secret bunkers for spy planes - whho built them

[saaby93]

RAF Alconbury
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshir...

ok it's very nice but who built it? Where are they now?

[Eric Mc]

I'm sure they were built by the usual MOD contractors - people like Taylor Woodrow, Wimpy's, MacAlpines etc.

They weren't that secret.

[HoHoHo]

Eric Mc said:

I'm sure they were built by the usual MOD contractors - people like Taylor Woodrow, Wimpy's, MacAlpines etc.

They weren't that secret.

Almost certainly the cheapest contractor built them Eric

To answer the question where are they now?

Most of them if not demolished are still where they were build

[kurt535]

My dad worked on them and also at Bentwaters/Woodbridge and Greenham Common.

He had to sign the OSA on what he was doing there but used to bring home lots of stuff the Americano pilots would give him as he was always airside.

[dvs_dave]

Depending on the secrecy level, they will often have contractors deliver the various packages independently of each other with little to no crossover. That way the personnel involved only know about the part they delivered, so don't have the full picture of what's actually being built or it's final purpose, which is what matters.

[Piginapoke]

I wonder if they could have withstood a nuclear strike, as the film states.

[blueg33]

Eric Mc said:

I'm sure they were built by the usual MOD contractors - people like Taylor Woodrow, Wimpy's, MacAlpines etc.

They weren't that secret.

Yup. Our group does a lot of MOD work, well known major contractor

[Eric Mc]

dvs_dave said:

Depending on the secrecy level, they will often have contractors deliver the various packages independently of each other with little to no crossover. That way the personnel involved only know about the part they delivered, so don't have the full picture of what's actually being built or it's final purpose, which is what matters.

"Excuse me, where does this big red button that says "Fire" go?".

[kurt535]

dvs_dave said:

Depending on the secrecy level, they will often have contractors deliver the various packages independently of each other with little to no crossover. That way the personnel involved only know about the part they delivered, so don't have the full picture of what's actually being built or it's final purpose, which is what matters.

naw. not the bunkers. there were several construction firms on site all building the same things from groundworks to final coat of paint.

[Sylvaforever]

Balfour beattie just watch the overspray on the car parks though

[dvs_dave]

kurt535 said:

dvs_dave said:

Depending on the secrecy level, they will often have contractors deliver the various packages independently of each other with little to no crossover. That way the personnel involved only know about the part they delivered, so don't have the full picture of what's actually being built or it's final purpose, which is what matters.

naw. not the bunkers. there were several construction firms on site all building the same things from groundworks to final coat of paint.

Like I said, depending on the secrecy level.

[Krikkit]

Piginapoke said:

I wonder if they could have withstood a nuclear strike, as the film states.

As with all these things it's about how big and how close - they look like they'd have withstood a few kT direct and a MT within a few miles, but not much more - anything overground is pretty limited.

Edited by Krikkit on Tuesday 18th April 13:42

[steve-5snwi]

We had a couple of the bomb shelters and two of the all weather shelters on Alconbury when I worked for a logistics company, the bomb shelter was directly behind one of the all weather shelters we had. We did try and have a look inside but wasn't brave enough given the US military police still control certain parts of it. We did manage to walk through the bit shown in the video where they drove through.

There was a water tank or something similar that you could climb and watch the occasional track day they held on the runway

[Smiler.]

Good find.

I designed a runway approach scheme there in the early 90s.

Was quite astonishing standing at the end of the runway overrun when a flight of A10's came in to land.