RAF Upper Heyford 1 of 2

Location: Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, UK

Date of visit: October 2023

Type: Former Airbase

‘Warsaw Pact Central Heating’ was the motto of the F-111 crews, this being the case RAF Upper Heyford might be best viewed as the Warsaw Pact’s boiler – it was Europe’s largest Cold War fighter base.

Starting life as an aerodrome in 1918 with six wooden hangars and a tarmac apron, Upper Heyford was briefly home to the newly formed Canadian Air Force before closing in 1920.

With WWI over, there was good reason for the RAF to think the base was no longer needed – WWI was the ‘War to end all wars’ after all and on top of this, the League of Nations had formed with the power and resolution to quickly resolve any future European dispute.

Or so was the plan…

Turns out Germany wasn’t too happy with post-war arrangements and cracks began to form in the European peace. Concerns over the ability of the French to occupy the Rhineland in the early 20s led to the re-establishment of the base as a grass flying field from which bombers could reach potential targets in France – construction had cost £395,000 by 1928.

Moving onto the early 30s, Germany began to do what it specifically promised that it would definitely not do and re-arm.

British bombers of the time lacked the range to reach Germany from Upper Heyford so their squadrons moved to stations further east, for the remainder of the decade and throughout WWII RAF Upper Heyford was principally a training station for bomber crews. Significant work took place at the airfield in late 1943 with the construction of three concrete runways laid out in an ‘A’ plan – a standard RAF design of the period.

RAF Upper Heyford as it appeared in 1947 prior to SAC modifications¹

Unfortunately despite being even larger than the original and claiming many more lives, WWII was not the war to end all wars either. Before it had even finished a divide had opened between the former allies of the east and west. Tensions were on the rise again with the armies of the USSR eyeing up their rivals to the West across a divided Germany.

During the immediate post war period, RAF Upper Heyford maintained its focus on training and was the base for the 1st Glider and Paratroop Training School from March 1946.

In a similar fashion to how the base assumed a renewed importance in the 1920s, come the end of the 1940s RAF Upper Heyford gained a fresh significance within the context of the Cold War.

Wanting to boost deployed forces to counter the soviet threat, the USAF’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) selected RAF Upper Heyford as one of four airfields in England at which they would base their bomber forces.

In 1950 work commenced to extend the runway², add new hardstandings suitable for heavy bombers, weapons storage areas and a total of 170 new buildings. Included in these buildings were huge ‘nose docking’ sheds which allowed strategic bombers to park nose first in such a way that their front fuselage and engines could be maintained away from the elements whilst the tail stuck out onto the apron. Any engineers working on the tail would just have to get wet – sorry.

To house the US engineers sent to work on the SAC upgrades, accommodation blocks were built on the south west corner of the base. These were later used as the base’s Dependents High School, for classrooms and following the closure of the base in 1994 by the police for their own training needs. Today the huts have been cleared in favour of new housing although at time of writing the old buildings are still visible on satellite imagery.

During this phase of construction, the northern bomb store was added suitable for nuclear bombs whilst a southern bomb store was built for non-nuclear munitions.

Designed from the outset to accommodate nuclear weapons, the ‘igloos’ of the northern bomb store had blast walls at their entrances. Within the site are a number of administrative buildings including a two story building disguised as an office block (Building 1007) but actually a concrete block built as a secure vault for nuclear ‘capsules’ or triggers.

The base was formally handed over to the USAF in 1951 with a number of B-50s arriving the same year and then later in the decade the massive B-52s for which the main runway had to be widened. Further work would be conducted in 1976 when the runway was resurfaced and had added to it at either end an arrester wire system.

Deployment of various bomber types continued until 1965, the early 60s also saw a number of U2 spy planes operating from Upper Heyford to monitor soviet nuclear tests.

