RAF Binbrook, 29 April 1988

hi yeah crash gate 3 was the one with the pill box there
it was actually a battle headquarters which had several rooms underground
can remember as a teenager standing on top of it photographing the old decoy lightnings
do you have any pics of the airfield ?

Hello g6hyf,

Even If you were an occasional visitor to Crash Gate 3, chances are you have met either me or my father Terry?

As for the Hercs it might have been 1989 but i cannot remember at the moment 🙁

Ahhhh what a waste of a useful airfield, regular diversionary for Donna Nook stuff…..

Tim

Was gate 3 the one with the old pill box in the field directly in front of the scramble hangers.ive looked at 320psi s pick of the field but still cannot get my bearings.

Were you in Beds & Cambs wing then? I was with 2484 Sqn (Bassingbourn) and went to Bin on summer camp mid August ’83 (according to my Logbook).
That was the week that half of our cadets went down with a stomach bug after drinking water from a stream, and one of the cadets thought that the way to reduce the kick from a 7.62 SLR was to hold it an inch from his shoulder….the shot went over the top of the range and hit a Policewoman a few miles away (apparently) and he got a dislocated shoulder!
I spent time with the Fire service (non-stop brake fires when the ‘chutes failed) and with 5 Sqn 3rd line servicing, removing the top engine from one which involved lots of wheel winding on the lifting bar as the engine is longer than the hatch….
‘Appy dayz

yes i was in Beds/Cambs wing,134 sqn(Bedford)done second annual camp at binbrook in 87 if my memory serves me right.had more of the same playing with the lightnings on the flightline that year too.also had to help run a cable across the field to the QRA hanger.had to hold on to the drum in the back of a landrover while driven across the airfield at some cosiderable speed.also had a ride in 6 wheeled rangerover fire engine.
i can say that whilst on flight line servicing that year, several lightnings came back with inspection covers missing and we had to go to the decoys to gather spares.also while we were there that year a lightning landed with the skin of the tail peeled back like it had been opened by a can opener.
happy days and great times.
cheers karl

I can remember my first visit to Binbrook. It was in July 1954 for an ATC Summer Camp. No Lightnings then of course it was all Canberras. Had my first flight in a Chipmunk that week but unfortunately do not have a record of the serial. Great week though as we did menial tasks on the aircraft and were allowed to crawl all over them.

Glyn

You might have met my father! He was doing his National Service as an engine fitter on 617 Sqn Canberras at Binbrook then.

Paul

I can remember my first visit to Binbrook. It was in July 1954 for an ATC Summer Camp. No Lightnings then of course it was all Canberras. Had my first flight in a Chipmunk that week but unfortunately do not have a record of the serial. Great week though as we did menial tasks on the aircraft and were allowed to crawl all over them.

Glyn

Hi Andy

Thats looks like great fun i must try it some time 😀

Scott C

Scott, yeh its a real blast, what else might you do on a summer Saturday ?? 😉
Its not the stort of thing that can be done in the middle of winter though, thats why this Q shed is so important

Oh and Ive found another shot from the air of the Hangars,

Cheers

Hi Andy

Thats looks like great fun i must try it some time 😀

Scott C

Were you in Beds & Cambs wing then? I was with 2484 Sqn (Bassingbourn) and went to Bin on summer camp mid August ’83 (according to my Logbook).
That was the week that half of our cadets went down with a stomach bug after drinking water from a stream, and one of the cadets thought that the way to reduce the kick from a 7.62 SLR was to hold it an inch from his shoulder….the shot went over the top of the range and hit a Policewoman a few miles away (apparently) and he got a dislocated shoulder!
I spent time with the Fire service (non-stop brake fires when the ‘chutes failed) and with 5 Sqn 3rd line servicing, removing the top engine from one which involved lots of wheel winding on the lifting bar as the engine is longer than the hatch….
‘Appy dayz

Does this bring back any memories

904 back in summer 2003
Engine out to replace one leaking ‘O’ ring 🙂
And when we got it back in, plumbed it all in and tried it, we had a second leak, which meant, youve guessed it, all out again, crane hire etc etc 😮

Great stuff

as a fifteen year old air cadet, binbrook was my second annual camp in 1983.we were billeted in wooden single storey barrack blocks,not disimilar to those in the great escape.these were to be pulled down after us poor spacers had finished the summer camp.got on to flight line servicing for 2 days.this involved following an raf erk around the lightnings,checking everything was ok for flight,refueling,strapping in the crew,and then marshalling the aircraft from the stand.
on the friday i was in one of the squadron hangers helping to service several lightnings and change the ventral tank on one aircraft. finishing early in the afternoon the raf chaps i had been with then took me to the squadron bar and plied me 3 pints.off i went happy sandboy.i had been shooting,flying with a lightning pilot in a chipmonk and had been playing with lightnings for three days and was squiffy as well.what a fantastic experience.
i will never forget binbrook or the mighty lightning.
cheers karl

