I went out early this morning to look at a property for a client that is situated on the other side of the airfield from where I live.
I drove under the landing lights on the west end of the runway, some of which have now fallen off their posts.
I then stopped at the threshold of the secondary runway, the weather is fantastic today, the mist, combined with the position of the sun really summed the whole place up.
The QA hangars are still there along with the control tower, it all looked very eery and abandoned, though the MOD still has a powerful prescence there.
While trying to find my property, I ended up on the other end of the runway, the landing lights being in the same condition.
With the current debate on the hi-jackers from Afghanistan that landed at Stansted, it reminded me of the facts that I was told, ie, that due to the MoD presence and length of runway, that any hi-jacked a/c would be dispatched to Wethersfield, I’ve been in their armoury and there’s enough firepower in there to deal with anything.
It’s unusual for landing lights to be left in-situ at an abandoned airfield for so long, whether they still function is a good question, I see the gliders flying at weekends, but they don’t need landing lights.
I just wondered whether anyone had any knowledge as to the future use of this place as an airfield.
By: SADSACK - 16th May 2006 at 17:34
the MOD housing issue is a shocking,shocking waste. Like at Scampton they flogged them off cheap only to have to buy houses back at ridiculous prices.
If you think of the shortage of council houses (take Hull for example bulldoze council houses to build retail units) its appaling the state they (MOD houses) are in.
By: Binbrook 01 - 16th May 2006 at 13:16
Hello
The Landing lights are still in place at Alconbury, well they are still visible amongst the shrubbery from the London to Edinburgh Mainline…..
Tim
By: Pete Truman - 16th May 2006 at 13:01
Wethersfield is currently the MOD Police training center but for how much longer I wonder? The government is currently centralising all service police training i.e.Royal Military Police,Royal Air Force Police,Royal Navy Regulating Branch, Royal Marines Police to the old Naval base HMS Dryad a few miles north of Portchester,Hampshire (where Eisenhower planned D-Day). The MOD Police are due to join them eventually at what is called Southwick Park. So are we about to see yet another old base fall into complete disrepair and lost forever?
That’s not what I wanted to hear, most of my stepsons best pals have fathers who instruct at Wethersfield, he’ll be peeved if they’re shipped off to Hampshire.
There are some strange happenings up the base, we get convoys of police vehicles coming through the village some days, and some unusual military vehicles with no markings. Apache helicopters are the latest new comers to make the odd foray.
Last year there was a lot of coming and going involving the Royal Navy bomb disposal squad.
There was alot of ammo being expended yesterday on some sort of exercise, they were firing until quite late in the evening.
So this could be another load of cheap MOD housing being released on to the market, mind you we can do with it round here, although I hear that some of it is in a pretty poor state.
My stepson was playing up there with his mates one day, when they accidentally broke a patio door window in one of the derelict houses, despite the fact that this place was due for demolition, the MoD tried to charge me £2500 to replace it. Fortunately, his mates old man is fairly senior up there and told them to get stuffed, we never heard anymore about it.
I have a good tale to tell about Sir John-Ruggles Brise, former Lord Lieutenant
of Essex who at the grand old age of 97 still lives in Spains Hall, which is situated about a mile from the end of the runway.
Now he told me this tale himself. One day, while meeting the Queen on official business in London, the new F-100’s arrived at Wethersfield, while practising noisy take offs and landings they flew straight over the hall.
On arriving home, he found his precious 15th century stained glass screen in pieces on the floor, the noise and vibration was shaking the house to bits.
On making a telephone call of complaint to the base commander, a USAF staff car was dispatched to pick him up.
After profuse apologies, he elected to climb into the back of a 2-seater F-100 in order to work out a better landing and take off pattern from the air,
he told me it was one of the greatest experiences he ever had, and well worth the damage to the screen, I think the USAF paid for it’s restoration, it’s still there, though probably now suffering under the Stansted flightpath.
By: Nigel Bean - 16th May 2006 at 10:49
Wethersfield is currently the MOD Police training center but for how much longer I wonder? The government is currently centralising all service police training i.e.Royal Military Police,Royal Air Force Police,Royal Navy Regulating Branch, Royal Marines Police to the old Naval base HMS Dryad a few miles north of Portchester,Hampshire (where Eisenhower planned D-Day). The MOD Police are due to join them eventually at what is called Southwick Park. So are we about to see yet another old base fall into complete disrepair and lost forever?
Sign In
May 12, 2006 at 11:27 am