RAF Uxbridge - Report - February 2011 - Image Heavy

[Wily Will]

Hi All

This is my first ever post & my first ever adventure taking pictures, so i hope i don't let the side down or bore you all to tears too much.

Some background information to whet your appetites, some of it is shamelessly taken from the interweb & some of it was told to me by people who are walking encyclopedias of the base.

RAF Uxbridge was a Royal Air Force station in Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was best known as the headquarters of No. 11 Group RAF during the Battle of Britain. 11 Group was responsible for the defence of London and the South-East of England, and therefore was the main area of combat. The group headquarters were specifically at Hillingdon House within the base grounds. An underground bunker now known as the Battle of Britain Bunker was built nearby to handle the control of the fighter squadrons, primarily using the 11 Group Operations Room. The station closed on 31 March 2010

Please don't post these elsewhere, if i wanted them posted on other sites i would do it myself, Thanks

RAF Uxbridge Crest


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The former headquarters of the Queens Colour Squadron often abbreviated to Q.C.S the Q.C.S would normally perform ceremonial duties whilst still maintaining an active status when required for defensive roles, some of the regiment were relocated to RAF Northolt but most of the regiment were ordered to Afghanistan.


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The crest which adorns the Q.C.S building seen from afar in the picture above, the english translation of the crests motto is, Youth We Form.


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Obviously a sign to inform a staff member as to where their car is parked, and the building behind was known as the resettlement building, which was primarily geared towards short term training courses lasting between one week up to one month.


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A broken window in one of the auxiliary buildings used by the Q.C.S & I am informed that the lads would often relax in another part of this building, even throwing the occasional party.


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This oddly understated door leads to a much larger building to the right which was used to train various military personnel in the event of chemical warfare, basically the lads were told to go in & make sure they were capable of putting on their breathing apparatus in a quick & timely fashion before all manner of dangerous gasses & substances were introduced to their little environment.


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Diggers already demolishing some structures that were part of the ( Gas Chamber - See Picture Above ) cozz they just love to knock shit down.!


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A community notice board, with one remaining advert, better get your skates on if you want to take up the offer of the Pooch walking service.


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The country estate house known as Hillingdon House, built in 1717 by the Duke of Schomberg, a general serving under William of Orange ( later King William III ) and subsequently Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, who was knighted for his part in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The Grade II listed mansion was completely rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire in 1844 and stands on the site of a previous house, also occupied by the Duke and reputed to have been built in 1617
In 1914 the mansion and lands were marketed for sale by the estate of Frederick Cox, Richard Henry Cox's grandson and was described as "a brick and stone building, partly stuccoed, with extensive outbuildings and ornamental gardens. The house and gardens, together with the surrounding parkland and artificial lake, created by damming the River Pinn, comprised over 200 acres.
The estate was purchased by the British Government in 1915 and it became the Canadian Convalescent Hospital, for troops evacuated from the front line. Opened on 20 September 1915 and closing on 12 December 1917, the hospital saw four commanding officers and five Sisters-in-Charge
Shortly after the Royal Air Force was officially formed the base was formally commissioned as the newly opened RAF Uxbridge.


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A front view of hillingdon house, which was also affectionately often referred to as the White House by long serving personnel on the base, Please see picture above.


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A sneaky peek through one of the windows in the White House.


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Bugger, some little chav has let my tyres down, this bike is parked behing the White House & i think we can safely say its next destination will probably be a skip when they get around to it.


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A fire door at the back of the White House, i thought my luck was in when i noticed the broken emergency push handle on the floor but alas you will notice its still nicely secured.


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Another fire door at the back of the White House, very secure with plenty of signs.


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A spiral staircase at the side of the White House which leads to the roof, the staircase also served as a fire escape in the event of a fire or some other emergency which required a quick exit.


Please see the Post Below For The Rest

[Wily Will]

Thanks For Continuing: Please Enjoy

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A view from the top of the spiral staircase looking down, all readers should be aware of my shameful little secret, i'm positively S**T Scared of heights & dragging my arse up this rusty staircase took all the bottle i could muster, especially when the bloody thing started to wobble when i reached the top. LOL


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This one confused the f*** out of me, it reads.
Department Of The Air Force United States Of America - WTF ?
Apparently a gift from some visiting American personnel, Nuff Said


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One of many signs that obviously told me in no uncertain terms that i was not in kansas.


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A relic from years ago that allowed members of the public to skirt the outer edges of the base but as the base was expanded in the early seventies the footpath & its signage became part of RAF life & although the footpaths & bridleways were often covered over with roads or tarmac a few of the signs still remain as a poignant reminder of earlier access routes.


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RAF Uxbridge Community Support, another sad reminder that the warmth & the community spirit is also gone.


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This one speaks for itself, but if you look over to the right of the picture you will observe the huge round window on the back of the Sergeants Mess.


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The back of the gymnasium & adjoining sports complex, with the stadium club to the right of the picture.


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An unknown building but it is rumored it was a part of the MOD Police.


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Another view of the building above, the fact that it has a sign to the right of the front door informing anyone entering that the building was at Bikini State would lead me to believe the rumor is true that it was used by the MOD Police, "Bikini State" I shit yee not.


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A view looking down St. Luke's Road, these particular houses were built in 1927 & were primarily allocated to military personnel of married status, they are tiny by modern standards but are perfectly proportioned & very well built, they would have been perfect for a married couple just starting out together


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A view from inside one of the houses on St.Luke's Road, nothing further to add as i feel the picture speaks for itself.