Were you in Beds & Cambs wing then? I was with 2484 Sqn (Bassingbourn) and went to Bin on summer camp mid August ’83 (according to my Logbook).
That was the week that half of our cadets went down with a stomach bug after drinking water from a stream, and one of the cadets thought that the way to reduce the kick from a 7.62 SLR was to hold it an inch from his shoulder….the shot went over the top of the range and hit a Policewoman a few miles away (apparently) and he got a dislocated shoulder!
I spent time with the Fire service (non-stop brake fires when the ‘chutes failed) and with 5 Sqn 3rd line servicing, removing the top engine from one which involved lots of wheel winding on the lifting bar as the engine is longer than the hatch….
‘Appy dayz

XR724 in it’s prime.

Hi Bin Boy

Check ya pm’s

Scott C

i visited binbrook this week but was unable to visit camp due to lack of time .only had time to visit charles house to pick up some parts.
i was at bin when 724 flew in and what a cold and wet day that was and now involved in the engineering side of 724 .love going to binbrook brings back memories as a child living there.
managed to visit control tower before demolition and save most of the instruments from observation room as well as a lot of paper work and drawings.love the aircraft the biggest regret i have is selling my f3 cockpit xp757
scott if you see this please get in touch as wnat to get in touch

as a fifteen year old air cadet, binbrook was my second annual camp in 1983.we were billeted in wooden single storey barrack blocks,not disimilar to those in the great escape.these were to be pulled down after us poor spacers had finished the summer camp.got on to flight line servicing for 2 days.this involved following an raf erk around the lightnings,checking everything was ok for flight,refueling,strapping in the crew,and then marshalling the aircraft from the stand.
on the friday i was in one of the squadron hangers helping to service several lightnings and change the ventral tank on one aircraft. finishing early in the afternoon the raf chaps i had been with then took me to the squadron bar and plied me 3 pints.off i went happy sandboy.i had been shooting,flying with a lightning pilot in a chipmonk and had been playing with lightnings for three days and was squiffy as well.what a fantastic experience.
i will never forget binbrook or the mighty lightning.
cheers karl

surely it would be better than cutting her up? How about airlift?

Yeh there is always airlifting, but both engines and jet pipes have got to come out, they would also need the correct A/C lifting beam, which we have one of as it happens, and then there’s the little snag of who lifts it for you and how much again 🙂 Catch22

Like I say after speaking to Chrales Ross about it in June he didnt see a problem at present, yes its stranded but its always been so, it was never going to fly out even when the runways were intact.

I think she is in good hands and will be looked after.
Shame Binbrook has not been so lucky,

Cheers
Andy B

When you look at that picture it’s hard to imagine that it was a front line fighter station in the late eighties, Very sad sight.

Hi All

If it ever comes to moving 724 im sure it can be done, but as 320psi has stated it’s huge task im taking 706 apart to do a wing swap and the amount of work that go’s into it is huge and especially if you want the aircraft to be operational again.

Scott C

surely it would be better than cutting her up? How about airlift?

I thought scampton would be a better place. Why would she not be able to be properly dismantled? it would be a dam shame for her to be cut up for transport

Peter, when you say ‘properly dismantle’ you speak of a massive engineering task in hours, know how, kit, transport and of course the all important cost, its like all these things who gonna stump up the thousands of pounds to do anything like ‘just’ dismantle, reassemble and ‘then’ get running again a Lightning with all it in built complexities, look at our two they were flown in complete and we have one hell of a time maintaining them.
I think is a step to far at present, sad I know but a fact:(

Last time I spoke to Charles Ross at our annual dinner in June I did ask about 724 and he didnt see a problem with its future.
But things change.
She wont ever stretch her legs again but she never did, even when the runways were in place, they only ever taxied her up and down the apron, the runways were always closed off with banks of earth across their entrances.
Its all down to money as usual

Cheers
Andy B

I thought scampton would be a better place. Why would she not be able to be properly dismantled? it would be a damn shame for her to be cut up for transport

The hangers are still there and leased out for storage, with XR724 parked outside

I really wonder what the future for poor old ‘724 is given what’s happening around it. 😡

I was never convinced of the LA’s efforts to get her ‘back to Binbrook’, which is why I never bought any of the ‘shares’ in the aircraft at the time.

I was never convinced of the long term prospects of Binbrook’s survival, which is pretty much as I suspected, and I would have been more in favour of her being flown in to an already ‘established’ museum site that perhaps had a more certain future, rather than Binners. The trouble is most already had a Lightning. 🙁

It’s a shame that the cost is likely prohibitive, of correctly dismantling it and moving it to an alternative location where she could stretch her legs a bit more as well as being in a more secure location.

Nearby Scampton under the watchfull eye of HHA could be an ideal location in my view.