Greenham Common.. and first postings.

[BEagle]

AlR- it was at Biggin Hill and he was flying a Vampire in formation with a Sea Vixen; the Venom had unfortunately landed wheels-up earlier and was not able to participate in the display.

See http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...pdf_507791.pdf

[Top Bunk Tester]

Al R

First met Ken Hayr when he was in charge of Cyprus (Can't remember the exact title) but he was an Air Cdre then in the early 80s. We taught him to skydive at Kingsfied. He then used to fly the Islander regularly at Weston-On-The-Green, up until his untimely and tragic death at Biggin Hill in 2001. Never have I met a more courteous, respectful and truly gentle man as Ken. He is still sorley missed. Respect

[Al R]

The title was Commander British Forces Cyprus, Top Bunk.

Did you serve out there? I was there from 84-88. The RAF chappie before him (I forget his name.. Air Commodore Offard perhaps?), if I remember correctly, drew the first prize at the Akrotiri open day raffle in 84 and his wife won the car (it was a Honda Civic Aerodeck I think). Anyway, she walked off with it instead of throwing it back in the pot which everyone was expecting.. to many whispers of shady goings on I might add (fear of litigation compels me to add the rider, 'I didn't believe a word of it mind').

Sir Ken was OC 1(F) too, when it first got the Harrier. We did many sunset ceremonies at Air House (being smarter than the army of course), and he unfailingly took time to come and chat with the troops. But in a genuine manner, and not in the usual contrived and patronising manner which many senior officers successfully struggle so hard to master.

[Wander00]

Ken Hayr was a real gentleman, even when things did not go to plan. As AOC 11Gp, he was on his way to carry out his AOC's Inspection at Neatishead - arrived by air at Coltishall, and on the way across to Neaters the staff car broke down - he arrived crammed into OC Admin's mini, with his sword rammed in between his knees and a slightly stiff expression - but he thawed out as the day went on and it turned into a "good day"

[Rossian]

Wg Cdr Spry

When Ken Hayr was the embodiment of the title he came to St Mawgan to give a presentation on flight safety. At some point, his mention of "time off" led to a rumble of dissent from the assembled throng. He switched off the OHP (pre power point means of presenting for the yoof) and said "Well, that seems to have rattled a few bars; what's it all about? Who had last w/e off as a start?" No hands went up. "The w/e before?" No hands went up.
A flt cdr on the OCU said "Leave out the OCU chaps but keep going with the squadron (42)"
Eventually a SNCO on 42 said "I had Christmas day off sir" This was May!
Part of it was that in order to justify the hideous cost of the sim we used to have Sat evening slots that finished at 0100 Sun morning (full Nimrod crew trainer).
To his credit the Sat evening sim slots stopped at that point.

His minion was sent to SHQ to inspect the leave records of ALL aircrew, and as a result the very next morning I was ordered to fill in a leave pass and go home for two weeks. (kids in school, wife in college, WX was crap but I wasn't at work!). He was the sort of chap one would have followed a VERY long way. He listened and ACTED, a rare combination.

The Ancient Mariner

[Flatiron]

Brings Back Memories

Al R. Many thanks for the photos. Time moves on and the last time I was at GC, my former office was a T-shirt printing shop. GC had the second longest op runway in the UK which explains why it served as a Space Shuttle diversion. Talking of protestors, there was a gay camp and a straight camp. If they had ever got their act together they might have caused me problems, but they hated each other more than us. Happy days.

[soddim]

Good to see the albeit belated tributes to Ken Hayr. What many may not know is how effective he was as ACAS(Ops) during the Falklands war. Briefings to him were a breeze - he knew what we were talking about as operators and needed little detail to fully understand the action needed to implement the policy.

Not just one of life's gentlemen but a very proficent Air-Vice Marshall - how many of those have Ppruners met in their lifetime?

[taxydual]

Ken Hayr was my 'big' boss at one time, I was a 'minion'. I met him the once.

Three years later, he pulled me up in a car park. "I know you" he said.

He remembered our only, very brief, meeting.

An Officer and a Gentleman.

'nuff said.

[Wycombe]

Some time back on this thread Jackonicko said:

In Greenham you had:

a huge runway, rendered surplus by the end of the Cold War, on the right side of London, yards from an existing railway line, and a sneeze away from the M4, close by a town that already needed a by-pass spur down from the M4.

....and it's just been announced that said railway line will be electrified out as far as Newbury, and that there will be lots of new rolling stock to replace the ageing diesel HST's.

Although this might appear to have been a great site for a major hub, I wonder whether it ever would have happened when you consider the establishment that lies directly under the final approach to the westerly runway?

[Gainesy]

I'll bite then, what establishment Wycombe?

[pr00ne]

Atomic Weapons Research Establishment under the approach at one end, the town of Newbury under the approach at the other end.

A "useful" airfield from the local community point of view? I think not.

[kluge]

Fascinating thread for many reasons, names, places, aircraft......

