tsgtret

Was browsing through some old photos and came across a couple that tripped some memory banks.
While stationed at RAF Fairford we would use the Commissary at Upper Heyford. I recall on one trip seeing this "concrete" (painted plywood) arch over one of the side roads that read "Feldstadt Air Base". It was one of the locations for a James Bond movie but can't recall which one. I know they bought a couple cars off the "lemon lot" including the the car (Malibu?) that was repainted as a Security Police vehicle and wrecked. Also there was a rumor that Roger Moore lived in the village just below the base. Anyone help jog my memory?
Thanks

Some Days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug...

Nick Dando

I don't know whether this is true, but my Dad used to say that Roger Moore had lived at Quenington at some time. This would be in the early to mid seventies, when we moved into the Swindon area.

Nick

Alexis

Octopussy was the film.

MI6 :: Octopussy (1983) :: James Bond 007

stevie boy

I went past Rogers house in Berkswell the other day, he lived there in the sixties.

PaulPlowman

I happen to have visited RAF Upper Heyford (now a business park called Heyford Park) only a month or two ago to take photos for my new website which, coincidentally enough, only went live this very week! What are the chances?

The entrance through which Bond races in the film is now fenced across, and in fact, acres of the surrounding land are fenced off with all the buildings starting to get a bit derelict. I tried to get into the park to take some pictures, but the man at the gate wouldn't let me. Grr!

One of the weird things I'm sure I remember seeing, but now I think about it it sounds silly, was that the American-ness of the base extended to the surrounding streets, where the fire hydrants were the American style ones you see in the movies. I dunno, maybe my feverish imagination made that up!?

Anyway, have a look here...
UK Onscreen

<- Insert witty comment here ->
ukonscreen.com

Nick Dando

The Americans always tried to make their service people feel at home. Therefore there are US police patrol cars, schools, shops and PXs, and even the hydrants.

Nick

tsgtret

Nick,
Your comment about making us feel at home is pretty close to the truth though I don't think it extended to the fire hydrants! Those were most likely put in back in the 50s when SAC moved in with their massive revamping of the place. Curtis LeMay and his boys had a tendency to make their own rules (Forgiveness is easier to ask for than permission). I know when we opened RAF Fairford in 79 any change we wanted had to go through much approval by the DOE before it was accomplished. A note on the vehicles; in the late 70s-early 80s USAFE adopted the policy of procuring general use vehicles from the host nation rather than bringing them from the states, as a result, for instance, our shop vehicle (75 Chevy Step Van) was replace by a brand-new 1980 Bedford van with an aluminum box. The thinking was the vehicles were more likely to stay in service if you run downtown for a part instead of ordering it from the states.
On feeling at home, until I got to the UK I never thought I would see the day when I would drive an hour and a half to get to McDonalds....but we did, nearest then was Milton Keynes!
Sorry to get a bit off thread but then, I started it :)

Some Days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug...