FEATURE
A photographic study of Greenham and Crookham Commons: Part 2 Cruise missiles and the Peace movement 1980 - 1991 ROBERT C CARPENTER LRPS My first article (Part 1 The wartime and Cold War years 1941 – 1980s) illustrated some historical legacies from this era and this second part continues the story into the Cruise Missile years.
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owever, from the 1970s into the 1980s (during a dormant period), it is worth noting that the airbase was used for certain non-military activities. For completeness, these are briefly outlined in the Final Comments section. It is worth noting that the airbase was used for certain non[1] military activities
The decision for cruise missile deployments. In the spring of 1979, the NATO Nuclear Planning Group agreed to formulate a response to the growing Soviet military might: “In their consideration of NATO’s requirements, as part of the Long-Term Defence Programme, to modernize theatre nuclear forces, Ministers reaffirmed that NATO could not rely on conventional forces alone for credible deterrence in Europe; and that, without increasing dependence on nuclear weapons or prejudicing long-term defence improvements in conventional forces, it would be necessary to maintain and modernize theatre nuclear forces”. This response included negotiations with the Soviets to reverse their deployments of SS-20 intermediate range ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads. If these negotiations failed, then NATO would proceed with the deployment of missiles to NATO members. All subsequent negotiations failed - and on December 12th 1979 the decision was made by NATO to deploy Ground Launched nuclear Cruise Missiles (GLCMs) to Britain 14
and other European countries. This announcement was made by Sir Francis Pym (Secretary of State for Defence) on December 13th and in June 1980 he stated that Greenham Common would house 96 nuclear armed Tomahawk cruise missiles, the warhead of each of which had the explosive force of up to 10 Hiroshima bombs (64 cruise missiles were also to be deployed to RAF Molesworth).
Airfield operations to prepare for cruise missile deployments. In 1981, a major construction programme, within the Greenham Common airfield area, was started to support the missile deployments. Six hardened shelters were constructed to protect the GLCMs from possible nuclear and conventional attack. Each shelter was designed to withstand the blast of any nuclear air explosion above the base or any direct hit from a 2500lb conventional bomb. It is believed that the shelters, that stand around 10 metres high and 30 metres long, were built with a reinforced concrete ceiling about two metres thick, below a steel plate, around three metres of sand, a further reinforced concrete slab and all covered with tonnes of soil. Each of these housed 4 launch vehicles and 2 launch control vehicles. The vehicles were contained by 6 30-inch-thick steel doors each weighing 42 tons. Other infrastructure such as the Entry Control Point, the Wing Headquarters, armoury, and maintenance hangar buildings were also required. The site was surrounded by multiple fences (some fitted with razor wire), a perimeter road and an advanced
