remember seeing it go by?

[Atcham Tower]

That Wiki entry does not include Mildenhall. There were Valiants and Victors dispersed there in August 1960.

[sisemen]

The Wiki entry also has Wittering listed as HQ Bomber Command :=

Also I think that Stornoway was a dispersal option.

[D120A]

Milt, please see your PMs.

[Ringway Flyer]

In my 'plane spotting days - early 60s - I remember being at Ringway, on the south side, one summer evening. An unusual call sign was heard on the wireless. 'Overhead in one minute', said the wireless. All binoculars all trained on the 24 approach.... nothing in view!? Then, exactly one minute later, a mighty earth shaking roar announced the arrival of a Vulcan - behind us from the south! It was low, and climbed away, as Vulcans do, with four smokey exhausts marking it's progress to the east. 'See you next month' said the wireless....

Happy days. :D

[Wander00]

CLX-Ray - just to be pedantic, any chance of removing the aberrent apostrophe from the title, please?:)

[Blacksheep]

Yeah: and only the cousins had "bases". Royal Air Force Bomber Command operated from Stations in those heady V Force days.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

There was provision for Heathrow to be used as a diversion field.

[millerscourt]

WanderOO

Do you mean aberrAnt or abhorrent?:{ I think a question mark is also missing from your text to be equally pedantic.

[Wander00]

My spell check gives either - but have just noticed that for some reason my PC was spell checking in "English-USA". OED gives "...ant" so happy to bow and go with that.- and it was a comment not a question, hence no "?" But then for some reason, odd use of apostrophes, like the greengrocer's "potato's" has always annoyed me - don't know why.

[Hipper]

The potato's' apostroph' could b' th'r' inst'ad of th' 'e'.

[millerscourt]

WanderOO

You were asking CLX whether there was any chance he could correct base's to bases. I consider that a question which demands a question mark.Do you still disagree????????:}

[Ringway Flyer]

I too find the incorrectly used apostrophe frustrating... For all of those of you who would like to know more, have a look here...

Apostrophe Protection Society (http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/)

:ok:

[Grob Queen]

Getting back to the original post!!
As a professional military historian (and fledgling pilot) I would not advocate the use of Wikipedia! :=

There is a good series of Commercially published books called "Airfields of..." Look in those and you should find the answer. However, Vulcan's definitely flew form Waddo and a bit of James Bond Trivia for you..in ( I think it was Thunderball) the Vulcans taking off was filmed at Waddo. :)

[Steve Bond]

My memory comes up with the following as the main bases for V-bombers;

Valiant - Finningley, Gaydon (OCU), Honington, Marham, Wyton
Victor - Cottesmore, Gaydon (OCU), Honington, Marham, Wittering, Wyton
Vulcan - Akrotiri, Cottesmore, Finningley (OCU), Scampton, Waddington

[exgroundcrew]

I don't believe Mildenhall was used as a dispersal site for V-bombers, we did use it for a few weeks in the early 60s when RAF Honingtons runway was being resurfaced. 90sqdn Valiants and 55/57 Sqdn Victors were involved. 90sqdns normal dispersal was RNAS Yeovilton.

[Atcham Tower]

That's very interesting, Mr Exgroundcrew, thanks for correcting my assumption about it being a dispersal base. From my spotting log, I see that there were five Valiants and two Victors parked at Mildenhall on 21 August 1960. The Victors were from 57 Sqn. Not sure about the Valiants as the USAF Air Police arrived with threatening gestures so we quickly departed!

[exgroundcrew]

I was on 90sqdn and were at RNAS Yeovilton and due to return to RAF Honington after the runway was resurfaced. Unfortunately I believe the first Victor from 55Sqdn had multiple tyre bursts that trashed the new runway so the others, both Victors and Valiants diverted to nearby Mildenhall and we operated from there for a few weeks.
You are corrected about the USAF police because Mildenhall had large white circles painted on the concrete and a single aircraft was parked in each circle. A small caravan was positioned just outside each circle manned by an armed USAF policeman. Before passing these lines you were required to show your pass to him. I needed to work on one of the Valiants radars so I drove in the "signals" waggon, stopped, showed my pass and was allowed to proceed to the Valiant. Realizing I needed some test equipment from the van, I walked back to it and attempted to go back to the Valiant. The USAF policeman jumped out of his caravan, aimed his gun at me and said Halt or I shoot,and I mean it!. I retorted that he had already seen my pass but his response was, every time you cross that line you must come to the caravan and show your pass again!

[jindabyne]

However, Vulcan's definitely flew form Waddo

Take it you're not a writer as well then :uhoh:

[Kieron Kirk]

"Vulcan - Akrotiri, Cottesmore, Finningley (OCU), Scampton, Waddington"

Coningsby-12 Squadron.

Ciarain.

[Grob Queen]

Jundabyne,
Please excuse the typos, I of course meant "From" Waddo (or Waddington in full). New laptop and getting used to the tiny keyboard! Was trying to be helpful and passing on something of what I have learnt from a 13 year career!!

