TDY Gouge - UK

Boscome Down RAF, Salisbury, UK - Boscombe Down is just SW of RAF Lyneham. Slightly smaller base, but much bigger town. Kings Head Inn had probably the best pub in town, packed every night, good food. Rooms were average, no broadband or wi-fi internet. After the pubs close go to the Mill across the street from Kings Head or down a few blocks to The Church. Another decent place to stay was the White Horse Inn. No pub there, average rooms, but the have free wi-fi.

Brize Norton RAF, United Kingdom - (Oxford and Burford Englang) Randolph Hotel or Old Bull Bed and Breakfast were fantastic! Well kept secret!! Stopped in there returning from ONW and OEF. RAF VC-10, C-17, L1011 base just north or Oxford. The Brits took excellent care of us. Best I've ever seen. Incredible weather shop and superb ground flight support. First trip we stayed in Oxford at the Randolph Hotel smack in the middle of the university area and street market. It's about 300 years old (with modern upgrades of course), expensive, and has a sweet pub downstairs. Walking distance to several pubs and restaurants. Even better though was the second time we showed up and Oxford was booked so we stayed at a couple small B&Bs (Old Bull and others. You would think it would suck to be split up, but when the town has one main street we where all really close together. The Hotels where also very old but up to date and excellent. The pubs where great and the restaurants outstanding. Nothing for the club scene, but a great place to wind down from the deployment and get some good British ale and food.

Kiloss RAF, United Kingdom . http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafkinloss/ Avbl 24/7, 9000' runway, ILS. Regular gas stop for USN P3's, etc. More golf and whiskey than a man could ever want! Mountains and some sking in winter, if it snows. If peace and quiet is on your list, there's a whole lot here. The area is called the Moray Firth. There is another base at Lossiemouth to the east, fast jet (Tornado). Some local accommodation in Forres (2 miles) http://www.forres-net.co.uk/. More available in Elgin or Inverness, the Capital of the Highlands. That's Inverness as in Loch Ness, monster and all. Regular flights from Inverness to London daily.

Manchester, England , United Kingdom - Manchester Airport, Central England is a really great stopping off point in Europe. The airport is open 24 hours and has the most sophisticated navaids in Europe, full ILS 10,000ft runway, 24 hour ATC etc, it handles mainly civil traffic like Prestwick and Shannon with Royal Air Force, Saudi Air Force and Israeli Air Force all using facilities for transit. 20 mins flying time from Mildenhall, UK. 24hr Ground handling agent is likley to be Servisair, freq 130.6. They will not accept hot cargos. Local billeting is provided at The Manchester Airport Marriott Hale Barns 44 (0) 161 904 0301 which is just 3mins away. It offers superior accommodation with many rooms overlooking charming landscaped courtyards, there is a distinctive restaurant, vibrant bar with a really great Irish American ambience and a relaxing cocktail bar. The hotel also features a purpose built leisure club with gymnasium, sauna, steam room, swimming pool and whirlpool. The Romper is a traditional English Pub, great food and a selection of great British Beers which is about 5 minutes away from the airport and the hotel.

~Radisson Hotel Terminal 2 Manchester UK was a Palace! A fantastic hotel, great food and great great people. We got fantastic overnight rates and the service people on airport were superb, better than USAFE at Mildenhall. Would well recommend for overnight or fuel and go. Really efficent. We just walked in off the apron fantastic ! ~Cotswold Gateway Hotel (phone: 01993822695) was a nice hotel. 5 minute cab ride from the air terminal. RAF operations provided ride to hotel, but had to cab it back next day. Charlie's Taxis can drive right up to the terminal. Hotel is basically a B&B with breakfast included. Rooms OK, but attached pub is top notch.

