"Secret Base" locations revealed - Part 3 of 4!

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NEW! June 2008 – Right click and save these files to your hard drive. They contain ALL the locations featured in the four parts of Secret Bases. One is a Comma Separated Value (CSV) text file that can be imported into spreadsheets. The other is a KML placemark tour for Google Earth.     secret-bases.csv     secret-bases.kml

For full documentation on the map link options available, including IMPORTANT notes, just click on my Research Tools Page button also below.

Joint Warrior 2008 – Exercise "082"

In the weeks beginning 4th October 2008 through 17th October 2008, the UK military is running Exercise Joint Warrior "082" – the latest in its major regular multi-force exercises previously known as Neptune Warrior (NW):-

• "Neptune Warrior" – providing joint collective training in a multi-threat environment for UK, NATO and Allied units and their staffs, to enable them to operate together in tactical formations as preparation for employment in a component of a Joint Combined Task Force

The Neptune Warrior exercise name was itself a re-branding of the earlier Joint Maritime Courses (JMC) which ran up to Summer 2005. In 2006, when there were three exercises per year, the third ("NW 063") took place from 21st October 2006 through 4th November 2006.

From 2007, they have been reduced to two every year and those Neptune Warrior events ("NW 071" and "NW 072") ran from 21st April 2007 through 5th May 2007 and 17th September 2007 through 29th September 2007. The first Joint Warrior exercise ("081") ran from 19th April 2008 through 2nd May 2008.

• BBC News – Neptune Warrior Exercise "NW 071" in 2007
  
  "In 1972, civil war broke out in Britannica, with the country splitting into five smaller nations. Brownia, Mustardia, Cyanica, Ginger and Emeraldia have endured 35 years of conflict. However, this strange parallel universe is not a work of science fiction but the scenario for the Royal Navy's Exercise Neptune Warrior. The latest instalment in the troubled history of this imaginary realm has been played out off the coast of Scotland."
  
  
• BBC News – Russian planes caught spying on Neptune Warrior Exercise "NW 071" in 2007
  
  "Tornado F3 jets from RAF Leuchars in Fife were sent to intercept two Russian Bear Foxtrot aircraft spotted observing the Royal Navy exercise. The jets were scrambled after the foreign planes were detected by radar in the skies over the Outer Hebrides"
  
  
• BBC News – Neptune Warrior Exercise "NW 063" in 2006
  
  "Warships were attacked by 'terrorists' (actually Royal Marine commandos) in small boats and on water skis, as they sailed from Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde"

A regular key location for the Neptune Warrior operations is the Cape Wrath artillery range in the far north west of Scotland, which involves live bombing of Garvie Island ("An Garbh-eilean" in Gaelic) just off the Cape. It is the only location in Europe where aircraft can explode live 1000lb bombs and is therefore crucial in the final training of military pilots.

The Range Control building – utilising an old ROTOR radar installation from the 1950s – is positioned at the northern tip of nearby Faraid Head (below), beyond the sand dunes of Balnakeil and alongside the beautiful beaches of Durness and Sango Bay.

In 1964, the former domestic camp for what was RAF Faraid Head was converted into the Balnakeil Craft Village - a hippy commune of artists which has actually evolved into a collection of small businesses with varying success. A visitor centre was established in 1982. Find out more about this area and consider a trip to the North Coast of Scotland!

• www.northhighlandsscotland.com
  
  
• www.durness.org

Check out the Royal Navy's official websites for fascinating operation details. These include downloadable PDFs of naval charts, range descriptions for Scottish Exercise Areas (SXA) and submarine training areas around the Queen's Harbour Master's (QHM) Clyde Naval Base at Faslane. Read all about the history of Joint Maritime Courses and the re-branding of them in 2005 to "Neptune Warrior".

Cape Wrath Range Control Faraid Head, Durness © Crown Copyright

Then read on for my extensive guided tour of all the other Scottish "Secret Bases"!