...and no, work and flying take up my time...haven't got time to "Wryte"!!!;)

[tornadoken]

CLX's #1 Q was for V-bases. The A depends on what he means by "base". With schools and homes, Class I airfields assigned to Vs were:
Akrotiri
Coningsby
Cottesmore
Finningley
Gaydon
Honington
Marham
Scampton
Waddington
Wittering
Wyton (PR).
Assigned Units are listed in H.Wynn,RAF Nuclear Deterrent Forces, HMSO,1994.
Detached duty to FEAF/Butterworth/Tengah was undertaken by Victor 1/Vulcan 2, 8/12/63-8/71. Major Servicing was by 19 and 32 MUs/St.Athan; MoA assigned individual trials examples widely.

Dispersal is not so straightforward. Aircraft armed with US weapons could not be dispersed, armed. So, for example, 90 Sqdn/Valiant exercised dispersal to Yeovilton, but could not do so with its weapon. The first British weapons, Blue Danube, Violet Club and Yellow Sun Mk.1 were not intended for dispersal. Sites prepared in the period 1961-64 with Operational Readiness Platforms for 2 or 4 aircraft with Blue Steel, WE177B, or Yellow Sun Mk.2 were assigned thus:
for Coningsby's Vulcan 2: Burtonwood (early-1963-11/64);
for Cottesmore's Vulcan 2: Ballykelly, MoA Boscombe Down, Leconfield, MoA Llanbedr, Lyneham, MoA Pershore, St.Mawgan, Thorney Is., Valley, RNAS Yeovilton;
for Scampton's Vulcan 2: RNAS Brawdy, Kinloss, Leeming, RNAS Lossiemouth, MoA Bedford;
for Waddington's Vulcan 2: BAC Filton, Leuchars, Machrihanish, Manston, Wattisham;
for Wittering's Victor 2: Bruntingthorpe, Coltishall.

There was some joint-use between Wings, inc. Victor B.1/Honington to 6/11/65. Elvington and Middleton St.George (to 1966), RAFC Cranwell, MoA Farnborough/W.Freugh/(FRL) Tarrant Rushton, and after 4/65 ex-USAF/SAC sites Brize Norton/Fairford/Greenham Common/Upper Heyford all exercised dispersal. Hi-profile visits to such civil runways as Prestwick, Ringway, Stansted, offered shell-game decoy-QRA. Bomber/Strike Command mounted dispersal Q from 1/2/62 to 30/6/69 (Wynn,P.554). NEAF practised dispersal to Masirah/Oman, Mashhad & Mehrabad/Iran and Peshawar/Pakistan, which were also recovery havens for ex-UK sorties.

[lakerman]

I was at Coningsby 62-64 with 9. 12 and 35 Squadrons. Dispersals at this time were Pershore and RNAS Yeovilton, and I went to both during this period. Coningsby closed October 64 to allow for runway mods etc prior to the first TSR2 (Thanks Mr Wilson) arrival and all aircraft went to Cottismore.

[Nick Odell]

And there should be a comma before "to be." In fact, to be an easier read, the sentence should start with "To be pedantic, ... "

And I disagree that insisting on correct grammar is pedantic, any more than insisting on correct spelling, the use of upper case letters for proper nouns and the initial letter of a word beginning a sentence. All of these have fallen into disuse, especially the apostrophe. On both sides of the Atlantic, illiteracy is increasing at a record rate. I can't speak for my old homeland, but in the USA, a huge percentage of teachers is illiterate, so it's a case of the blind - or at least one-eyed - leading the blind.

(Before someone corrects me, "percentage" is a singlular noun; thus "is," not "are.")

[Blacksheep]

To add to the list, from Waddington I remember being dispersed to Valley, Brawdy, Lyneham and Honington [which was under care & maintenance, post Victors, pre-Buccaneers at the time].

[Barksdale Boy]

I may have missed it but I don't think anyone has mentioned Hemswell - 83 Sqn.

[ian16th]

Coningsby closed October 64 to allow for runway modsThey hadn't lasted well!

I was posted into Coningsby Oct 56, it was reopening as a V-Bomber station after upgrading to V Status, including the runways and Electronics Centre etc.

We had 57 Sqdn with B2 Canberra's to 'work up' the station and visiting V's came to do circuits and bumps. These activities cracked the new runways!!!

The runways were re-done before eventually Vulcan's arrived. Long after my time as I was posted out in Sept 57.

[lakerman]

ian16th, I am a tad younger than you and came to Coningsby from Germany. The runway mods were supposed to be for the automatic landing system, rather than runways being repaired.
Enjoyed my time at Coningsby, when it closed, I went to Chivenor. That was a lovely quiet place after all the noise of the Vulcans even though there were supposed to be 84 Hunters of various marks at Chivenor (never counted them myself and I left the RAF after a year there anyway.)