Along the main road approaching RAF Woodbridge. This would have been probably in 1989 or 90. It looks like we had a rather dry summer from the condition of the grass.

 

 

This is taken from the balcony of my dormitory, looking north-west or so toward the baseball fields. This dorm was the older, two storey barracks, and in the picture you can see my former dorm -- the MUCH nicer, three storey dorms which were built just prior to my arrival in late 1987.

 

From the Remote Observation Site (ROS) -- our spot to do weather observations if the Control Tower was evacuated -- looking south.

 

From the ROS, turned a little more toward the north gate than the picture above.

 

 

From the ROS. The tower would be out of the picture to the right, and what we called "the back gate" would be to the extreme left. I should be standing about half-way between the two while taking this picture. The numbered markers are visibility marker annotations. These pictures were taken by me for visibility reference books which were kept at our desk so that we could determine distances for reporting visibility distances when reduced by fog, etc.
As I hazily recall, this "back gate" gave access to Bentwaters via a bit of a short cut -- but I cannot recall either the correct name of the gate, nor the route that we took to get to BW!! It's amazing how fast the memory fades!!
Linn Barringer:
I know it as "East Gate," made famous by Larry Warren's UFO book, Left at East Gate. Go out the east gate, cross the end of the runway, turn right at the T-junction. Past the Butley Oyster pub. At the sharp right bend, turn left and immediately left again, in about half a mile, arrive at BW 'back gate' or 'Butley gate.'

 

This is taken from the north side of the ATC tower, looking toward the gate, and what we often called "Commie-Corner" (because of all the folks who would come and set up picnics and sometimes hang out with binoculars for HOURS. The cheeky assumption was that anyone THAT interested in seeing what was going on our boring little base HAD to be a spy!)
The ramp at the bottom of the photo was to the refueling depot. A-10s would taxi by many, many times a day, Oh-my-Gosh what a noise they would make!! I would FAR rather have an F-16 taxi by at that range than an A-10.

 

You can see one of the massive Recon helicopters. There were usually at least three or four of these parked on this ramp. Also, there were usually a handful of C-130s parked out there, too. Occasionally, I would walk to work when I lived in the barracks. On particularly foggy nights, it was incredibly eerie to walk by and see the ghostly shadows of the wings of the planes projected up into the fog by the light-carts that would always be parked near the planes for security. I could see the black wing-shadow, but the fog was so thick, I couldn't see either the plane (probably not more than 100 ft away), or the lights themselves!

 

This is taken from the car-park just across the taxi-way in front of the tower. It is looking north. Gosh I miss that wonderful Rover. I loved that car!! (I didn't much appreciate the Mini-print on the bumper, placed there by the wife of a fellow G.I. who was looking at her baby instead of my rear when I had to stop for traffic... Oh, well...)

 

This shows up the incredible damage done to Rendlesham Forest -- both by the storm just before I got there (in 1987), and the incredible winds we had during my stay there. I think I recorded steady winds of around 96 knots with gusts well over 100! I can't remember just how far above 100 now, but I think it might have been as much as 115 to 120 or so. I was told that was the highest wind ever recorded there, so my annotation on that wind-speed chart may well be part of a permanent, official record somewhere now!
This is taken from the front (west) side of the tower. I think it is from the balcony on the first floor -- right in front of the weather station. (It could be from up on the Tower Cab level, though...)

 

This was a picture of a church youth group trip I went on to Blaxhall youth hostel. I'm the sappy looking bloke in the lower left -- and I'm the only Yank in the picture. The girl in blue next to me became my girl-friend that weekend... This would have been 1989.

 

Here is a shot of me sitting in my Volvo in front of my house (visible in the background) on Orchard Close in Melton. I cannot recall the number, but it was right on the corner. It was a lovely place to live, and I delighted in walking down to the high street in Woodbridge and strolling through the shops. One of my first stops was always at a WONDERFUL bakery near the corner I'd come in on that had the most delectable treats!