Pictures and captions contributed by Andrew Saltmarsh, who also wrote these comments:
I was stationed at the communication site from 80-82. I had great time really enjoy my time at the Black Tiles Pub and our trips into Ipswich. The local people were great to us and we used to have parties out at the site in which our English friends would come out and join us. I actually got to go back to England for an extended business trip in Newbury, around 1999, in which I took a trip up to Ipswich and Martlesham Heath.
I stopped at the site and was amazed by the upgrade of the site and the demise of the site, since the last time I was there, it was pretty sad moment. A lot has changed in Martlesham Heath, from a small village to the large growth in housing and business, it took some doing but I found where we lived and the Black Tiles Pub.
The apartments that me and my roommate rented, just off of Black Tile Lane. As you can see we had a bit of snow that winter, if I remember correctly there was more snow to come. It was a normal winter as I was told by the locals. I would ride my bicycle to work everyday; it was pretty slippery that day.
The local store and Post Office on Black Tile Lane. I also remember an elementary school at the end of the lane, I believe. We could hear the sounds of kids playing outside from our apartment.
Panorama, from the roadway looking down the lane to the site. The building on the far right was the back diesel generators. The building just to the left of the large white sign was the club where movies, parties, and games were held. The tall green building and smaller building around the green building, in the center of the photo, housed the radio, microwave, and Autovon equipment along with administration. The building on the right with the white horizontal stripe is the enlisted men's barracks. The chow is behind the barracks, which can't be seen from this photo. To the far left you can see one of the football goals; our softball field was located there also.
Inside central control. This is where it all happens, monitoring of all the equipment from this location.
One of the Autovon control panels.
Battery Backup System on the right, the cabinets housed the AC to DC rectifiers, DC to AC converters, along with voltage regulators.
More control panels for the Autovon System. Shows you different technology back then; the cabinets in the foreground housed the tape drives for the computer, notice the teletype machine. You can see a bit of the monitor for the Data General Eclipse computer that was used.