Mildenhall RAF, United Kingdom - Besides the BX and chow hall, there is the Galaxy Club which isn't bad but make sure you are carrying your club card. Off base is the Smokehouse and the Bird in Hand hotel . Not much in the room at the "Bird" but it's close enough to base to walk and eat cheap. If you need to check email or phone home cheap go to the Community Center next to the Galaxy Club. If you venture off-base Newmarket has some decent shopping, hit the small grocery stores for local beers (we actually found French wine that came in a can). ITT can be helpful but tend cancel lots of trips. ~Bird in The Hand is totally unacceptable. I dont know how it ever got on billeting list. Don't allow billeting to send you to this motel. Rotting carpet and paper thin walls are a few of the amenities they pride themselves on. Only two places to eat on base: BX food court and the chow hall. There are two sets of billeting. The crappy ones are across the street from the chapel and the club. The decent ones are down the street from there. The base is divided into two parts (ops and support side). Everything is within walking distance. If you go off-base the Bird-in-Hand and the Smokehouse have good traditional English food and are about 10 minutes walk. The rooms are decent. "The Bell" which is located in Thetford is 45 minutes away and puts a dent into your crew rest. All the places off-base seem to have a Pub associated with them and the food is usually good. If in Thetford experience "The Hungary Horse", it's like Denny's and a Pub put together. If you are stuck there for a while, there is a shuttle bus to RAF Lakenheath as well as Heathrow airport. Catch the bus at the Pax terminal. The ride is about 2 hours and it's free. From the airport catch the "tubes" to downtown (a day pass is 5 pounds! ). Buses also run from Mildenhall to Cambridge also 5 pounds. ~The on-base officer's quarters (new building) were pretty nice. You can expect a TV, VCR and a stocked snack/wet bar. For good Chinese, go to the Dragon House restaurant in Mildenhall village. As far as the bar scene goes, you'll need to head to New Market, Cambridge, or Norwich. In New Market, the place to be is DeNiro's, especially on a Thursday night (Ladies' Night). DeNiro's will have a ton of women and drinks for a pound (just the drinks are a pound, the women are probably more expensive!) There are two dance floors--club music upstairs and a mix of top 40's, 80's pop and 70's disco downstairs. In Norwich check out Chicago's. You'll find a much better selection of music, and a much older crowd on the dance floor. For a happy medium between the two places go to Life, in Cambridge. The bar is in an alley and a little hard to find so ask for directions, but the women are younger than in Chicago's and the music is older than in DeNiro's. Important note: Bring nicer clothes. The bars won't let you in in jeans or T-shirts, and if you wear khaki's you'll stick out as an American. We wore black slacks and shoes. Your last requirement will be a car (and if you are in Mildenhall longer than a day or two, it is a REQUIREMENT) The rental places next to the hotels will charge you far too much money, but if you look in the ads in the back of the base magazine (The Marauder) you'll find some good deals. We used Fair Deal rentals to get an old Ford Escort for 150 pounds for a MONTH. Hey, it ran! On the weekends, you can get good deal trips to Scotland, London, Amsterdam, or Paris, through ITT. We were able to spend a weekend in Edinburgh,Scotland for £128. (Airline Tkt and Hotel Stay). Have Fun! ~If you're at Mildenhall for more than a few days, you're going to want to be in Cambridge -- about a 30 minute drive from base. The University Arms (hotel) is right where you want to be. It's on Parker Piece (where soccer (football) was invented), across the street from several pubs, including the Regal, the largest pub in all of England. (The smallest pub in England, the Nutshell, is in Bury St. Edmunds, also about 30 minutes from base.) Everything in Cambridge is within walking distance, and to keep you from getting lost there are maps posted everywhere. If the weather's nice (rare), grab a sandwich at one of tons of sandwich shops, and go for a punt on the river. ~Billeting: While the rooms were adequate, they were extremely hot; there was no way to shut off the heat. Check in and check out was unacceptably slow. It took us over 45 minutes to check in a crew of 10 and 8 pax. Check out was very slow too. There were three windows, but only two were being used. The third had no line and was for "check in" only. We showed 30 minutes late because of slow check out procedures. ~Avoid ON BASE like the plague. On base quarters are mandatory due to "wing commander". You will be doubled up 0-5 and below. Crew rest is out the window. One double bed, one mini single. You can arm wrestle for it. Stay away! ~If you end up staying off base in Cambridge the Holiday Inn (0800 897121) was excellent. Within walking distance of everything. We got the gov't rate and all the associated paperwork from the slow folks at Billeting before we went down there. Since we landed late and were all very hungry, my A/C stopped the crew bus at the Kabob Stand right off base about 1/4 mile past the Smokehouse as you head toward the town of Mildenhall. This Kabob Stand is open late and has kick ass food. You get a TON of meat, veggies and fries for about 5 pounds. Great post-pub-crawling food. The town of Mildenhall is OK. Their is some good Indian food and a couple of cool pubs like the Tigers Head if you are stuck in the area.If you are stuck there and want to get to Newmarket/Cambridge, a bus shows up over by Mickey's Tea Bar over by the BX on a semi-regular basis. A bus schedule is posted there. It's only a couple of pounds. A shuttle to London/Heathrow leaves at o-dark-thirty from the Pax Terminal and you can go free if there is space available. Check with the pax terminal/billeting folks for the info on this. ~Just reinforcing the FACT that on base here is the absolute pits...two to a room, small, and dirty...avoid like the plague...worst RON I have ever been on...wish I would have brought a tent...get the point? We had reservations and they still tried to put us in open bay barracks...that's right...crew of eight with three O-4's in open bay barracks... I had to hold my breath, scream, and make threats to get what we got. Tell your command to cough up the extra cash for overnight in Shannon, Ireland instead...Mildenhall blows. ~Deniros or Pacinos in New Market are good Dance clubs on Thurs and Sun nights. There are also several other bars in New Market. Mildenhal taxis will take you there and back for 30-40 pounds.