A B-47 at RAF Upper Heyford during the 1950s³

With the French withdrawing from NATO in 1966, Upper Heyford then became at short notice the base to a number of RF-101 Voodoo fighters of the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing that had previously been based in France but now made homeless. Later it hosted RF-4C Phantoms when the same unit converted to them in 1968.

Having seen how effectively Israel had been able to destroy the Egyptian Air Force whilst their planes were still on the ground during the 1967 Six-Day War, NATO began to reevaluate the survivability of their own air forces in the face of soviet air attack. The deterrent effect of NATO’S nuclear capable planes was lessened if they were vulnerable to destruction before they even got airborne. The landscape of RAF Upper Heyford would drastically change in response to this threat during the 1970s.

Unprotected Egyptian Air Force planes destroyed on the ground during the Six Day Way – NATO were nervous their nice jet planes might meet a similar fate if the Russians attacked ⁴

Around the same time, NATO strategy shifted from Mutually Assured Destruction to Flexible Response under which aggression could be met by a range of different nuclear and non-nuclear military options- again requiring survivability of forces if it was to be credible.

In 1970 the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing relocated to RAF Upper Heyford, initially operating the F100D Super Sabre but soon transitioning to the aircraft perhaps most closely associated with the base – the F-111 Aardvark, the world’s first swept wing production fighter.

The 20th TFW had three squadrons – the 79th Tigers, the 77th Gamblers and the 55th Fighting Fifty Fifth – each with 24 aircraft.

F-111s from four squadrons fly over RAF Upper Heyford⁵

Designed to please both US Air Force and US Navy requirements, some argue the F-111 ended up doing neither.

Numerous issues were encountered during the development phase including stalling engines and cracks developing that risked the wings falling off (wings play a relatively important role in keeping the aeroplane aloft).

It was only purchased by one other country (Australia) when it went into production, the US Navy didn’t adopt it at all with a particular issue it being too heavy to land on their carriers without the risk of it running off the end of the deck and turning itself into a submarine.

In balance, the F-111 did see extensive combat in Vietnam and served reliably during the Gulf War too. It also introduced a number of groundbreaking technologies including afterburning turbofans, terrain following radar, had an innovative escape capsule system and was later adapted for the electronic warfare mission.

From the Air Force’s requirements, the role of the F-111 was that of long-range strike capable of penetrating Soviet air defences at very low altitudes and high speeds to deliver an internally carried nuclear bomb. The F-111 would be a constant feature at Upper Heyford for the next thirty years.

Turning up the heat – a mission patch on a wall at RAF Upper Heyford⁶

The move of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing to Upper Heyford was both a blessing and a curse to the area. On the upside, it assured the future of the base and will have generated a huge amount of income for the local economy with the American service personnel making use of local pubs and probably winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of a few bar girls too.

Less popular was the noise pollution – the F-111 was a big aircraft and taking off on full afterburner made what local vicars would have described as “something of a racket”, aircraft landing were only a little less loud. The village of Ardley was about a kilometer from the runway’s eastern threshold, Upper Heyford and Steeple Aston weren’t much further from the other end. Wanting to be good neighbours, the pilots would bank steeple after takeoff to avoid flying directly over populated areas. In addition, core flying hours were restricted to between 8AM and 4PM, although there were provisions to fly outside these times should a war happen to start in the evening.

A further issue was caused by aircraft dumping surplus fuel over the locals prior to landing, apparently creating an artificial rainbow effect in doing so.

Starting in 1975 the NATO policy designed to reinforce physical security at their bases led to the construction of 56 Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) at Upper Heyford at a cost of over $20 million, a slight reduction on the 72 shelters that were originally planned and would have been sufficient to house all of the Wing’s aircraft.

The Entry Control Point at the gates to the high security QRA area

The shelters were encased in over two feet of a special recipe super-hardened concrete using granite shipped from Cornwall, the doors weighed 85 tons each. Steel panelling lined the interior of the shelters, the objective being to prevent flying concrete causing damage inside the shelter should it be struck by a blast. Laid out so that no more than two shelters could be hit on a single bombing run, each bunker had concrete venting at their rear to direct exhaust fumes when an aircraft taxied out under its own power, had air extraction equipment and accommodated one F-111 although could house up to three F-111s if required.

