Talk:RAF Burtonwood

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Cheshire

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In Warrington?[edit]

I changed 'in Warrington' to 'North-West of Warrington'. If (working from memory) you trace out the track of the old perimeter fence on an O.S. map, it enclosed an area that was slightly bigger than the built-up area of Warrington was then, so in its heyday you could almost say that Warrington was near RAF Burtonwood :-). I wonder what the 'suit' from the brewery did with all the American licence plates from the walls of the Fiddle i'th Bag after they ruined it for ever?. Warrington was somehow never quite the same after the yanks left. ChrisR

p.s. Does anybody have a better aerial photograph?. The one on the BBC site only shows a small part of the base at the Hood Lane end, and completely misses the airfield altogether, which is well out-of-shot to the top left ChrisRed 07:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ghosts[edit]

"...Ghosts of aircrew have been seen in the service station's kitchen...."

Are you serious ??

Perhaps a bit unencyclopedic, but there have been several spooky things supposedly seen at night in the past (headless airmen etc). Mainly around the eastern side of the site (top left in the aerial photo) towards the Lilford Avenue gate, Bewsey (although this area was extensively used for other nocturnal activities in the 1970's...trust me :-) ChrisRed 07:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- bwmoll3

Cheshire or Lancashire[edit]

Was RAF Burtonwood in Cheshire or Lancashire ? is has a 'Cheshire' and 'Aviation in Lancashire' cats. If it changed (perhaps in 1974) then should it be explained? MilborneOne 21:43, 4 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It was in Cheshire. I've removed the 'Aviation in Lancashire' category. ---- Eric 08:38, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

RAF Burtonwood was in Lancashire during most of its existence, but (like most of Warrington north of the Manchester Ship Canal) the site became part of Cheshire when the boundaries were moved in 1974. I grew up in the western suburbs of Warrington, and I remember that there was much grumbling at the time, but when the alternative (Merseyside!) was suggested instead, this was quickly silenced. I still think of myself as a Lancashire lad, but I think that it would be best to 'bend with the wind' and refer to it as 'Warrington in Cheshire' for the sake of people trying to find it on a present-day map. Maybe just a note saying that it used to be in Lancashire before the politicians started meddling with history. ChrisRed 07:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Demolished?[edit]

All the buildings were demolished to make way for a new commercial development and the building of a new village called Chapelford.

Several of the buildings can still be seen from the M62, they certainly haven't been demolished. If the demolished claim is about the servicemen's village, not the base itself, then that ought to be made clear. ---- Eric 08:31, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have corrected this Racklever 08:56, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Updated[edit]

Added additional information to the page. I have more when I get home that I'll contribute about the US Army uses of Burtonwood, but I'm on the road travelling for the next few days and it will have to wait.

Bwmoll3 10:21, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Some possible additional information/trivia[edit]

As stated in the article, the M62 was built on top of the main east-west runway, however, a small section survived adjacent to the service station bridge, but was lost when junction 8 was built (I have a picture of this taken just before J8 construction).

There was a popular local story that RAF Burtonwood was secretly used for storing nuclear weapons and that several local roads were closed when they were removed.

There was also an urban myth that the section of motorway that bisected the airfield had a removable central reservation to allow use again as a runway in cold war times and that the services bridge that now forms half of the junction 8 roundabout would be demolished as part of this. paypwip (talk) 20:13, 5 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The photos shown are of hangars, not the storage building I remember which was flat roofed. I once heard that this building was the largest single storey building in Europe. It can be clearly seen on the 1980's OS 1:50000 map. There was an item about it on the local tv news in the 80's showing the stores held at the time, mainly hospital equipment.

need for re-assessment as a 'start class' article[edit]

Following recent contributions, this article is now incorrectly ranked as 'stub class' Ringwayobserver (talk) 20:08, 31 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Gulliver's World?[edit]

The Gulliver's World article claims that the park was built on the site of RAF Burtonwood, and contains a "Heritage Centre" about the base. Is this true (it's not mentioned in this article)? Is the heritage centre sufficiently significant to merit the (albeit rather slight) converage it gets on the Gulliver's World article? -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 18:33, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]