~There is a brand new "clothing optional" club called Cellar Bar on Napier Street in Cambridge--perfect for anyone going to or returning from the sandbox!! It's open from 8:00 P.M. until late.

~Mildenhall update submitted by Billeting Manager, 11/21/06 -- "I'm the lodging manager at RAFM, your review of my property is outdated and I thought I'd give you an update. Building 402- the one with the common bathrooms and showers has been closed since November of '05. It never was a true 'open bay' facility as reported. All of the rooms were furnished with 2 single beds. The Bird in Hand is under new management and they have renovated their rooms, so they no longer have 'rotting carpets,' paper thin walls are however just part of British construction. Most of the buildings on RAF Mildenhall were built 25 or more years ago on a two pipe system. That unfortunately means that they either the heat is on or off- very little individual control. Every guest room has a radiator on the wall with a valve to adjust waterflow through it. It's always been that way, I guess the contributor couldn't figure it out. We've remodeled our front desk completely well over a year ago and it rarely takes 45 minutes to check in a crew these days. We do try very hard to accommodate."

~Apr07 Update - Smokehouse is closed down.

Lakenheath RAF, United Kingdom - Cambridge has a market 7 days a week. And I have noticed (until war) that a lot of people were being put up at the Crown Plaza hotel. NICE 4 star at least. Make sure you get a rental car or something cause the base taxi service to there SUCKS. Bury St. Edmunds has some good places to eat and drink and is closer than Cambridge or Norwich. Bury even has pizza hut. It's market days are Wednesday and Saturday.

Leuchars RAF, Scotland, United Kingdom - The Sporting Laird Hotel (44)01334-475906 had an absolutely wonderful staff and owner! Remember to bring the co-owner (a yank) peanut M&M's. She can't get them there. The rate can include both a gourmet dinner and full breakfast. It falls well within the per-diem and allowable hotel expense rate. The hotel is located in the heart of St. Andrews, and is only a 200 yard (2 or 3 iron) from the Old and Ancient course. Unless you have a registered handicap and a confirmed reservation, you will have to play on one of the newer courses. The address is Mo. 5 Playfair Terrace, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 9HX. The folks at transient alert at Leuchars will be more than helpful getting you a round-trip ride and putting your jet to bed.