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A frontal view of a couple of houses on Jackson Road, the interesting paint scheme was kindly donated courtesy of the Metropolitan Police, interesting side note, there are quite a number of the married quarters homes which became derelict some twenty years ago in the late 80's and early 90's and RAF Uxbridge working in cooperation with the Metropolitan Police regularly allowed the Met Police to carry out a variety of training activities and when the base was finally scheduled for full decommissioning the gloves and regulations were completely removed and the Met were permitted to carry out some real heavy duty anti terror shock and awe tactics as the picture below shows.


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The announcements board for St. Luke's you can see the church is basically a big hut, but I am reliably informed that a number of weddings and christenings were performed over the years including quite a few weddings before the base was decommissioned, many of the stations personnel wanted to get married in this humble little church and the services were performed by the station Padre.


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A frontal shot of the Sergeants' Mess, a deceptively modern looking building which dates from 1934 but to look at you would think it was built recently, I believe the staff of the Sergeants' Mess took a great pride in the presentation and upkeep of the building, and even although the Officers' Mess and other buildings were more modern and newly built they paled in comparison to the care and attention that was lavished on this building by staff and Sergeants' alike.


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A view from the front of the Officers' Mess, you are a bit late if you fancy a gin and tonic as I can promise you the Barman is busy doing something else { wink.wink } but if you are really quiet and you bring your own bottle, "One Can Raise A Glass And Toast The Brave Men And Women That Have Served To Defend Our Country"
Goodnight RAF Uxbridge


I hope you enjoyed these & feel free to comment etc

I tried adding a siggy in my profile, but i'm not allowed yet, hopefully in the future, {Wink.Wink}
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[Wily Will]

Wanted to add this info from my blog.

I was very fortunate to know somebody who worked there & as a treat they arranged for me to be able to have a quick peek at the WW2 bunker which is located pretty much in the centre of the base, normally they only allow groups of twenty to forty people, so i was obviously chuffed to bits at the generous offer & very much looking forward to this private visit.

Once i got on the base things got a whole lot more fun & interesting as my friend decided to really push their luck & call in a few favours & the end result was me being allowed to wander around & take as many pictures as i liked, Whilst Being Shadowed By My Friend I MUST stress the fact that this base (is) decommissioned but it still has Gurkas until march the 31′st so be warned if you are thinking of visiting use extreme caution & take care, I had a great day but unfortunately the battery in my camera died & i was forced to take some of the final pictures using a bloody mobile phone, therefore i really do apologize in advance but there was nothing i could do so i decided that using the phone to take my final pictures was better than not taking them at all.

Will.

[Krypton]

Very nice Will - do you have any pictures of the bunker?

[Nicola]

Well done - looks like you had a good wander around - love the "interesting paint scheme" shot.

[Wily Will]

Very nice Will - do you have any pictures of the bunker?

Hi Krypton, Yes i do have a few shots of the bunker, to be honest the bunker is still fully maintained etc, so i never even thought to include them, but say the word & i am more than happy to post them for you.

Well done - looks like you had a good wander around - love the "interesting paint scheme" shot.

Hi Nicola, Yupp the interesting paint scheme is quite a sight, i have loads more but i was limited to what i could post etc.

Thanks for looking

Will.

[Nicola]

Get the pics of the bunker up too!

[Wily Will]

Get the pics of the bunker up too!

Well, i ain't no dummy & keeping a mod happy can never hurt, so on with the show.

External View of the bunker entrance.


Descent down the first set of stairs with another landing further down & another set of stairs.


The second set of stairs.


Plotting Room


The clocks are all stopped at 11:30:hrs as this was the official stand down of the base at the closing of the european theater of engagements.


Operations board in the background.


The main ops board showed the operational status of various bases.


The ops board again.


Lower shot of ops board,


Shot of operations room looking down from the upper observation deck.


Another shot from the observation deck, Please take note of the observation window on the right which was especially installed in 1941 after the bunkers official completion, this window & the room behind is the {Royal Box} yes you did read it correctly, the Royal Box was installed in 1941 for the then king "George VI" & entourage to visit the bunker & watch the defence of his beloved country.


And another.


Now we all know that we carry our telephones with us, But early models were apparently tied to the wall, how quaint.


Miniature ops board which would have been updated simultaneously in time with the bigger version in front.


A miniature telephone exchange, state of the art in 1937


A shot looking down from the main observation deck, notice the shimmer on the glass, these are HUGE sections of rolled glass which wrap around two walls of the ops room.


A shot of the upper observation & ops room, note the curve of the glass if you look at the right of the picture.


Quick, Turn out those lights,,,


Another reminder that it was finally over, but the war took a huge toll & our little empire would never see its heyday again.


The gate guardian, & yupp, if i had a load of angry germans coming at me i would want to see these covering my ass & my bases as well.


The second gate guardian both of these planes keep a lonely vigil looking after the bunkers main entrance.


Thanks for reading.

[beam assisted]

Nice report mate, but the lime green kills my eyes lol.


Also it isn't usually recommended to put the full date on the post title (or even in the post) just Feb 2011 would be fine.

[Wily Will]

Nice report mate, but the lime green kills my eyes lol.


Also it isn't usually recommended to put the full date on the post title (or even in the post) just Feb 2011 would be fine.

Sozz,

I'm looking at the forum on a Panasonic 50 inch plasma & i suppose my colour depths are pretty different to a normal monitor, it automatically adjusts different pages to give me the best lighting conditions etc

But i will stick with the silver text from now on as that's pretty muted for everyone i think.

And i will remember the format for the date for next time.

Will.