alconbury / wyton

[staircase]

I not sure if this is the place to ask, but coming up the A1 the other day, for the first time in years, and I passed Alconbury, (and as a result Wyton), and things seemed very quite. Is anything going on or have they both closed?

Just general interest.

[bobward]

Alconbury has been closed for over 20 years. Wyton is also a non-flying airfield now that the Tutors have gone to Wittering. I think there may still be a civil club, and a police / air ambulance helicopter there.

Hope this helps

[thunderbolt78]

Alconbury is to become housing and business units after many years of indecision. Wyton now incorporated Brampton on site and is mostly admin. The airfield part is due to become houses too.

[staircase]

yeah thanks - no wonder it was quiet! Guess i am older than I thought.

[VictorGolf]

And both seem to be being lined up for major housing developments, more's the pity.

[SpringHeeledJack]

And both seem to be being lined up for major housing developments, more's the pity.

No doubt both got new runways and facilities just before closing the field to flying :hmm:


SHJ

[BEagle]

If I recall correctly, both airfields stopped military flying activities on 31 Mar 1995; I flew an approach at both on their last day in a VC10K.

Wyton opened up to UAS/AEF flying some years later, but even that has now ceased, leaving just the 3 aircraft of the Pathfinder Flying Club...

[Basil]

Wyton opened up to UAS/AEF flying some years later
When Wyton was an operational station we had UAS summer flying there. Not one of their Airships' most sagacious decisions :*

[BEagle]

One of the main reasons for UAS Summer Camps was to fly from an operational station! We went to Thorney Island and Marham, for example - although we also went to Newton and Abingdon...

Whereas nowadays, the RAF cannot afford such pleasures.

During the time after Wyton closed to flying, but before the UAS/AEF moved in, a Harrier mate was on some ground tour with the chairborne warriors in the Bazalgette Pavilions. He was getting fed up with the lazy starts to their day; if people were supposed to meet at a particular time, many of the plumbers and scribblies ambled in late.

So one day he had to give a brief at 0x00. Sure enough, as the stated time approached many of the non-aircrew were still fannying about and hadn't taken their seats. But at exactly 0x00, there was a thunderous roar as a Harrier went overhead very low and very fast. "Gentlemen", he started, "If I say 0x00, I mean 0x00. That aircraft made it on time, so I expect you to be on time too!".

:ok:

[SpringHeeledJack]

Am i imagining things, or did there used to be aggressor squadrons with various coloured camouflage F5's back in the 70's and 80's based at Alconbury ?


SHJ

[Double Hydco]

No you're not, they sure did.

DH

[Geordie_Expat]

Some good dances at Alconbury in the sixties too. You could even get breakfast if you hung on long enough (steaks etc). Good times.

[Wander00]

When we were at Wyton early 90s, youngest W was 3, so his intro to burgers, pizza, B&J etc was over at Alconbury. He loved it, and I kinda enjoyed it too. Watched a few baseball games too. One night we were having a supper party in our MQ and invited some of the US colonels - one turned up in jeans, bomber jacket and cowboy boots, and they all left at 9.30 pm. Was a bit put out until a week or two later we were at a civic function in Godmanchester and the US contingent again upped and left at 9,30 ish. Nice people but some odd habits.

[Basil]

Had my first and, I think, only Brandy Alexander at Alconbury. What did stand out was that the USAF seemed to spend a bit more on decor and ambience than the RAF.

[FantomZorbin]

BEagle
Re: Wyton, Brilliant.
Shortly after the chair polishers arrived in their pavilions a Tornado came in on a PD ... on departure it made a splendid sight in afterburner going skywards like a frightened lift. Immediately the SATCO's phone rang with a very, very irate Gp Capt complaining that the noise had disturbed his meeting and demanded to know the name of the pilot!!
That just about summed up the attitude of most of those 'jobsworths'.

