RAF Tempsford

[Bro]

We are recently back from a tour of sites connected with WW2 SOE operations. Bletchley Park, the Intelligence Museum, the Shuttleworth Collection and the Carpetbaggers collection were outstanding. We were then taken to the remains of RAF Tempsford. What a mess. The buildings look as though they are about to fall down. Artifacts are being left to rot. It was all very sad especially given the history of the place. It is privately owned and is part of a working farm. My suggestion if you are thinking of trying to visit is don't, you are likely to come away as upset as I was.

[pilot8]

Sadly same goes for a lot of old RAF Stations and disused airfields, Wisley being one.
If you can get them to pay let them rot and then build houses on them!!

[chevvron]

Wisley was never RAF. When BAC moved out in about '73, the hangars were dismantled but the runway remains in-situ, albeit with 3 pairs of Armco barriers across it to protect 3 public rights of way.(so be very careful if you have engine failure and have to land there)

[aw ditor]

Book on RAF Tempsford by one Bernard O'Connor, Amberley Publishing'. Live not too far away and there is very little left, stub of a runway and a hangar by the railway line used as a recycling centre.

[Wageslave]

Wisley.

Yes, it was apparently seen more cost-effective to divvy the runway up into 4 armco-barriered sections to stop kids racing their Cortinas on it and risk murdering aircraft in trouble than to secure the boundary gates against said Cortinas.

All because of the pompous prats in literally the only couple of houses overlooking the field who objected to kids having fun in Cortinas.

ps. I was one of those kids, though with a National 100 Kart. One of the residents got incandescently irate with me despite being barely able to hear the thing.

Utterly insane.

[DaveReidUK]

So all redundant airfields should have their runways preserved intact on the off-chance that someone, sometime might want to use one for an emergency landing ?

[chevvron]

So all redundant airfields should have their runways preserved intact on the off-chance that someone, sometime might want to use one for an emergency landing ?
Great idea.
You could underline the crosses on the runway to indicate to pilots it's available for emergency use at their own risk.
Re Wisley; back in the early '80s a Jodel did an emergency landing there. Course he didn't know about the barriers; got it safely on the deck then took off the gear on the Armco.

[Matt Skrossa]

I go past Tempsford every day on the East Coast mainline and almost all of the airfield is covered in solar panels and has been for over a year.

[DaveReidUK]

I go past Tempsford every day on the East Coast mainline and almost all of the airfield is covered in solar panels and has been for over a year.

Hopefully they are aligned horizontally to facilitate emergency landings on top of them. :O

[asw28-866]

Hopefully they are aligned horizontally to facilitate emergency landings on top of them. :O
I think you are on to something DaveReidUK, here in OZ we have a three click VHF signal for PAL (Pilot Activated Lights) on many runways. With the growing population of solar farms, could we have a similar affair for activating horizontal panel alignment for emergency landings, PAR (Pilot Activated Runways) perhaps? :-)

[Warmtoast]

2016 Image from Google


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/2016%20Google%20Image_zps1ndlw15c.jpg

[Groundloop]

That's not a 2016 image. It is dated 6/2/2009. That's the most recent image on Google Earth.

[Warmtoast]

Apologies. I saw Google 2016 at the bottom of the screen of Google Earth and assumed that was the date taken.

[DaveReidUK]

The plan of the solar farm here:

http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/portal/showimage.asp?j=CB/13/03549&index=514213

suggests that it's on the opposite (southern) side of the road from the airfield itself, up against the railway line (bottom LH corner of the above Google image).

[DeepC]

Whilst some of the wartime dispersal pads were in the field south of Everton Road (where the solar panels are) the runways and hangars (and Gibraltar Farm Barn) are north of Everton Road and hence not covered in Solar Panels.

One good thing about the airfield being a quiet working farm is the numbers of birds or prey and owls that love hunting across the paved areas unhindered by anything. I love the solitude of the place and regularly walked around there over the last 11 years.

Gibraltar Farm Barn should be in public ownership. It is so historically significant.

I would encourage anyone to visit Tempsford Museum (open once a month in the Stuart Memorial Hall) it now has lots of RAF Tempsford items.

[Bro]

That was the point of my original post. RAF Tempsford and Gibraltar Barn of of imense historical significance. They should be looked after.

[Avitor]

Think I am right in saying Lysanders flew from Thempsford, landed in occupied territory and delivered/collected some brave people.

[Wander00]

I had the privilege of knowing one of the pilots, Sir Alan Boxer. never said much about it. Also flew in B29s over Korea

[DaveReidUK]

That was the point of my original post. RAF Tempsford and Gibraltar Barn of of immense historical significance. They should be looked after.

I agree.

http://www.tempsfordmemorial.co.uk/uploads/3/2/6/7/3267118/6756078_orig.jpg

[safetypee]

Sad, sad times, particularly when we forget history.
First visited Tempsford 65+ years ago, walked down the hill from Everton. Most of the airfield at that time was complete, but the aircraft had gone.
Lysanders and Halifax (and others) used the airfield; always wondered how the larger aircraft made the NW approach over the Everton hill, guess they didn't try. A good hill for sledding.
Later on in the ATC, the local ATC Commander was an ex Halifax radio operator, didn't say much about ops, but then he had a metal plate in his head.
My parents were squatting in the old WRAF medical centre in Everton; the winter of 47 was very cold. I recall some POWs and model gifts they left.
Later I learnt to drive on the runways.
Don't remember the memorial, but local history links the airfield with Hazels Hall up on the hill, reported as the 'posh' reception-departure centre. The locals knew but they didn't say.

[Cuillin Hills]

My grandmother's brother was a Flight Engineer on a 138 Squadron Halifax (DT542 NF-Q) that crashed departing Malta for Tempsford (via Gibraltar) on 17 Dec 1942.

The aircraft had an unusually high number of passengers on board as it returned them to the UK from Egypt.

The accident was believed to have been caused by a lack of visual cues and departing into 'blackness' as they turned over the coast shortly after departure at around midnight, with a subsequent loss of control.

More details and information on the accident and 138/161 Squadron losses:

http://http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Bedfordshire/TempsfordAircrewLost1942.html (http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Bedfordshire/TempsfordAircrewLost1942.html)