page_title: RAF West Ruislip
section_title: Post-war years
hierarchical_section_title: RAF West Ruislip / History / Post-war years
caption_attribution_description: The Movie Theater US Navy MWR at RAF West Ruislip
context_page_description: RAF West Ruislip was a Ministry of Defence site, located in Ickenham within the London Borough of Hillingdon. The base was originally built as a depot for the Royal Air Force, split by what is now the Chiltern Main Line. North of the railway was RAF Blenheim Crescent, which housed the RAF Records Office and the depot's original personnel accommodation.
  The site was leased to the US Air Force in 1955, followed by the US Navy in 1975, eventually housing the Navy Exchange of the U.S. Naval Activities, United Kingdom command, and the Navy's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department.
  Following a review of properties, the US Navy vacated the site in 2006 and it became surplus to the Ministry of Defence's requirements under Project MoDEL. The following year, initial plans for around 415 homes and a retirement home were approved by the London Borough of Hillingdon in July 2007. Almost all buildings were subsequently demolished to make way for the new development. Cala Homes bought the 21-acre site for £180m in November.
context_section_description: Following the end of the war, the depot was responsible for the repair of vehicles and the conversion of aircrew coaches. Aircraft engines, propellers and radar equipment also continued to be repaired on the site, as were vehicles from the US Air Force's Third Air Force base at nearby RAF South Ruislip which began to be serviced from April 1949. The American vehicles were maintained in a dedicated shed, No. 5.
  The remaining Records Office operation closed at Ruislip on 1 May 1951, having been run as a subsidiary of the Gloucester office since the previous year. A lack of available housing in the Gloucester area meant the closure was not completed until 16 May 1952. It was proposed in April of that year to convert the base to an Air Ministry Unit and transfer the operations of RAF West Drayton to it.
  On 1 August 1951, the Medical Survey Office was formed on the station as a unit of RAF Home Command. The office was responsible for all medical records, which were transferred from the RAF Records Office. It was moved to another building in November but was relocated to RAF Innsworth on 16 May 1952.
  The station was passed to the US Air Force Third Air Force on 1 December 1955, to enable the consolidation of facilities at several sites in the country into a single location. On 1 October 1962, the American 7500th Air Base Group was relocated to RAF West Ruislip from RAF South Ruislip. The base became a center of operations for the A&AFES and EES and was used as a wharehousing facility with bldg 6 the office area for EES. There was a bowling alley on the base and a baseball ground, with after the forced closure of South Ruislip by Kodak the owners of South Ruislip, a small BX was opened. A&AFES and EES continued at West Ruislip for several years after the USAF moved to Mildenhall / Lakenheath. After the US Air Force decided to close RAF South Ruislip and move their headquarters to RAF Mildenhall in 1972, 77 civilian members of staff at West Ruislip were made redundant.
  Between 1958 and 1960, the station's chapel was built by Brandt O'Dell. The building incorporated a nave with seating space for 350 people, and connecting wings to the hall and narthex. In 1962, the gymnasium was built on the site.
  The US Navy leased the site in December 1975 and constructed additional facilities for personnel and their families, including a bar, filling station, post office, cinema, chapel, school, baseball diamond and a medical and dental centre. These came under the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department.
  A large area of the site was demolished in the late 1980s for a large residential development named "Brackenbury Village". Housing was shared between personnel and British families. The Children's Welfare and Family Services Centre was built in 1988 by Kier Construction. The building incorporated separate sections for children and families. Among other recreational facilities, two squash courts were built in 1989, and a baseball diamond and field house were built in 1995. Dugouts were also built nearby the following year.
caption: The station cinema screen room
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