Per AL R's pics I attended that airshow at the tender age of sixteen with big bro and remember the ominous skies as captured in his pics. Mine were the same. Must dig out my old kodachromes and post.

I do recall that there was a TR-1 at that airshow and being surprised at the noise of its departure.

"Operational TR-1A's were used by the 17th Reconnaissance Wing, Royal Air Force Station Alconbury, England, starting in February 1983."

[Moosehunter]

Hot Air?

An old thread - and a long shot, but... you never know. I was on the MRF Det at Greenham in summer of 87. I don't remember much about it really other than being constantly exhausted or ****faced in Newbury - and of that bit I remember even less. One thing I do recall is a hot air balloon approaching the perimeter fence at the back of the Gamma Site one afternoon or evening. I'm only asking on the slim chance if anyone else was there at that time and recalls this incident?

I'm also curious as to why a licensed balloon 'pilot' would risk his/her livelihood being anywhere near probably the world's most controversial missile base at that time?

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by Al R

Sorry Founder, I should have made that clearer. Thanks Whirls.

Whirly, I think the runway at Greenham was the longest in mainland UK, and was deignated a stand by landing site for the Shuttle at one point.

Absolute rubbish.
Greenham, along with many other SAC airfields, was the standard 10,000ft (as was also originally planned for the US Navy at Blackbushe) and far shorter than even Heathrow or Gatwick. SAC wanted them to be extended to 12,000ft but the UK said no.
Shuttle standby landing sites were initially at Banjul (The Gambia) and later Torrejon (Spain). Shuttle launch trajectories would have come nowhere near the UK.

[ShyTorque]

Well done on going back fourteen and a half years just to tell someone their opinion is rubbish.

(I thought it was the landings they were worried about, rather than the launch, in any case).

[B Fraser]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Shuttle standby landing sites were initially at Banjul (The Gambia) and later Torrejon (Spain). Shuttle launch trajectories would have come nowhere near the UK.

The mate / de-mate rig was at Banjul in the late '80s before it was relocated to Dakar IIRC (or it was nicked). There were designated alternates at Fairford, Shannon and as far north as Arlanda. The Iberian peninsula had a number of designated strips including Beja, Moron, Zaragosa and Rota.

Launch profile 3B was never flown, but would have crossed the arctic circles.

[Asturias56]

Originally Posted by Moosehunter

An old thread - and a long shot, but... you never know. I was on the MRF Det at Greenham in summer of 87. I don't remember much about it really other than being constantly exhausted or ****faced in Newbury - and of that bit I remember even less. One thing I do recall is a hot air balloon approaching the perimeter fence at the back of the Gamma Site one afternoon or evening. I'm only asking on the slim chance if anyone else was there at that time and recalls this incident?

I'm also curious as to why a licensed balloon 'pilot' would risk his/her livelihood being anywhere near probably the world's most controversial missile base at that time?

Why? because they had little choice if the wind changed direction. IIRC Senora A did a flight with them that took her over Greenham, Aldermaston and the arms dump on the M4. I had to drive over half the Southern counties to the constantly changing landing point.

I think the basic, oddly enlightened view, was that there was nothing you could see from the balloon that you couldn't see from a satellite and that altho Speztnas were clever, they had standards and drew the line at trying to insert an assault team with a balloon,

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Absolute rubbish….
Shuttle standby landing sites were initially at Banjul (The Gambia) and later Torrejon (Spain). Shuttle launch trajectories would have come nowhere near the UK.

There were quite a few potential Transatlantic (TAL) abort sites in addition to the two above, it all depended on launch azimuth and a few other variables.

Mostly the Shuttle went for relatively low inclination orbits, around about 28 degrees and in that case you are right, those launches wouldn’t have come near the UK.

OTOH the shuttle did occasionally launch into significantly higher inclination orbits, e.g. the ones needed serve the ISS were up at around 52 degrees and those could mean the Shuttle tracking close to the Uk, though preferred landing sites were a bit further south, places such as Istres-Le Tube.

For at least one mission RAF Fairford was designated and prepared as a potential landing site in the event of a Trans-Atlantic Orbit, I never heard of Greenham being in the frame.

Shuttle Abort Sites

[Union Jack]

Originally Posted by ShyTorque

Well done on going back fourteen and a half years just to tell someone their opinion is rubbish.

(I thought it was the landings they were worried about, rather than the launch, in any case).

"Two lovely black eyes, two lovely black eyes
Only for telling the man he was wrong, I got two lovely black eyes"...

Jack

[paulross]

Not the Shuttle perhaps but I remember that on 29 July 1981 Greenham Common became the standby landing site for the Gliding Nationals held at Lasham that year. The reason was the Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. There was a Purple Airway over the Waterloo-Basingstoke-Romsey railway line as they went off by train on their honeymoon (presumably, this was to deter airborne photographers). The Purple Airway prevented southbound gliders completing at Lasham. Instead they completed at Greenham and were aero towed back to Lasham once the Purple Airway was dropped.