• www.rnopsscotland.com
  
  
• www.rnopsscotland.com/aboutCapeWrath.htm
  
  
• www.rnopsscotland.com/aboutSXAs.htm
  
  
• www.rnopsscotland.com/aboutQHM.htm
  
  
• www.rncom.mod.uk/templates/MaritimeOperations.cfm?id=905
  
  
• www.rncom.mod.uk/templates/MaritimeOperations.cfm?id=906
  
  

Secret Scotland and its islands – a guided tour

Once all the Atomic Weapons Establishment's nuclear warheads have been developed and assembled at Aldermaston and Burghfield, some of them are transported up to Scotland's Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD), for Faslane's Trident submarine fleet, at Coulport.

Here, the hills of the beautiful west coast of Scotland hide massive bunkers in which the nuclear weapons are kept in specially controlled conditions.

They are loaded onto Faslane's submarines at a special jetty, just north of the main Coulport base, which is only revealed in detail on the 1:25000 map. Take a look in even greater detail at 1:10000 scale and you'll see the Trident warhead storage bunkers in the hillside.

In December 2007, new hi-res aerial imagery was provided by Getmapping which covers the area. Check out my special implementation of Microsoft Virtual Earth (right), which allows you to zoom in close-up to the Trident Missile Storage Bunkers, warhead handling facilities and much more!

A large NATO underground conventional munitions store is carved out of the side of nearby Doune Hill at Glen Douglas, just north of the Faslane and Coulport depots.

The massive base, which is only finally revealed in true detail on the OS 1:25000 scale map, extends south east from its connection into the world famous Glasgow to Oban/Mallaig scenic railway via Crianlarich.

A little further south west on the banks of Loch Long, you can find its associated munitions and explosives loading jetty at Glen Mallan (pictured further below, sometimes also referred to as "Glenmallan" - all one word), which was built in 1996. Note also, the NATO Oil Storage Depot down the coast, just north of Garelochhead.

Integrated Weapons Complexes (IWC)

A large Defence Munitions (DM) centre can be found south west of Glasgow at Beith in Ayrshire. This site was originally developed in 1943 as a conventional munitions store for the Royal Navy. Nowadays, it processes and stores Spearfish, Storm Shadow, Tomahawk and Brimstone missiles.

On the Firth of Forth near Dunfermline, the large RNAD Crombie can be found, just along the coast from Her Majesty's Naval Base at Rosyth.

In the Google Maps image of HMNB Rosyth (above) note the laid-up decommissioned nuclear submarines in the non-tidal basin and also the abandoned Trident refitting yard which was never finished, as the contract went to HMNB Devonport in Plymouth, England in a controversial decision in 1993.

The Crombie base stores, processes and maintains missiles used on Tornado and Sea Harrier jets. Its jetty, built in 1989 for both NATO and UK use, sticks out 700 metres into the Firth.

In the aerial photos below, note the identical weapons processing buildings at all the Scottish sites - two at Beith. They are officially known as Integrated Weapons Complexes (IWC). Each one has four Weapons Assembly and Check Rooms (WACR) and a central Test Equipment House (TEH). Multiple weapons can be accommodated in each WACR, while tests are performed in sequence from the TEH.

The IWCs incorporate sophisticated safety and monitoring equipment consisting of a set of control consoles linked to CCTV, audio, intercom and fire alarm systems. The consoles provide access control and can be used to isolate all energy sources from the weapons under test, to ensure that an unsafe fault condition cannot escalate into an explosive incident.

Looking at the images below, compare the Scottish IWCs with England's RNAD Ernesettle at Plymouth and the Google Earth and Windows Live Local extreme close-up shots of RNAD Gosport, both discussed in Secret Bases Part 1.

Imagine what a surprise it is to discover a British-designed IWC near Basra in Iraq! Sounds ridiculous? Look on Google Earth or just use my special implementation of Google Maps further below. Note how the design is identical to the UK IWCs (right, top). Then note how it has now been bombed-out (right, bottom)!

It was constructed as part of a rather shady UK-Iraq defence contract back in 1985. It was handled by London-based commercial company International Military Services (IMS) Limited, who just happened to be wholly-owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The scandal was covered in great depth in Sir Richard Scott's report to Parliament in 1996, which included the infamous Matrix Churchill and Supergun affairs.

