354th Fighter Group

North American P-51B-1-NA Mustang, AAF Ser. No. 43-12408 of the 355th Fighter Squadron

As troop carrier groups began arriving in the UK in late 1943 and deployed in the Greenham area, Greenham Common was one of the airfields used by the Ninth Air Force for fighter groups arriving from the United States. On 4 November the 354th Fighter Group arrived from Portland Army Air Field, Oregon and they were informed they were to fly the North American P-51 Mustang. The unit transferred to RAF Lashenden in April 1944.^[6]

368th Fighter Group

A few weeks later on 13 January 1944, the 368th Fighter Group arrived from Farmingdale, New York, flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. They had the following fighter squadrons and fuselage codes:^[7]

• 395th Fighter Squadron (A7)
• 396th Fighter Squadron (C2)
• 397th Fighter Squadron (D3)

The 368th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 71st Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. The 368th FG moved to RAF Chilbolton on 15 March 1944.^[7]

438th Troop Carrier Group

General Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses Company E, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (Strike), at Greenham Common Airfield about 8:30 pm on 5 June 1944.

Literally as the 368th FG was moving out, the 438th Troop Carrier Group was flying into Greenham Common from RAF Langar. Flying Douglas C-47 Skytrains, they had the following Troop Carrier squadrons and fuselage codes:^[8]

• 87th Troop Carrier Squadron (3X)
• 88th Troop Carrier Squadron (M2)
• 89th Troop Carrier Squadron (4U)
• 90th Troop Carrier Squadron (Q7)
• 94th Troop Carrier Squadron (D8)

The 438th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 53rd Troop Carrier Wing of IX Troop Carrier Command. The unit moved to Prosnes in France in February 1945.^[8]

Strategic Air Command

USAF Boeing B-47E-50-LM Stratojet, AF Ser. No. 52-3363, in flight.

Gate to RAF Greenham Common during 1961

In the post-Second World War years, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) of the United States Air Force (USAF) was based at three major airfields in eastern England: RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Sculthorpe. The increasing tension of the Cold War led to a re-evaluation of these deployments and a move further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Greenham Common, RAF Brize Norton, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford. The airfield came under SAC's 7th Air Division, with the 3909th Combat Support Group as its administrative unit on the base, responsible for all non-flying activities as well as maintenance and logistical support of the flying units attached to RAF Greenham Common. One of the first deployments was 310th Bombardment Wing which arrived with its Boeing B-47E Stratojets in October 1956.^[9]

Nuclear accident

Aerial view of the former runway at RAF Greenham Common, viewed east-to-west, August 2014.

On 28 February 1958, a B-47E, of the 310th Bombardment Wing developed problems shortly after takeoff and jettisoned its two 1,700 gallon external fuel tanks. They missed their designated safe impact area, and one hit a hangar while the other struck the ground 65 feet (20 m) behind a parked plane. The parked B-47E, registration 53-6216, which was fuelled and had a pilot on board, was engulfed by flames; 2 ground crew were killed and two were injured. ^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]}

Two scientists, F. H. Cripps and A. Stimson, who both worked for the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, stated in a secret 1961 report, released by the CND in 1996, that the fire detonated the high explosives in a nuclear weapon, that plutonium and uranium oxides were spread over a wide area (foliage up to 8 mi (13 km) away was contaminated with uranium-235) and that they had discovered high concentrations of radioactive contamination around the airfield.^[16]

However, a radiological survey commissioned in 1997 by Newbury District Council and Basingstoke and Deane found no evidence of a nuclear accident at Greenham Common, suggesting that Cripps and Stimson's statements were false. The seven-month-long survey was carried out by the Geosciences Advisory Unit of Southampton University and combined a helicopter-mounted gamma ray detector survey with a ground-based survey. The team analysed nearly 600 samples taken from soil, lake sediment, borehole water, house dust, runway tarmac and concrete, looking for uranium and plutonium isotopes. No evidence of an accident involving nuclear weapons damage was found at the former air force base although the ground survey detected some low-level uranium contamination around the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston thought to be derived from that facility, and the helicopter survey found some anomalies around Harwell Laboratory.^[17]

United States Air Forces in Europe

After Strategic Air Command left Greenham Common in 1964, the site was primarily used as a mail sorting and storage facility under the administrative control of 7551st Combat Support Group.^[18] Beginning in 1973 the base became the home of the International Air Tattoo, a large scale international military airshow.^[1]

501st Tactical Missile Wing

The cruise missile shelters

On 12 December 1982, 30,000 women held hands around the 6 miles (9.7 km) perimeter of the base, in protest against the decision to site American cruise missiles there

Following the 1979 NATO Double-Track Decision, in June 1980, RAF Greenham Common was selected as one of two British bases for the USAF's mobile nuclear armed BGM-109G Gryphon Ground Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM).^[19] This missile was derived from the sea-launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missile. Some missiles were deployed at RAF Molesworth, but the majority of GLCMs were deployed at RAF Greenham Common.^[20]

A Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was established in protest at the deployment of cruise missiles in 1981.^[1] The protestors became known as "the Greenham women" or "peace women", and their 19-year protest drew worldwide media and public attention.^[1]

After being equipped with the new weapons, the 501st Tactical Missile Wing was activated at Greenham Common on 1 July 1982.^[21] Following the ratification of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the General Secretary of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev in June 1988, the last GLCMs at RAF Greenham Common were removed in March 1991, and the 501st Tactical Missile Wing was inactivated in May 1991.^[21] On 11 September 1992, the USAF returned RAF Greenham Common to the Ministry of Defence.^[1]