V Bomber Base's
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!
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Norbury
Age: 82
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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!
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!
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 280
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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"!!!
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"!!!
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: london
Posts: 379
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
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.
Last edited by tornadoken; 6th Oct 2011 at 11:09.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Hazel Grove, Stockport
Age: 83
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tornadoken
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.
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Age: 87
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.")
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.")
Cunning Artificer
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The spiritual home of DeHavilland
Age: 76
Posts: 3,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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].
Last edited by Blacksheep; 18th Oct 2012 at 12:30. Reason: I forgot Lyneham
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: South Africa
Age: 87
Posts: 1,329
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lakerman
Coningsby closed October 64 to allow for runway mods
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.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Hazel Grove, Stockport
Age: 83
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.)
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.)