• Sir Richard Scott's 1996 Inquiry
  into the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq
  
  
• www.iraqwatch.org/government/UK/Scott Report/D2-168.htm
  [Report on British-designed IWC built in Basra]
  
  
• www.iraqwatch.org/government/UK/Scott Report/Scott-TOC.htm
  [Full Inquiry Report]

NATO Z-berths and POL depots

If you travel up to the far northern highlands of Scotland, you'll stumble across a NATO submarine base at Loch Ewe (below), just south of the tiny village of Aultbea. Loch Ewe, being a deep sea loch, enables submarines to approach the jetty without breaking the water surface too soon.

The jetty at Aultbea is designated a "Z-berth" and these are dotted all around the coast of the UK, to allow Britain's nuclear submarines to return home temporarily for servicing. There's even a Z-berth situated in the middle of Loch Ewe itself, marked by a buoy but not marked on any OS maps! Presumably, one hopes, it is marked on Royal Navy charts!

Another nuclear submarine Z-berth buoy is located off the Isle of Skye, in the middle of Broadford Bay, causing much anxiety to Broadford's residents who are rightly concerned about possible nuclear accidents.

The NATO Loch Ewe site at Aultbea and the neighbouring Naval Boom Defence Depot at Mellon Charles (below), have military significance dating back to WWII. The location of the Boom Defence Depot marks the start of the original protective netting which guarded the entrance to the loch. Nowadays, the Mellon Charles site is rumoured to be involved in the disposal of waste nuclear material from submarines returning from their tour of duty.

Part of the Loch Ewe submarine base is designated a POL Depot - Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants. The depot provides essential maintenance facilities for visiting warships. Two other NATO POL Depots (further below), with former Z-berths, can be spotted at Campbeltown - principal town on the Kintyre peninsula - and at Loch Striven, where the mountains near Dunoon look across the beautiful Kyles of Bute.

Note how, by studying the aerial photos below, the NATO POL Depots look exactly the same as those GPSS Defence Fuel Depots discussed earlier!

Whilst still in the north west of Scotland, consider hopping over to the Outer Hebrides (more correctly now, in Gaelic, "Na h-eileanan an Iar" - literally "The Western Isles") and check out the old Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) bases on the Isle of South Uist.

Here, in this stunningly beautiful location, you'll find the QinetiQ Hebrides test ranges where missiles are fired over the Atlantic Ocean. The main test range location, referred to as the Range Head, is to be found just beyond the crofting township of Geirinis on South Uist's west coast.

Meanwhile, the Range Control unit is further inland to the south east, on top of the hill of Ruabhal. The hill is known to islanders as "Space City" due to the aerials and "golf ball" radome structures and all these sit rather incongruently just above a Roman Catholic iconic figure of Our Lady of the Isles.

Further tracking of the missile tests is carried out at the UK's most remote QinetiQ base on the island of St. Kilda (or Hirta), which is 50 miles north west of the Hebridean island of South Uist.

A little further north of the DERA ranges on South Uist, QinetiQ have a base within RAF Benbecula - a beautiful Atlantic beach location which I can confirm is one of the most highly desirable RAF locations in the UK!

QinetiQ also have a small base next door to Kyle of Lochalsh's train station on the west coast of Scotland - the gateway to the Isle of Skye. This site is designated BUTEC - the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (below). This old DERA base carries out sonar electronics and torpedo weapons testing for the UK's submarine fleet. However, the main test range depot, (below) from where all the sea trials are performed, can be found off the coast of the Applecross peninsula, overlooking the Isle of Rona.

The Spearfish missiles, which are processed and stored at DM Beith in Ayrshire, are tested not only on the BUTEC range but also on a similar range off the east coast of Andros Island in the Bahamas called AUTEC - the US Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Centre.

• www.npt.nuwc.navy.mil/autec/

Controversy has surrounded the BUTEC test range, as it has been alleged that a powerful Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) system has been trialled there on behalf of the Royal Navy. The system was banned in the US, as it had been shown to cause disorientation and mass strandings of whales and dolphins.

Perhaps the most controversial QinetiQ test range in Scotland, if not the whole UK, can be found at Dundrennan near Kirkcudbright. This vast, clearly marked "Danger Area" is used to test Depleted Uranium (DU) shells for battle tanks. More recently, the nearby Electromagnetic Launch Facility (EMLF) has been set-up to develop, evaluate and test the so-called "Super Gun" for the US Army.