[Basil]

One of the main reasons for UAS Summer Camps was to fly from an operational station!
OK for AEF and UAS dual training but it gets kinda irritating when a solo stude fails to understand repeated orders to clear the circuit and ends up forcing a four-jet, low on fuel, to go around.

[PapaDolmio]

Certainly some interesting times in ATC there, late 80's/90's.

"Mothball 1 and 2, with the Alconbury traffic passing 09 threshold in sight, clear take off".

[bobward]

The US Unit at Alconbury was the 527 Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor Squadron, who initially used F5E's. Towards the end of their tenure they upgraded to the F16, although these were in basic AD greys rather than pseudo WarPac colours.

The 527th moved to Bentwaters and disbanded in the early 1990's more's the pity.

For spotters the unit was a real magnet, due to the number of visiting units at Alconbury.

[BEagle]

I did a week with the 527th about 34 years ago. For the purpose we went in clean wing fit and were allowed much higher 'g' limits than the beancounters routinely allowed for our creaking old F-4s.

Quite how you were supposed to cope without ample previous 1v1 time in the F-4 I'm not sure. It was a rapid learning process and after a single DACT 1v1 against an F-5E, it was 2v1 F-4/F-4 in the afternoon, then another Iv1 the following day, before moving to 2v1, 2v2, 1v1v1 and finally 3v2....on the same day that Argentina invaded.

Off to Deci 6 weeks later, more ACT, including 2v2v2 with the 527th, the purpose of which escaped me - although it was epic fun...

Then back to peacetime 'g' limits for another year....:uhoh:

[scorpion63]

"If I recall correctly, both airfields stopped military flying activities on 31 Mar 1995; I flew an approach at both on their last day in a VC10K."

Took Canberra B6 XH568 out on 22 April 1996 Crew: Graham Hackett, Dusty Miller and myself post major service and also took WK163 out on 27 April 1999 crew Phil Shaw and myself, This would be the last ever Canberra flight from Wyton.

[Wander00]

Is Phil still around - my next door neighbour at Wyton, and he the last Boss of 360, and me the VERY Junior Pilot when it formed in 66

[deanm]

As a kid, I lived at Wyton 1965-69, before we were posted to Tengah.

I'm sure USAF F4s from Alconbury were common, high overhead (unless it was BEags & mates?!).

Alconbury was like another planet compared to Wyton - everything was BIG & shiny & new, with rock 'n roll music!

At Wyton, my kid brother & I used to pick mushrooms in the sports field at the end of one of the runways. A great hoot was hanging on to the perimeter fence as Victors did a formation take-off, billowing that very special smell of freshly-combusted jet fuel, which haunts to me to this day.

Dean

[Wander00]

Ahh, the smell of burned jet fuel - still does it for me now

[Avitor]

With John Major's house within spitting distance Alconbury stood no chance. The bar tender in the Sergeants mess was an amazing person, he would have a fast moving chair, take an order a mile long, remember the lot and then convert pounds to dollars in the twinkle of an eye.
If I remember correctly the high altitude spy plane was the last operational aircraft based there.

[chevvron]

I saw the TR1s operating there in '87, about that time RAE Bedford was planned as a Combined Operating Base (COB) for them; they even had a permanent detachment of 'reception crew' there ie high powered chase car and stock of wingtip supports.
Then they closed RAE Bedford!!

[Private jet]

For many years after its closure the runway at Alconbury was used by car manufacturers as a storage facility before the vehicles were sent off to dealerships, or as demo vehicles to potential customers or sold via trade auctions. I believe over 10000 were there at one stage. Other buildings and hangers were leased to a variety of different companies.
Alconbury was a superb candidate for conversion to a civil airport;
A long runway already in existence and lots of space to build a terminal. Excellent transport infastructure already in place, its next to both the A1 & A14 AND next to the east coast mainline to boot! All they needed to do was build a station... It was also positioned quite well geographically to fit into the airways network, airspace etc. But as already mentioned, the residence of one John Major was about a mile down the road so I seriously doubt it would have ever stood a chance.