Report - RAF Greenham Common - May 2018

[Netsa]

Greenham common RAF was used between 1941-1992. It has Cold War bunkers and was also recently used in the filming of the Star Wars film the force awakens. Stored inside some of the tunnels were Thomas the Tank Engine and friends among old army crates which used to contain MK16 Spitfire engines as well as other military equipment. Pictures taken by John Pringle.

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Nice update that is, thanks. That place gets stranger and stranger...

 

[Tocsin35]

was there about a month back and they are doing a lot of work on the place and the police apparently now use it for live firing training as well as dog training so one to be careful with

 

[obscurity]

was there about a month back and they are doing a lot of work on the place and the police apparently now use it for live firing training as well as dog training so one to be careful with

I was there I think it was early last year with @R_yoda and they were doing training then as we found out after jumping a few fences before seeing a load of signs and police cars, we couldn't believe how lively it was.

 

[Regcar]

Nice photos - Is Thomas the Tank Engine still our main line of defence?

 

[TrevBish]

Would of been nice of you to ask my permission to use my drone photo! Nice report though.

 

[Netsa]

Drone picture credit: www.TrevBish.co.uk

 

[Regcar]

Could I ask a question please. I have never used a drone or known anyone with a drone. The pictures on TrevBish look very sharp and good. What sort of camera is capable of this quality, but is small/light enough to be used. Cannot believe that a digital SLR is used. Are the pictures improved with Photoshop afterwards. Are there many problems witrh access, or is it a matter of being quick and getting out?

 

[TrevBish]

Could I ask a question please. I have never used a drone or known anyone with a drone. The pictures on TrevBish look very sharp and good. What sort of camera is capable of this quality, but is small/light enough to be used. Cannot believe that a digital SLR is used. Are the pictures improved with Photoshop afterwards. Are there many problems witrh access, or is it a matter of being quick and getting out?

I had a phantom 3 advanced. I edit in lightroom. I use a Canon 70D DSLR.

 

[Regcar]

Thanks - I never realised that a drone could carry the weight of a proper DSLR. Are the photos shown here taken as individual shots, or cut from a video? Your site does you credit, and I found it very interesting. Looking at the drone I am now getting confused. The page on Amazon shows a built in camera. Are you actually using your Canon on the drone. Imagine it is much higher quality than a built in drone camera. Maybe the drone can carry a built in camera and a seperate DSLR. Watch people using them off the aqueduct near here, but they seem more like toys ,and they never seem to realise the power lines nearby, or is it part of the fun too see how near you can get?

 

[TrevBish]

Thanks - I never realised that a drone could carry the weight of a proper DSLR. Are the photos shown here taken as individual shots, or cut from a video? Your site does you credit, and I found it very interesting. Looking at the drone I am now getting confused. The page on Amazon shows a built in camera. Are you actually using your Canon on the drone. Imagine it is much higher quality than a built in drone camera. Maybe the drone can carry a built in camera and a seperate DSLR. Watch people using them off the aqueduct near here, but they seem more like toys ,and they never seem to realise the power lines nearby, or is it part of the fun too see how near you can get?

Hi, I'm a little confused lol. To clarify. The drone has a built-in camera that I used. But edit in lightroom.

All other photos are taken with 70D.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Hello UK-Urbexer’s,

I’m new here so I will give a short introduction.

I’m a historian from The Netherlands and mainly interested in the Cold War era. For almost 10 years now I have done many travels and research in the Former Soviet-Union Republics in order to visit all of the former launch sites where missiles with nuclear warheads where deployed, pointing their targets on Western Europe. To give you an impression about my work please have a look on my website www.remnants.nl

Unfortunately our website is entirely written in Dutch although it give an good impression of my work. In the near future I hope to make some English pages on the website as well. While I’m almost done in the former Soviet-Union (I have visit 104 Intermediate Range Ballistic missile launch sites so far of an total of 159!) I have some ideas for the second step of this project. I would like to visit and photograph the former (out of service/abandoned) bases where the Western countries had deployed / stored their nuclear weapons during the Cold War. I have already been to the South of Italy (Jupiter missiles) and South of French where the French had their missiles placed in rocket silo’s at the plateau de Albion.

This week I’m heading for the UK to start the first visits (mainly to former THOR-missiles launch sites) and I’m wondering if there is also an possibility to pay an visit to the Greenham Common GAMA site? If anyone can are willing to help my with this or to provide me with inside information how to arrange a visit to this remarkable site it would be very appreciated! For the one who can help me further with this our even join me I will send a brand new copy of the book of the Soviet part of this project for free as soon it has seen daylight.

You can also send me an PM off course .

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Tocsin35]

Hello UK-Urbexer’s,

I’m new here so I will give a short introduction.

I’m a historian from The Netherlands and mainly interested in the Cold War era. For almost 10 years now I have done many travels and research in the Former Soviet-Union Republics in order to visit all of the former launch sites where missiles with nuclear warheads where deployed, pointing their targets on Western Europe. To give you an impression about my work please have a look on my website www.remnants.nl

Unfortunately our website is entirely written in Dutch although it give an good impression of my work. In the near future I hope to make some English pages on the website as well. While I’m almost done in the former Soviet-Union (I have visit 104 Intermediate Range Ballistic missile launch sites so far of an total of 159!) I have some ideas for the second step of this project. I would like to visit and photograph the former (out of service/abandoned) bases where the Western countries had deployed / stored their nuclear weapons during the Cold War. I have already been to the South of Italy (Jupiter missiles) and South of French where the French had their missiles placed in rocket silo’s at the plateau de Albion.

This week I’m heading for the UK to start the first visits (mainly to former THOR-missiles launch sites) and I’m wondering if there is also an possibility to pay an visit to the Greenham Common GAMA site? If anyone can are willing to help my with this or to provide me with inside information how to arrange a visit to this remarkable site it would be very appreciated! For the one who can help me further with this our even join me I will send a brand new copy of the book of the Soviet part of this project for free as soon it has seen daylight.

You can also send me an PM off course .

Many thanks in advance!

sent you a message hope i can help

 

[Netsa]

Had a brief visit today still plenty to see!

 

[Gothicsteam]

What did happen to those Thomas props if anybody knows? They were used for a run of arena live shows in the UK and Japan. They went up for auction last year and as far as I’ve read they were disposed off. Can anyone give me any more info about the props fate?