Gamma Shine!

QinetiQ BUTEC's plans of Gamma Shine decontamination shower areas

Fascinating documents – in Adobe Acrobat PDF – can be found on the Scottish Highlands Council official website.

The emergency planning and risk assessment reports (called HIGHSAFE) contain detailed plans (right, reduced) of radioactivity decontamination shower areas for military personnel.

These are situated at the main QinetiQ BUTEC base at Kyle of Lochalsh and also the Naval Boom Defence Depot at Mellon Charles, discussed above.

They are to be used in the event of reactor accidents on visiting nuclear submarines at those Z-berths – a so-called "Gamma Shine" incident.

Local communities have supplies of Potassium Iodate tablets on standby for use in such emergencies. A sobering thought.

Similarly, down on England's south coast, Southampton Council's website contains the corresponding reports (SOTONSAFE) for the Z-berth situated at the city's docks.

Rather than a special jetty, the Z-berth at Southampton is merely a designation of berths 38 and 39, which normally accommodate ocean going cruise liners.

Portsmouth Council has its own corresponding PORTSAFE report for the Naval Base Z-berth, but it is only available in local libraries rather than on the Internet. Instead, the council provides a PDF advice leaflet on its website.

Plymouth Council also has an advice leaflet for the Z-berths at Devonport Naval Base and at the bright yellow mooring buoy in the middle of Plymouth Sound.

In March 2007, Dorset Council published its own advice leaflet and full plan documents, following an earlier Royal Navy announcement that an old Z-berth location was being re-activated at Portland Port near the holiday resort of Weymouth.

Not one, but two Z-berths have been designated at the west and east jetties of the southern end of Portland Harbour at Fortuneswell on the Isle of Portland.

Throughout 2007, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council in Liverpool started to prepare their own emergency plan for the proposed re-activation of the old Royal Navy Z-berth within the Royal Seaforth Dock. The documents have yet to make an appearance on the council's website.

• www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/emergencies/emergencyplanning/
  
  
• www.southampton.gov.uk/people/keepingyousafe/emergency/sotonplan.asp
  
  
• www.portsmouth.gov.uk/living/12065.html
  
  
• www.plymouth.gov.uk/what_to_do_in_a_nuclear_emergency.pdf
  
  
• www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=361826

The documents on the Scottish Highland Council website detail the emergency planning and risk assessments for the Broadford Bay and Loch Ewe Z-berths.

Also covered in detail is the Royal Navy's and Rolls Royce's Vulcan Works, the Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE, HMS Vulcan).

It is at the western end of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's (UKAEA) site at Dounreay (both pictured below), close to one of my regular holiday locations at Thurso on Scotland's north coast.

At the NRTE, the nuclear cores and Rolls-Royce's engines that will drive the submarine fleet are tested at the MoD shore-based facility for several years, before going into service with the Royal Navy.

Rolls-Royce's own Neptune works – a similar test bed for nuclear reactor cores – can be found adjacent to their main manufacturing plant at Raynesway, Derby, back in England. The facility can be viewed in extreme close-up on Windows Live Local and you can clearly see that the site is ringed by triple security fencing.

The residents of Derby and even local politicians were blissfully unaware of the Raynesway plant's other clandestine and classified role – a highly enriched uranium processing facility – until a newspaper broke the story in 1999.

Incidentally, on either side of the town of Thurso, you can find the sites of two former US Naval Communications Stations (NAVCOMMSTA) at Forss (beyond the country hotel at Bridge of Forss) and at West Murkle, on top of Clardon Hill.

From the 1960s and 1970s, the sites provided key command and control signals for warships patrolling the North East Atlantic. They were only closed in the 1990s when the communications systems were changed. The old Forss base is being turned into a Business and Technology Park and also houses a wind energy farm (further below).

The award for the RAF's most remote outpost must go to No. 91 Signals Unit whose members cling to the sheer cliffs of Shetland's northernmost island Unst at RAF Saxa Vord's Remote Radar Head (RRH).

This is a relic of the Cold War years, north of the village of Haroldswick, where you'll find the RAF's camp, housing the staff facilities for the radar site further north.

