Greenham Common Photo Collection
I have over the years been sent a huge number of photos of Greenham Common and RAF Welford by many kind people. Some date from World War Two and thru all periods the base was active under. If you have any you can contribute, please contact me at the homepage.
Greenham Common as it looked in World War Two with north at the top to Newbury and South at the bottom
Glider assembly was the main mission at Greenham Common/Crookham Common 1943-1944 by men of the US Army 26th Mobile Reclamation & Repair Squadron (Heavy).
There were seven assembly areas for CG-4A Waco gliders. The parts arrived in these containers.
The vast CG-4A assembly areas at Greenham Common in World War 2
Over 4000 Waco gliders were assembled at Greenham Common ready for D Day and Operation Market Garden in 1944.
US Army engineers get to work on the fuselage of a CG-4A Waco at Greenham Common. Over 4000 were produced at what was known as Station 429
A horse and cart moves through the glider assembly area at Greenham Common
US Army Engineers of the 26th fit out the interior of a CG-4A
The US Army used tracked vehicles to move glider fuselages and other parts for assembly. A CG-4A was made up of over 70,000 parts.
Tractors tow out the fuselages of CG-4As at Greenham
Men with a finished CG-4A entitled Fighting Falcon and a reference to Greenville Schools in Michigan.
Men of the 26th take a break from work building the gliders at Greenham
US Army glider builders and glider pilots at Greenham
A horse & cart approaches a Jeep and glider bodies at Greenham Common
Men of the US Army 101st Airborne Division prepare to board a C-47
Gliders were tower from Greenham Common to the fronts in France and the Netherlands in 1944.
Between 1945 and 1946, the RAF used Greenham Common to train new NCO entrants. Photo by Eric Smith
In 1951, the US Army 804th Engineering Aviation Battalion moved to Greenham to demolish the World War Two airfield and build a new, permanent base fit for the US Air Force and the Strategic Air Command's B-47 Stratojets. They flew in in C-46 Commandos. Photo by Bob Brown
A C-46 Commando parked at Greenham Common
A C-46 seen at Greenham Common with one of the remaining World War Two hangars in the distance.
A 1954 model of what Greenham Common was rebuilt to be. Note the technical side of the base is at the bottom and the later overruns at each end of the runway had not then been added.
Taken around 1954, Commanding Officer of the 3909th Air Base Group at Greenham, Colonel Gerald Robinson on the right oversaw the planting of a large number of trees around the base. The then RAF liaison officer is on the left.
Greenham Manor was the officers club at the base. It was also used by families and Airmen involved in a Permanent Change of Station. Some said it was haunted.
USAF Maj Thompson on the right at the manor for a function with an RAF Squadron Leader, 1954
At the same event, Greenham Manor, 1954.
Military wives at an event at Greenham Manor, 1954.
Looking at the front of Greenham Manor 1956. The rear is shown below:
Airmens barracks at Greenham Common, 1955
Officer barracks (as they were at the time) off Pyle Hill/Burys Bank Road, 1956
Greenham Common control tower
Airman Bill Yocius on duty inside the control tower at Greenham, 1954:
1st Lieutenant Bill Schuck. Marking his promotion to the rank at Greenham Common. Bill made a TDY to the base as a KC-97 Navigator in 1956 and has since passed away.
Greenham Common held a public open day in May 1956. This RAF Blackburn Beverley took part and probably flew in from RAF Abingdon
A B-47 Stratojet and KC-97 at the Open House day in May 1956 at Greenham Common
A USAF F-86D flew in from another USAF base in Britain for the open house at Greenham Common in 1956
A USAF F-84F is parked next to an RAF Meteor, May 1956.
More photos will be added over time. Keep coming back.
If you have any photos of Greenham Common, please contact me.