Telephone equipment allowed ground crew to talk to pilots sat in the aircraft, hand signals would have been important too as the echo inside the shelters made shouting unproductive and verbal communication was impossible when the engines were running. Information was displayed inside showing the coordinates, elevation and true heading of the shelter so that the aircraft’s inertial navigation systems could be calibrated.

A Quick Reaction Area (QRA) was created enclosing nine of the Hardened Aircraft Shelters close to the western end of the runway in a high security double fence, opening in May 1981. These replaced Vietnam war surplus open ended metal shelters that had been erected in 1974.

Also known as the Victor Alert complex, the QRA had hardened accommodation for the crew who would spend up to two weeks at a time on alert, the QRA maintaining the same security standards as the bomb stores as the aircraft in the shelters were armed – potentially with live nuclear weapons – and ready to launch within minutes. All of the shelters were situated close enough to the runway so that aircraft in them could takeoff within a minimum travel time set by NATO. A ‘NATO’ runway was added alongside the main runway – effectively a long taxiway that could double as a backup runway should the main one be put out of use.

The base’s Wing HQ (Building 126) and communication buildings were hardened too so that they could continue operating in the face of chemical, biological or even nuclear attack. The hardened buildings had grounding to channel away the Electromagnetic Pulse from a nuclear weapon, were enclosed in Faraday Cages to guard against the same and phone communications were over analogue lines to make them less vulnerable to disruption.

The buildings were pressurised to 1 Bar so that air would only flow out of them, preventing any contaminated air entering. The decontamination equipment in the hardened buildings included showers in which a mixture of water and gas was used to remove chemicals, persons would dispose of their clothing before moving through to the ‘clean’ side hopefully dressing again if there were still clothes to go around. Each cluster of Hardened Aircraft Shelters shared a decontamination unit too, the capacity of which was determined by its available supply of decontaminate gas.

Some of the buildings were coated in a specially formulated yellow wash called ‘Novolant’ designed to reduce their infrared signature and make them harder to target. It is understood that an unexpected side effect of the paint was that it stopped snow settling on the buildings in winter, thereby making them stand out more to the eye if not to the sensors.

Amongst other notable structures on the base were –

Control Tower (Building 340) – Predating the 70s upgrades, the control tower had an arm on its ceiling that supported a signalling lamp used to give aircraft final authority to takeoff. In front of the tower was a magnetometer that measured geomagnetic activity. Why was this needed? Changes in the magnetic field affected the ionosphere’s ability to carry HF radio signals – by taking measurements the optimum radio frequencies could be selected to suit the conditions
Avionics Maintenance Facility (Building 299) – On return from missions, electronics warfare pods and other avionics could be removed from the F-111s and brought into the Avionics Maintenance Facility on a purpose built crane where they would then be downloaded, analysed and/or repaired by the 20th Component Repair Squadron. Once on the test stations, equipment could be connected to the Central Processing Avionics Computer which would simulate the F-111s own computer. Some of the floors inside the facility were shiny to make it easy to locate dropped screws. Towards the end of the base’s operational period, an ‘extension’ was added to this facility to the east of the original building. Known as the Mission Essential Avionics Storage (MEAS), this was specifically to cater to the needs of the newer EF-111 Raven electronic warfare variant of the F-111 however the building ended up not being used
Engine Test Cell/Hush Houses – Engine testing facilities, some allowed a standalone engine to be worked on whilst others were large enough for an aircraft to be backed in and the engines tested without the being removed. One of the older sheds contained equipment that had been brought over from France in 1966, large amounts of water (500 gallons a minute) would be dumped into the shed’s exhaust funnel to help baffle noise and reduce the local impact of the jet exhaust. Later designs, known as ‘Hush Houses‘, used an acoustic tunnel called a detuner to reduce noise without the need for water.
Fuel Recycling Facility – It would be nice to think the USAF made efforts to recycle fuel for environmental reasons however more likely, it was because fuel would be a precious resource in wartime. Planes would be de-fueled on landing with any remaining fuel filtered for reuse at a specialist facility. Relatively little fuel was bunkered on site at RAF Upper Heybridge, its main fuel supply was via pipeline from the Islip Reserve Fuel Depot ten miles away