The base is within sight of the UK's most northerly point - Muckle Flugga lighthouse.

Another remote Cold War radar installation, in a stunning Scottish island location, can be found on the Atlantic west coast of the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, at Aird Uig on the northern tip of Gallan Head, which is completely fenced off.

This former home to the RAF's No. 81 Signals Unit is still in use today, although it is now a NATO communications facility.

The old RAF Aird Uig domestic camp is a shambolic deserted ruin, privately owned by various individuals since 1973. The current owners have converted one of the camp buildings into the Bonaventure French Restaurant, boasting London journalists and British Government Members of Parliament as dining guests!

Another Scottish NATO communications station can be spotted at the former WWII RAF airfield at Balado Bridge near Kinross in Perthshire. The RAF base was used to train Spitfire and Hurricane pilots during the Second World War. The distinctive white golf ball radome (below), tucked in amongst the poultry farms, can be seen in the distance over to the left as you drive north on the M90 motorway past Kinross service station.

In recent years, the neighbouring disused airfield has hosted the "T in the Park" pop and rock music festival. The NATO station was opened by HRH Princess Anne in 1985, but it was decommissioned in late 2006 after 21 years' service and is due to be sold for commercial development in 2007.

A photo tour of Scotland!

If you've particularly enjoyed your trip "north of the border" above, then you might also like to take my photo tour of some of my favourite places by visiting my Scotland Page!

Wales

Most of the MoD related facilities in Wales are concerned with army training and testing of live ordnance as the road sign (further below) at Castlemartin Range in Pembrokeshire, controlled from nearby Merrion Camp, makes clear!

However, some bases are worthy of special mention. DERA/QinetiQ have operated two key facilities: at Aberporth, close to the small but popular surfing beach at Llangranog in Cardigan Bay and at Llanbedr, in Snowdonia national park country.

The Aberporth site sits in a stunning cliff top location, show below in another exclusive bird's eye view from my contributor with a pilot's licence!

It was once called DTEO Aberporth - the Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation, a forerunner of DERA. On some maps, DTEO Aberporth is labelled "T & EE" - Test and Evaluation Establishment. It is known to be involved in research and development of Doppler effect pulse radar.

The Llanbedr site was an operational airfield, formerly designated the Royal Aerospace Establishment, from which target drones were launched. QinetiQ suspended operations at Llanbedr in late 2004 and formally handed the base over to Defence Estates for disposal in early 2005, with the loss of almost 150 jobs.

Newer target drones, not requiring a runway for take-off, will now be launched from the existing facilities at Aberporth. Whilst the future of Llanbedr's airfield is currently uncertain, such a valuable asset will surely not remain idle for too long.

The Isle of Anglesey is world famous for the village name that at 58 letters, is as long as the trains stopping at its station. It is usually abbreviated by tourists to "Llanfair PG" and the Royal Mail manages "Llanfairpwllgwyngyll".

Perhaps less well known is that the MoD maintains the HQ of the Joint Services Mountain Training School (JSMTC) here at Plas Llanfair, under the shadow of the Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait. The facility is also referred to as "Defatigable".

Not surprisingly, small outposts of the JSMTC (called Wings - JSMTW) can be found in the Scottish Highlands at Ballachulish near Glencoe, at Dundonnell near Ullapool and next to Tulloch Station near Spean Bridge and Fort William, but also at Deverell Barracks in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

In North Wales, in the centre of the village of Llanrwst near Betws-y-Coed, you'll find the Joint School of Adventurous Training Instructors (JSATI).

On a connected theme, the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) is down near Portsmouth Naval Base at Haslar Marina.

FIBUA – Fighting In Built-Up Areas

Another major facility worthy of mention in Wales is the famous Army Training Area (ATE) north of Sennybridge. However, for such a remote mountainous location high up on Mynydd Epynt, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, it's a surprise to spot what looks like a small town in the middle of nowhere! Take a look at Gorse-Fach Farm and there seems to be a lively community. All is not what it seems though.

The buildings are merely empty houses with no residents and no outside visitors. What's going on? Is it perhaps an exterior film set for another reality TV show?

