Military Base In Southern England

Hi All, I recently discoverd a military base around 3 miles north east of Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, England. I live locally and had not heard or known anything about it and neither has anybody else i have spoken to.
Of course it is not on the local map and the MoD says it doesn't exist, It has the usual signs on the boundries, I have looked around on the Internet but haven't found any info on it.

Below is the URL of an aerial picture taken of the site

www.multimap.c... om/map/photo.cgi?client=public&x=411914&y=102437&width=700&height=410&scale=10000&right.x=32&right.y=8

It looks like a runway in the top left of the picture the road below it divides the base it is also on the south side of the road and runs for about 3 miles.

Any ideas or input would be appreciated.

Whats the upkeep on the base like? It could be a relic from the Cold War.

Do you see or hear any aircraft taking off or landing? If not, maybe it is an abandoned airfield. I wish I could help. The closest I've been is St. Mawgan.
I will see if I can find out anything else to help you out.

I spoke to somebody who works at Bournemouth Airport today and Harriers fly in regularly he claims, he seems to think it is a testing ground for new weapons. A company called Quintec either runs the site or his heavily involved.

[Edited on 2-4-2004 by Sparks]

Qinetiq (formerly the DERA (UK's DARPA) privatised into a public company (apart from the nuclear, chemical biological parts) main flight testing place are farnborough and Boscombe Down (wiltshire) which has several black aircraft sighting associated with it (check google for stories) although their is a village called Boscombe a few miles east of Bournemouth Boscombe downs is near Boscombe near Amesbury about 25-30 miles north of Bournemouth.

There are a couple of Quinetiq site over west of Weymouth to the west of you

check out

www.qinetiq.com...

Is your informant sure that they are Harriers?
I used to live right next to Herne. There's an Aviation club right next to it and an aircraft museum that flies a lot of military jets. They fly a lot of the older type jets - eg. Sea Vixens.

I used to go to a place called St Catherine's Hill to walk my dogs. It's a high point that overlooks the area that you are talking about. If you head into Christchurch from Bournemouth it's a turning on your left on the main road in. You can look down on the whole area that you're talking about - it's probably the best viewpoint there is for the area.

Although I saw all types of aircraft (including helicopters) I don't recall ever seeing a Harrier land there.



[Edited on 2-4-2004 by Leveller]

Thanks for the information Leveller i be sure to have look from where you said next time i am in the area. The person i talked to seemed quite sure that harriers land there, he is in a high position at Bournemouth Airport and has worked there for 25 years. The base is really more closer to Ringwood than Bournemouth i suppose.

Anymore of an idea about what actually goes on there?

[Edited on 3-4-2004 by Sparks]

If it's anything to do with Qinetiq and / or MBDA then the Harrier visits could make sense, regarding the integration and trials of the Brimstone anti-armour missile as a key part of the Harrier GR7/9's future armoury. Depends on the type of Harrier tho'. If they've got a pointed nose without two ECM 'horns' and small wings, then they could be Navy FA2's being taken into temp store pending early retirement by '06. Why on earth they're doing that is for another topic!...

hi.

what youare looking at here is actually 3 sites. Qinetiq Hurn, Qinetiq Hurn Barnsfield and Qinetiq Hurn Saddleheath. these names do not appear on the Qinetiq website for reasons they will not divulge.

(source: www.publications.parliament.uk... )

(source: www.publications.parliament.uk... )

I randomly met a chap (the uncle of a friend of my better half!) who used to work there. Qinetiq barnsfield is the one with the runway like construction and indeed it used to be a runway. it was the unfavourable wind direction runway for both RAF hurn (now the airport) and also RAF sopley (now an industrial area.) the site is as far as he was aware is no longer used to fly in and out of by conventional planes as the paved area of the strip is too narrow and the forested areas either side encroach too much. However vtol aircraft and helicopters do visit. it is preferred to park them there in a secure area rather than fly them into bournemouth airport. (which is one of the most ludicrously insecure comercial airports in the country) so your source who says he has seen vtol aircraft land there is almost certainly correct.

barnsfield has been tied up with vehicle testing for a long time now and the two round pads at either end of the runway are used to test turning circles, with the runway being used to test acceleration and braking. the very end section of the runway, past the pad, is set up with rumble strips for testing vehicle suspension. The site was almost closed down when the christchurch garrison of specialsit vehicle development and the royal engineers was largely shut and sold off.

the other two sites known as Qinetiq hurn are vehicle workshops and admistrative and theoretical /small labs. my contact was concerned with radio frequency interference issues but suggested that there were groups looking at avionics and weapons syetms. but he categorically denied that there was any weapons testing performed there.

www.itep.ws... (in this pdf you can see the vehicle sat on the pad with the radial grid marked on it)

Qinetiq at hurn are also the local liason with FR aviation at bournemouth airport who perform aircraft conversions mainly civil aircraft to military tankers, in projects led by Qinetiq boscombe down

(source: www.ttu.fr...)

Hope this clears up some of your questions..

Cheers

Rat

Also, i forgot to mention earlier that on part of the saddleheath site they train dogs for at least the police, if not for other organizations. on the test track they also train MOD motorcycle outriders. I forgot those activities earlier.

I know I may get slaughtered for this but hee goes;

There are tunnels under the UK (big enough for 2 HGV's to travel side by side) connecting all over the place to underground bases. FACT. I wont say how or why I know but if you want to believe me believe me, if not, don't.

Remirah

thats lovely, and no i don't dispute your tunnels... i've seen the dartford crossing if they can do it under the thames they can do it anywhere!

what's it got to do with Qintiq @ hutn though? perhaps that post was supposed to be for another thread!

The Hurn site is used for vehicle testing and mine clearance tests

I can confirm that there is nothing sneaky beaky going down at the Qinetiq site at Hurn. It contains vehicle testing tracks, inclines, a hydraulic tilt table, fording well and other facalities to test the capability of vehicles over various terrains. ALso contained on the site is large piles of graded stones for testing JCB type vehicles and training operators in their use. The site was due for extension to offer a proper off-road testing track but funding and problems with parts of the site being graded as SSSI halted this. The site is administered by Qinetiq at Chertsey and as well as Military and industrial customers it is also used by local council and the police for training.

Google Avon Heath Country Park.

I have been told about the underground 'base' between St. Catherines Hill and Sopley by a couple of people. One person i know did the networking for it, another i know works for BAE systems. They have both been down there. It is accessible from miles away at a local airfield. Its purpose is unclear. good to know christchurch is safe though!

Hi Anon,

Where is St Catherine's Hill in relation to Sopley, I'd like to investigate this alleged underground facility?

Cheers

Robbie