Growing up in the ‘80s in the UK, RAF Greenham Common was incredibly famous. The huge runway was known to some but the thing that had got it in the news was the arrival of ground launched cruise missiles and the peace camp that was established outside the base. The intermediate range nuclear forces treaty meant that cruise was decommissioned, and, at a later stage, the whole base was closed. I don’t know whether it was a requirement of the original consent for the base, but the site has fundamentally returned to being a common.
A friend of mine who grew up in nearby Newbury was in the UK with his family and we met up with them all for lunch. He suggested a walk on the common and we headed up there. There is almost no trace left of the base. The runway and taxiways are gone with only one patch of concrete left as a reminder. The control tower is still there but it is now a café – sadly closed the day we were there.
On the south side of the base are the bunkers that used to house the transporters that took the missiles out for trips to the local countryside as would have been the case had things got hot.
Some of these were used in filming some of the Star Wars movies more recently. The area is still fenced off with multiple layers of fencing. I am not sure why this might be necessary, but it does give an impression of how the missiles would have been isolated even from the rest of the base when operational. There is a gate house controlling the entry point.
The whole thing is really interesting and quite the contrast with the cattle grazing on what used to be the runway. I will probably head back with a bike at some point and have more of an explore.
