Elvington/Space Shuttle ???
Discussion
Shuttle landed at Fairford?
The only time a US Space Shuttle visited the UK was back in 1983 when "Enterprise" dropped into Stansted on its way to (or from - I can't remember which) the Paris Air Show. She was perched atop the NASA Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. She may very well have touched down at Farford on that occasion as well. The only landing strips that have actually been used by Shuttles returning from space are -
The dry lake beds at Edwards Air Force Base.
The concrete runway at Edwards AFB.
The desert strip at White Sands proving grounds (once only)
The runway at the Kennedy Space Centre , Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Most Shuttle orbits take it nowhere near the UK and the most northerly orbits flown just skirt the south coast of England. Emergency landing strips are available at Rota Air Force Base, Spain and in West Africa.
The only time a US Space Shuttle visited the UK was back in 1983 when "Enterprise" dropped into Stansted on its way to (or from - I can't remember which) the Paris Air Show. She was perched atop the NASA Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. She may very well have touched down at Farford on that occasion as well. The only landing strips that have actually been used by Shuttles returning from space are -
The dry lake beds at Edwards Air Force Base.
The concrete runway at Edwards AFB.
The desert strip at White Sands proving grounds (once only)
The runway at the Kennedy Space Centre , Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Most Shuttle orbits take it nowhere near the UK and the most northerly orbits flown just skirt the south coast of England. Emergency landing strips are available at Rota Air Force Base, Spain and in West Africa.
I stand corrected, it never did land at fairford but it has long been designated an emergency landing runway for aborted take-offs:
http://groups.msn.com/RAFFairford/spaceshuttle.msnw
www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/fairford.htm
http://groups.msn.com/RAFFairford/spaceshuttle.msnw
www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/fairford.htm
USAF bases in the UK (and all around the world) have always had a support role in the US Space Programme. RAF Alconbury used to be home to the CH-53 Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopters of the 67th Air Refuelling and Rescue Squadron (67 ARRS) and they were tasked with retrieving space capsules which may have needed to make an emergency splashdown in the Atlantic. I visited the base in 1987 and parked forlornly over one side of the field, under a hedge, was a dummy Apollo Command Module which had been used for training the helicopter crews.
I have my doubts about Elvington as it has not been an active miltary airfield for a very long time (early 1960s?). Fairford was and still is in full working order with USAF personnel permanently based there. In theory, ANY airfield within 3,000 miles cross range potential from the point where the Shuttle fires its engines for de-orbit could be used as an emergency strip but the chances of making it down in one piece on a place like Elvingtom would be extremely slim.
>> Edited by eric mc on Tuesday 18th February 12:21
I have my doubts about Elvington as it has not been an active miltary airfield for a very long time (early 1960s?). Fairford was and still is in full working order with USAF personnel permanently based there. In theory, ANY airfield within 3,000 miles cross range potential from the point where the Shuttle fires its engines for de-orbit could be used as an emergency strip but the chances of making it down in one piece on a place like Elvingtom would be extremely slim.
>> Edited by eric mc on Tuesday 18th February 12:21
it was probably considered but Fairford won. www.elvington.biz/Airfield%20History.htm
Bonce (who checked his facts this time
)Following Bonce's link below it looks like Elvington was NEVER seriously active after WW2. True, its facilities were upgraded in the mid-50s to handle the Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombrer but they never deployed to the base. As I've said in my previous post, the airfield is probably one of a list of sites available as options for the Shuttle - some more realistic than others. The main criteria for these sites is runway length. I've heard Shannon Airport in Ireland is also a possible emergency landing strip too.
I once heard that the (ex) RAF base at Macrihanish, on the Mull of Kintyre, was an emergency landing strip for the shuttle. The runway is 2 miles long.
There have been consistent rumours of strange goings on there, especially regarding the F117A before it become public knowledge, and the yet to be confirmed Aurora, the replacment for the SR-71.
The shuttle theory might be rubbish, because I believe it requires 3 miles of runway to stop, and again for the 747 "mother ship" to lift it back out again.
As the base has now been handed over for civilian use, these stories are somewhat moot.
There have been consistent rumours of strange goings on there, especially regarding the F117A before it become public knowledge, and the yet to be confirmed Aurora, the replacment for the SR-71.
The shuttle theory might be rubbish, because I believe it requires 3 miles of runway to stop, and again for the 747 "mother ship" to lift it back out again.
As the base has now been handed over for civilian use, these stories are somewhat moot.
Mad Jock said: I once heard that the (ex) RAF base at Macrihanish, on the Mull of Kintyre, was an emergency landing strip for the shuttle. The runway is 2 miles long.
There have been consistent rumours of strange goings on there, especially regarding the F117A before it become public knowledge, and the yet to be confirmed Aurora, the replacment for the SR-71.
The shuttle theory might be rubbish, because I believe it requires 3 miles of runway to stop, and again for the 747 "mother ship" to lift it back out again.
As the base has now been handed over for civilian use, these stories are somewhat moot.
Civlian use? I'm looking forward to "Macrihanish International Airport"
I've heard the Elvington story as well. I believe the runway is 2.5 miles long but I'll find out when I do an 'airfield day' there, when the 390 refuses to stop...
We had a job at an RAF base a couple of weeks back: one of the buried fuel pipelines was leaking aviation fuel into the ground, but they didn't know where without digging up a lot of the 'field. We used the latest technology (yawn) to find the leak for them...
Ian
We had a job at an RAF base a couple of weeks back: one of the buried fuel pipelines was leaking aviation fuel into the ground, but they didn't know where without digging up a lot of the 'field. We used the latest technology (yawn) to find the leak for them...
Ian
wedg1e said:We had a job at an RAF base a couple of weeks back: one of the buried fuel pipelines was leaking aviation fuel into the ground, but they didn't know where without digging up a lot of the 'field. We used the latest technology (yawn) to find the leak for them...
What, you sent a YTS kid out for a walk around with a lit cigarette?
Shuttle landing strips fall into four categories:
Normal end-of-mission sites, such as Kennedy, White Sands and Dryden.
"East Coast Abort Landing" and "Transoceanic Abort Landing" sites, in the event of an abort during the ascent phase. Located on the east coast of the US, Spain, Morocco and The Gambia, and temporarily staffed by NASA during launches.
Emergency Landing Sites, ranging from airforce bases, airports with long runways and clear approaches, through to large areas of hard flat ground (!). There's a big list of ELSs in the shuttle flight operations manual, of which the two closest to home are Fairford in the UK and Shannon in Ireland.
There's loads more info on nasa.gov if you trawl around for it!
Pete
Normal end-of-mission sites, such as Kennedy, White Sands and Dryden.
"East Coast Abort Landing" and "Transoceanic Abort Landing" sites, in the event of an abort during the ascent phase. Located on the east coast of the US, Spain, Morocco and The Gambia, and temporarily staffed by NASA during launches.
Emergency Landing Sites, ranging from airforce bases, airports with long runways and clear approaches, through to large areas of hard flat ground (!). There's a big list of ELSs in the shuttle flight operations manual, of which the two closest to home are Fairford in the UK and Shannon in Ireland.
There's loads more info on nasa.gov if you trawl around for it!
Pete
eric mc said: The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual - Published by McMillan Books 1982.
Authors -Kerry Mark Joel, Gregory P Kennedy and David Larkin
ISBN - 0 333 35150 9
eric mc , you are joking right ? , this isnt a real book is it ?
. Please dont make the humour too subtle , i believe all this stuff
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