No, the numerous houses are for use by the Army's FIBUA teams – Fighting In Built-Up Areas. A rather more politically correct term is OBUA – Operations in Built-up Areas – although army wags have been known to refer to it all as FISH & CHIPS – Fighting in Someone's House and Causing Havoc in People's Streets!

Special villages like this are used by soldiers undergoing vital Operational Training and Advisory Group (OPTAG) courses, before being deployed to war zones.

In Sennybridge, in traditional SAS country, special training in CQB – Close Quarters Battle – takes place. Zoom into the 1:10000 map from the MAGIC website and the mysterious village around the farm is helpfully labelled "Mock Township (Army Training Area)".

In Scotland, a FIBUA / OBUA centre can be found near Faslane nuclear submarine base, at Strone Camp at the southern end of the Garelochhead training area.

The "depot" at Strone within the forest clearing is actually the old Admiralty Hydroballistics Research Establishment. The main Garelochhead training area's military camp is 2km to the west. It is in the middle of several fuel storage depots and is visible through the trees from the adjacent train line.

In England, other FIBUA / OBUA facilities can be found on Salisbury Plain at Copehill Down (further below) near Shrewton in Wiltshire and at the urban warfare mock-up village at Eastmere, within the West Tofts training area near Thetford, Norfolk. More can be revealed at the Army's major training camps at Whinny Hill (sometimes spelt Whinney) at Catterick, in North Yorkshire and at Lydd Ranges near Dungeness Nuclear Power Station in Kent.

There are additional FIBUA / OBUA facilities at the south end of Longmoor Camp near Bordon in Hampshire (which use the old married quarters) and at the disused Sherfield Farm deep within the Bramley Training Area near Basingstoke, which is clearer on MAGIC's 1:10000 scale map. The Copehill Down aerial photo, plus ground photos of the Longmoor Urban Training Complex (UTC) and Bramley Training Area, can be found on the MoD Film and TV locations website:-

• www.films.mod.uk/south_west/copehill.htm
  
  
• www.films.mod.uk/south_east/longmoor/index.htm
  
  
• www.films.mod.uk/south_east/bramley_1.htm

RAF Welford and RAF Fairford – its new B-2 Stealth Bomber role

© www.globalsecurity.org

© www.asfi.net

Diego Garcia AFB Four B-2 LO Docks [ 07 18 49S, 72 25 11E ] Whiteman AFB B-2 Bomber mural in swimming pool – GONE! [ 38 43 40N, 93 34 09W ] Whiteman AFB B-2 Bomber on runways – GONE! [ 38 43 53N, 93 33 19W ]

Consider RAF Welford, an old WWII airfield near Newbury, Berkshire. The official entrance is north of Welford village, at Poughley Farm near Chaddleworth, which itself is on the site of a 12th century priory!

Welford ceased being an RAF base when it was converted into the largest munitions storage facility in Europe. Its primary use is to provide the USAF airbase at Fairford, Gloucestershire with its weapons.

Until April 2006, you could spot a U2 spy plane (further below) parked on the ramps at Fairford, until the Google Earth imagery was updated and it disappeared. Check for yourself! The fun didn't stop there though! In Summer 2007, further Google Earth imagery quality enhancements (but still using data from around 2004/2005) revealed some key developments at RAF Fairford.

Whilst the U2 spy plane had flown off on its missions, some very important construction projects had obviously been going on since it had visited. Check everything out by using my special Google Maps implementation further below!

On the north east side of the base, a new underground fuel bowser depot has been built, in addition to several existing ones – which have been heavily upgraded – around the southern perimeter of the base.

Meanwhile, over on the south east side, a special mobile climate controlled shelter has been erected (above right). This is the new Low Observable (LO) Maintenance Dock for the in-service repair of the top secret anti-radar coating used on the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. It was designed by American Spaceframe Fabricators International (ASFI) of Florida.

The special conditions inside the shelter are provided by state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. They allow the coating to "cure" correctly according to specification.

Flightline Security Enhancement Project (FSEP)

In 2006, a major planning application was made to RAF Fairford's local Cotswold District Council for the erection of five 21m high steel towers around the airbase. They formed Phase I of the Flightline Security Enhancement Project (FSEP) to provide 24 hour CCTV surveillance and thermal imaging. Phase II of the programme of works will integrate the Phase I equipment with sophisticated intruder alarm systems.