Entering these buildings was not simply the case of slipping in through a fire escape that had been propped open with a fire extinguisher. Persons wanting entry had to be allowed in by a guard, passes would be checked and then code words exchanged. Different colours on passes set out where the holder was allowed to go. In particularly sensitive areas such as the Battle Command Centre, shifts were staggered so that persons in one area would not know who was on duty in another as they would not see them arriving.

Inside the buildings, compartmentalisation was enforced by using ‘airlock’ style hatches into which a message would be passed, the door closed and then another door opened on the other side thereby preventing the person retrieving the message from seeing who had delivered it. In the case of attack, a list was held of persons that would need to be located and evacuated as they were deemed to be too important and knew too much to fall into enemy hands. The Battle Command Centre was ‘paperless’ with messages written on whiteboards only and rolls of toilet paper on hand to wipe them down. Twice a day a page count was conducted of the battle plans to ensure none had been removed, these included the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) which was the Wing’s plan for nuclear war.

Entering the most secure areas of the Battle Command Centre was a staged process to give staff inside as much time as possible to shred the plans if intruders somehow gained entry. A letterbox cut into one of the final airlocks allowed the muzzle of a rifle to be pointed through so that a special delivery of death could be made to anyone trying to get in.

Literally a ‘dead letter box’ on a door inside the Battle Command Centre. Parcels would be signed for in blood!

As part of the same work, modifications were made to the northern bomb store which was expanded to the West to accommodate new models of nuclear bombs. In addition, a hardened entry control point was added as well as outward facing floodlights, tall poles with wires strung between them to make it harder to assault via helicopter and an upgrade to triple fencing. As was the case with the QRA, visitors to the bomb store had to be listed in advance and a two man rule preventing anyone moving unsupervised whilst inside. Pressure sensors on the ground between the fences and movement detectors on the fences themselves sent alerts not only to the guards, but also to a NATO control centre in Germany.

Movements within the bomb store were monitored from a tall guard tower that afforded panoramic views and was supplemented by a smaller tower in the south east corner of the stores which helped cover a blind spot. Black silhouettes were set up within the grounds to help gauge visibility, if the weather descended and they could no longer be seen guards would be sent out on foot. Deadly force was authorised, rabbits were the most frequent culprit for tripping the system although if any were shot during the process is unknown.

The Southern Bomb Store was not forgotten about either – 27 storage igloos were added to replace the vulnerable open stores and then a further 24 igloos during the 1980s.

Guarding the perimeter of the base were British military guards, the reason being that American service personnel lacked the legal power to do anything other than ask nicely that a terrorist not attack them. Past the first checkpoints, security was handled by Americans who were ready to shoot any hostile intruder who had gotten far enough to meet them. Gun positions covered approaches from the entrances, initially these were constructed sandbags however these were replaced by concrete pillboxes to better prepare for any Libyan reprisals after the USAF bombing raids in 1986.

Should war have broken out and enemy aircraft have made it to within a few miles of the base, the final line of defence was at least two batteries of Rapier ground to air missiles which were controlled from a room inside the Battle Command Centre by the RAF Regiment.