Prestwick, Scotland, United Kingdom - Recently diverted into Prestwick as Mildenhall was below mins. Prestwick Intl was ecstatic to have us as they are trying to drum up more business for their FBO's. Greer Aviation(44 (0) 1292 511034) met us at the jet and did a great job of supporting us. Bert Greer went well out of his way to get us set up in the hotel, help us get fuel on the jet, and file our flight plan as we were leaving. We stayed at the Thistle Hotel in Irvine about 15 minutes from the airport. Nice enough place with a decent bar stocked with good beer and a good selection of Single Malt Scotches. They also threw in free breakfasts or lunches on top of it all. The hotel was about a 10 minute walk to the town of Irvine and the train station. It was about a 30 minute ride to Glasgow and another half hour ride to Edinburgh. Overall, great place to go if you need to divert due to the typical UK weather.

Reading, United Kingdom- Renaissance Reading Hotel 0118 958 6222 / FAX 0118 959 7842 was a nice resort! Stayed at the Renaissance for the Farnborough Intl Trade Show. Reading is SW of London - about a 45 min train ride. It is also about a 45 min bus ride to Farnborough if you ever get there in the future. Nice hotel, very friendly staff. There is a sauna, indoor pool, etc. A 10 min walk to the Oracle - the largest outdoor shopping/dining area in the UK. Their version of the San Antonio river walk. Lots of restaurants, clubs, pubs and a movie theater. There is also a university in town. Don't wear sneakers or you won't get into most clubs. The prices are high - and laundry is outrageous in the hotel. There is a Laundromat a block from the hotel.

Waddington RAF, United Kingdom - Ibis hotel was decent. A great TDY location! If able, stop here rather than Mildenhall of Lakenheath (it is about 70 miles NW). The Brits keep their E-3's here along with a couple other heavies. 9000' runway--ASSR is incorrect for taxiway widths. West parallel has extra pavement on each side which has doubled the width to around 120' wide. Obstacles are also incorrect in Flip as most of the low obstacles are not there (I don't know if someone took a chainsaw to all of the trees or what-but they are gone). Call Waddington Base Operations and they will fax you a list--nothing major a few trees half a mile from DER.

The local town is Lincoln, which is a decent size town with a large college. Lincoln has hundreds of pubs and clubs that could come right out of the 17th century. It has one of the largest cathedrals ever built and a big old castle holding the Magna Carta here, all dating back to the 12th Century. Great food everywhere. We ate at Brown's Pie Shop and Crust's Steak House downtown Lincoln and the food is awesome. Multi-course meals brought out with everything you could ask for available to you. Lots of great Pubs, notably Jumpin Jacks -a dance joint with lots of eye candy, Chicago Rocks for cheap English Beer, and Walkabout -an Australian themed bar with good beer and crowd. Too many other pubs to mention.

Lodging is not bad. The place to stay is the Courtyard Marriott downtown Lincoln. Right next to the river and all of the restaurants and pubs. Great rooms with all of the amenities. The Ibis is ok but too far from everything. 5-10 pound (9-18 USD) taxi ride to downtown--just stay downtown. Call and they will meet government rates. Lodging on the base is adequate but it follows Brit Military customs. Officers in one building with their own chow hall and dress code, Senior E's in another, and junior E's in a third building. Kind of far from town (10-15 miles) and not worth it.

HOT--FOR GUARD TANKER UNITS! UK AWACS need boom tankers to deploy TDY to RAF Waddington, UK. If Units can cover own transient and hotel costs then they will pay for your fuel to train with them. If interested contact Sqn. Leader Moss, 23 Sqn. RAF Waddington email: opswad@globalnet.co.uk or telephone: 0044 (UK country code) 1522 726707. I was told that Active Duty cannot do this since there is some agreement between governments that active duty can only give gas during war times.