former GLCM Alert & Maintenance Area (GAMA)

United Kingdom / England / Newbury /
 Cold War 1947-1991, closed / former military, United States Air Force, missile silo
Cold War site for Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM) stationing.
Former GAMA facility (closed)

Third Air Force
Headquarter RAF Base Mildenhall
Wing 1: 501st Tactical Missile Wing, RAF Greenham Common


GLCM Alert and Maintenance Area (GAMA)
96 BGM-109G Gryphon were stationed till Dec. 1983

After INF-Treaty 1991 they are returned back to USA for destruction
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Greenham_Common
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°22'39"N   1°18'12"W

Comments

  • The actual name of this area was the GAMA, short for GLCM (pronounced glickim) Alert and Maintenance Area. The missiles were stored within the bunkers but had to be removed to an open area on trailers for launch. These sites are important remnants of our long involvement in the Cold War.
  • The plan was to move the launchers around the country as soon as a conflict seemed likely. A joke at the time was that all the Russians would have to do would be to bomb Watford Gap services as the Gov. would be bound to send the launchers to the North and that'd be how far they might have got.
This article was last modified 13 years ago