Base security was put to the test in the early 80s when a spy from MI6 crashed a commandeered car through the security gates at Upper Heyford in a desperate attempt to disarm a nuclear weapon that had been timed to detonate during a circus show on the base. Disguising himself as a clown, the agent managed to deactivate the weapon half a second before it was due to explode, thwarting a soviet plot to invade Europe in the process. The agent’s name? James Bond – the world’s least discrete secret spy. RAF Upper Heyford was a filming location for Octopussy in 1983, playing the role of a USAF base in Western Germany.

James Bond saves RAF Upper Heyford with half a second to spare!⁷

Back in the real world, in 1986 EF-111As of the 42nd Electronic Countermeasures Squadron based at Upper Heyford participated in Operation El Dorado Canyon alongside F-111Fs from RAF Lakenheath and multiple tankers. This was a 6000 mile round trip⁸ to carry out attacks in targets in Libya in retaliation for a bombing at a Berlin nightclub popular with US service personnel that President Reagan had blamed on Colonel Gaddafi.

Units based at RAF Upper Heyford saw their last active service during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, deploying to bases in Turkey and Saudi Arabia to strike at various targets in Iraq.

With the Cold War done and dusted, the heavy US military presence in Europe was no longer proportionate and as was the case at many of USAF bases in England, the American units began to withdraw.

The last F-111 left RAF Upper Heyford on December 7th 1993 flown by Wing Commander Randall ‘Mark’ Schmidt, then the following year on September 30th the USAF handed the base back to the Ministry of Defence.

The last F-111 departs RAF Upper Heyford, December 7th 1993⁹

With military use of the base at an end, a number of commercial companies have moved onto the site re-purposing the Hardened Aircraft Shelters as warehouses and British Car Auctions using the old taxiways for car storage. Thames Valley Police use some of the shelters and tarmac areas for public order training, driver development and hostage negotiator courses.

In 2009, the site was acquired by Dorcester Regeneration who have been busy redeveloping land at RAF Upper Heyford as Heyford Park – a housing development of up to 2500 new homes. Google StreetView imagery records the progress, shots taken on Camp Road in March 2011 show airbase infrastructure still standing however when the Google car returned to the same spot in September 2016 it was gone.

The majority of the original features that sat south of Camp Road off the airfield itself have been demolished, these include the bowling alley and hospital – the latter of which was offered to the NHS for a notional price of £1, an offer apparently declined because the NHS could not staff it.

Google StreetView has imagery going back to 2009, if you scroll back to this date you get a better sense for how the area looked pre-redevelopment. Notable features now missing including the two large water towers that once stood along Camp Road.

There are plans to construct a film studio on the site and a number of films have already been made on location there including Wonder Woman, Annihilation and at least one of the many, many Fast & Furious series.

Plans for the RAF Upper Heyford site as put forwards by the developers

The historical significance of RAF Upper Heyford is reflected by its designation as a Conservation Area, several of the original buildings are listed and some of the features including the nuclear bomb stores and hardened Wing Headquarters are part of a Scheduled Monument.

In 2017 in response to pressure from planners desperate to nibble away at Upper Heyford’s heritage assets, Historic England commissioned this detailed survey of the base to help highlight why it needed to be preserved. Hopefully this will have been food for thought for the developers, although their appetite for it will likely have been limited when there’s money to be made.

It is clear that from a recent visit to Upper Heybridge, much of what was left of the base is disappearing at a rapid rate under the claws of the diggers. It will only be the case the more of the base will disappear over the coming months and years so the best time to see it is as soon as possible.

Tours of the base can be arranged via the Upper Heyford Heritage Group and are recommended – make sure you take a torch and wear sturdy footwear. See Part 2 of this blog for a preview of what you’re likely to see.

There was an unofficial website for the base too which is no longer online however the Internet Archive has a cached version which is still accessible and contains a number of interesting photos and stories submitted by persons previously posted to the base.

There are also a number of other sources of information about the base including a report from a 2015 urbex exploration (one of many such visits) and this drone video in which the drone covers more miles than some of the F-111s probably did.

Others posts in this series –