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This site is designated as being of national importance and is afforded additional protection. Consult West Berkshire Council's Archaeology team if more information or advice is needed.

Summary

Airbase used by RAF from 1941 and extended and redeveloped for the USAF between 1951 and 1992; internationally famous during the Cold War

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021040: CRUISE MISSILE SHELTER COMPLEX, GREENHAM COMMON AIRBASE

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01496.01.000
  
• National Monuments Record No.: SU 56 SW 15
  SU 5000 6473
• Pastscape Mon No or Hob UID: 928617
  
• Site of Special Scientific Interest (Biological): Greenham and Crookham Commons
  Partial overlap, particularly near the former runway and in the gullies running off the plateau

Monument Type(s):

• MILITARY AIRFIELD (Second World War to Cold War - 1941 AD to 1991 AD)
• MILITARY BASE (Second World War to Late 20th century - Present - 1941 AD to 1994 AD)
• DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP (Late 20th century - 1972 AD to 1974 AD)

Full Description

1939 LAND BOUGHT FROM GREENHAM LODGE ESTATE, OPENED AS AIRBASE 1941 AS SATELLITE TO RAF ALDERMASTON. 3 RUNWAYS & NUMEROUS STRUCTURES EG HANGARS, WAREHOUSES, ACCOMMODATION BUILT. USED THROUGH WWII. 1951 MAJOR REBUILD UNDER USAF WITH SINGLE E-W RUNWAY, 10,000 FT LONG. ADDITIONS AND UPDATING OF COMPLEX CONTINUED 1980s DURING COLD WAR. USAF LEFT 1992. BASE RETURNED TO CIVILIAN CONTROL 1997, COMMONS OPENED TO PUBLIC 2000.

The extent of the Cold War era airbase is represented by the fence line shown on the 5th Epoch Ordnance Survey mapping of 1961 (1:10000) <21>. The Berkshire National Mapping Programme <8>, however, recorded features from aerial photographs which were
were part of the Second World War runway layout. This project only covered OS map sheet SU46NE, extending northwards from Bury's Bank Road. The transcriptions of the earlier airfield were added to by later National Mapping Programme work covering OS map sheet SU46SE.

The Greenham Common site was long and narrow making it suitable for a standard 2,000 yard east-west main runway which was later almost doubled in length. Further runways, 1,400 yards and 1,100 yards were also constructed. Only two T.2 hangars were built and the technical site in the south-east corner was small. The bomb dump was located in the north-east corner. The airfield was allocated to the USAAF 51st Troop Carrier Wing [TCW] before completion. The RAF took over briefly in 1943, but the USAAF once again took over in October 1943. A number of fighter units had brief stays at the base. On D-Day the 438th TCG towed 50 gliders to Normandy for which it received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions. During Operation Market Garden the Group towed almost 200 gliders to the operation area. At the end of the war the base returned to the RAF until it was closed on 1 Jun 1946.

In 1951, during the Cold War, Greenham Common became a deployment base for the Strategic Air Command. This meant a major rebuild for the east-west airfield which was then extended to 10,000 feet. In the late 1960s it was designated as a NATO reinforcement base and in the 1980s it became a storage area for cruise missiles, until the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in the late 1980s. In 1992 the airfield was declared redundant and was acquired by the Greenham Common Trust in 1997 <22>. The technical base became a business park. Much of the airfield was reopened to the public as common land on 08/04/2000.

There is a large body of literature and online resources (for example the 2003 website <7>) on Greenham Common, including its occupation prior to its military use, the air base and the peace camp protests during the Cold War era. There have been several surveys of its buildings <3><16><25> and earthworks and other structures <30>, and assessments of its significance <11><27>, leading to designation of the GAMA complex as a scheduled monument, and the listing of several buildings including the Control Tower.

West Berkshire Museum has a set of photographs showing the glider assembly facility at the eastern end of the airfield (i.e. Crookham Common) in 1944; a set of oblique aerial photographs showing the common in 1996; and a set of photographs showing the demolition of the US barracks <35>.

British Pathe has a film of a gyrocopter flight in 1970, apparently over Greenham Common <36>.

In 1972-74, while the airbase was mainly being used by the American Airforce as a mail-sorting depot for its bases across Europe, the vacant RAF section of the camp was used to house some of the 28,000 Ugandan Asians who came to Britain after having been expelled by Idi Amin in the autumn of 1972 <37><38>. It was known as Greenham Common Resettlement Centre.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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