Quote:
Originally Posted by taddy
I noticed in the six nations rugby thread that you served on Benbecula Barrie,
my older brother served in the R.E.M.E. on Benbecula in the 1950s testing the Corporal guided missile system.
After writing to the M.O.D. and submitting photographs of his time on the island he and his wife were invited to the camp when they toured the Outer Hebrides in their motor home but that would have been twenty years or so ago.
With all the cutbacks that have reduced our armed forces to little more than a little drummer boy army, I don't know whether the base is still operational, or even still there.
Regards, Taddy
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The RAF base is still there but much reduced due to the modern radar that is now installed there. The RAF were parented by the Royal Artillery Range Hebrides. All sorts of Army support units including REME which was quite a large contingent needed to support Rapier, Blowpipe and Hawk - they also provided support for Short Bros development of drone targets. Not sure what the Army do there now. The RAF radar was initially installed to ensure that the firing ranges were clear of obstruction and to control the Canberra target towing aircraft. However, it was soon realised that the radar we had there was capable of providing coverage of the Iceland/Faroes Gap and was also used to control intercepts on Russian intruders by the Lightning and the anti-submarine patrols by Nimrods. Had a fantastic year there, the Mess was superb and my workload so varied, don't think any other engineering officer post had so much variety of responsibilities. Probably one of the best postings I ever had - I was there from April '75 to April '76 - unaccompanied posting so only one year duration.