RAF Bentwaters 8/16/04

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It was strange going back.  We hit the domestic side first.  The dorms, other buildings & street layout has completely changed.  The family housing part remains the same, albeit with newer paint.  I found a couple parking lots that I remembered that were exactly the same.  They used to have small playgrounds that didn't appear to be in the same spots.  I think I probably identified a couple of friends houses.  The rear fencing remains.
This is the sign outside the main gate on the flightline side.  Bentwaters Parks is in the process of collecting memorabilia for a Bentwaters Museum.  The old roads are still here, but they have a lot of new dual carriageways (freeways in the states) that can make getting here interesting on 20 year old memories.
The main gate hasn't changed a lot in 20 years.  Although they've widened it to have a truck lane.  I believe that the main gate sat in the middle of what is now the truck lane when I was there.
I signed in at the tower and started my adventure along with my son, Patrick.  This shot is from the tower
From the side of the tower looking across the flight line.
This was a table top that was leaning against one of the walls in the tower.  It just looked like something that might hold a memory for someone.  I thought it was pretty cool.
Looking out of the tower toward the general direction of the main gate.  So much seems familiar yet so much has changed.
This is from the tower looking toward the end of the flight line where the KGB "bird watchers" used to hang out.
Again from the tower looking toward the hangars, and I believe the CSC & WSA beyond.  Cruising around the hangars, it appeared that most now house goose farms.  Smells lovely.
The ceiling of the tower looks to have survived well.
This small mural is in the stairwell leading up to the tower.  It says that it was done by Balinski in '92.
This is the Non-nuclear Munitions Storage Area, or NMSA (nimsa), which was a regular post for the LE's.
The facilities are still here, almost just as we left them.
The gate to the WSA  .  As an LE, I never went into the "W," where we had the nukes that we "didn't" have.(N:52°07.036 / E:01°25.474)
Strange to see this deserted.  It was the most heavily protected part of the base.
Anyone remember the inside of this?  Nobody cares if you enter without being challenged now.
The tower in the W.
The bunkers.  They now have a herd of sheep grazing in the W.
Inside one of the bunkers it appears that someone has been playing paintball.
What was this building?  Taking pictures through the slots, it appears to be some king of control room.
Central Security Control or CSC.  When I first got to RAFBW, the SP control had a radio call sign of "Blow Torch" and the LE desk was "High Beam."  That changed shortly after I arrived and went to "Control" and something else.
The Armory, where we would all congregate and arm/disarm at the beginning and end of our shifts.
This was where the LE's stood guard mount when I was there.  To tell you the truth, it hasn't changed much.
Someone on the 81st SPS message board had asked about the church at the end of the flight line so I stopped and took some pictures.
It is St. John the Baptist Church in Wantisden and is apparently still holding service.  I don't believe it was being used when I was there.
"...I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me."  -Rev 3:20


Ipswich     Framlingham Castle     RAF Bentwaters     York

Inverness / Loch Ness     Dunkeld Cathedral    

Stirling     Falkirk     Bannockburn

Dunoon     Edinburgh to London