The amazingly detailed planning documents include the precise map coordinates of the tower positions, complete with architect's drawings. Full details of the extended building containing the new electrical control equipment is also provided. Three previous planning applications describe other improvements to the base in readiness for the elevated status of Fairford following deployment of the B-2. These include new accommodation for an increased number of US Security Force (SF) and Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) personnel and enhanced perimeter lighting for the secure weapons areas.

• www.idox.cotswold.gov.uk/WAM/pas/findCaseFile.do?appNumber=06/00724/CIRC  [FSEP]
  
  
  
• www.idox.cotswold.gov.uk/WAM/pas/findCaseFile.do?appNumber=05/02068/CIRC
  
  
• www.idox.cotswold.gov.uk/WAM/pas/findCaseFile.do?appNumber=04/02353/CIRC
  
  
• www.idox.cotswold.gov.uk/WAM/pas/findCaseFile.do?appNumber=04/01083/CIRC
  
  

Google Earth censorship? The truth!

In a move almost certain to fuel "Google Earth censorship" conspiracy theories, yet another imagery update was made at the beginning of August 2007, but only along the south side of RAF Fairford! Unfortunately, the newly supplied imagery (featured further below) was actually from an earlier date, before the B-2 upgrade project at Fairford had started.

This resulted in those fuel depot expansions around the southern perimeter being reversed and the B-2 LO Dock disappearing completely, almost as soon as it had made its debut! Now that's what I call stealth technology! It is hoped that the LO shelter at Fairford will return to Google Earth again soon!

Whilst the B-2's home base (since December 1993) is Whiteman AFB in Johnson, Missouri, US, these important developments at RAF Fairford since 2004 will provide the opportunity of forward deployment of the B-2 Bomber within the UK.

Other established locations are at Andersen AFB on Guam in the Pacific Ocean and at Diego Garcia AFB in the Indian Ocean (where four LO Docks are already situated).

Furthermore, two replicas of the Whiteman AFB B-2 Bomber permanent hangars have been constructed next to the new fuel depot at RAF Fairford's north east side, where some old buildings have been demolished.

During 2007, Google Earth watchers noticed a mural of a B-2 Bomber painted on the bottom of a swimming pool at Whiteman AFB (further below), but by June 2007 it had mysteriously disappeared. The explanation? Another imagery update had been performed and this time, the pool was filled with water thereby making the mural impossible to see!

A real B-2 Bomber can be spotted manoeuvring around Whiteman AFB (also further below) on a black and white snapshot taken on 8th March 1997 by the US Geological Survey (USGS) as part of their National Aerial Photography Programme (1987 - present). You can easily view the original on the GlobeXplorer ImageAtlas website by switching the initially presented image from "June 2003, Premium" to "March 1997, Panchromatic" using the "Pick by date" drop-down list at the top of the screen. In early 2008, Yahoo Maps was featuring differently sourced aerial photography (from I-cubed) showing another B-2 in a similar position near its hangar!

Fairford's weapons facility at RAF Welford only returned to OS maps very recently, following decades of the "airbrushing" treatment! You can make out the original paths of the runways on the aerial photo, which also clearly shows the racks of munitions.

Note the nearby presence of a disused railway line. This was the method of munitions transportation in the 1960s and before. A fascinating pictorial history of the construction of the military branch line from the former Welford Park Station can be found on Ken Tarbox's comprehensive Lambourn Valley Railway website.

• www.kentarbox.com/images/lambourn-valley-railway/pages/welfordairbase/airbase.htm
  
  
• www.lambournvalleyrailway.com

The site (pictured further below in exclusive Pilot's Eye views shot in 2007) is so important that it has its own slip roads connected to the east-bound carriageway of the nearby M4 motorway! Commuters travelling into London every day from the west, will drive past an exit marked "Works Access Only". It's between Junctions 13 and 14. I suppose Harry Potter would call it Junction 13½!

The fact that the "Works Access Only" sign is in red gives the game away really. All UK military establishments are signposted this way. The two slip roads were constructed in the mid 1980s and were financed by the USAF to the tune of £377,000.

There seems to be another "secret" junction on the M4 further west. To find out more, read on!