The bunker featured an above-ground tunnel where vehicles could drop off personnel who were heading below ground to help coordinated U2 spy plane flights. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
The bunker featured an above-ground tunnel where vehicles could drop off personnel who were heading below ground to help coordinated U2 spy plane flights. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
Once one of the most secure command posts in the event of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, the Magic Mountain underground bunker is now unused near the old RAF Alconbury runway. It was recently granted one of England's highest historical designations, ensuring it will be around for years to come. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
Magic Mountain now sits largely neglected and in disrepair. All useful equipment was cleared out years ago, but the air filtration system still works. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
RAF ALCONBURY - The Soviet Union had finally attacked, using all the weapons in its vast red arsenal.
As nuclear missiles pounded the Western world, military leaders would need command posts that could withstand the apocalyptic fury of World War III.
At RAF Alconbury, this would mean sitting two stories underground, coordinating missions for U2 spy planes that would become even more essential as the fight escalated.
Complete with hydraulic doors, air purification systems and decontamination areas, Air Force commanders would conduct this part of the war from Magic Mountain, a massive underground bunker right next to the Alconbury runway that could pass for something out of “Dr. Strangelove.”
It would be one of the hardiest complexes in all of NATO. At least that was the plan. Thankfully, it never came to that.
But even though that threat is gone, Magic Mountain still sits at the airfield, a space that is now a shipping hub fenced off from the portion of the base still used by the Air Force.
Magic Mountain’s uniqueness didn’t end when the Soviet Union fell. Now, it’s getting some historical recognition. Earlier this year, it was given one of England’s highest historical-building designations.
Despite only being built in 1989, it has entered the English Heritage register of buildings of architectural and historical importance.
“If we are at war, the idea was reconnaissance would be extremely important,” said Louise Brown, conservation and design team leader for the Huntingdonshire District Council, the local governing body that facilitated the designation. “It was a facility that had to remain active in any conflict.”
The historic listing was granted by English Heritage, an organization that determines what buildings in England are historically unique and worthy of preservation.
Magic Mountain was picked as the organization did a study of Cold War- era structures, and it immediately stood out, Brown said.
Despite being less than 20 years old, it is one of the best national examples of architecture from a very different time, she said.
“Its whole design is very particular,” Brown said. “There was only … three of these structures, and the one at Alconbury is the best preserved.”
The Air Force used the Alconbury airfield until 1995.
According to applications for the historical designation, the system for maintaining air pressure in the subterranean levels is still functioning.
Magic Mountain consists of two underground levels topped off by a partly sunken reinforced concrete bunker. The building also featured a drive-through access roadway and is topped by a “concrete buster cap” designed to absorb a direct nuclear missile attack.
Beneath the surface, there were life support systems, stainless steel decontamination rooms, electronics workshops, photography darkrooms as well as storage areas, according to the application records.
One wall had a painted motto above the door reading “Aircrews live by the knowledge, skill, awareness and integrity of their maintenance people.”
“It’s quite a large facility,” Brown said.
Aside from ensuring it’s not demolished, it’s unclear at this point what the historic designation will mean for Magic Mountain, Brown said.
Plans are in the works to redevelop the land around it, Brown said, but don’t count on being able to get a tour of the facility some day.
“Magic Mountain doesn’t meet modern health and safety standards” for tourism, she said. “It’s a very difficult building to be used.”
But at least it will be there to serve as a reminder of just how bad things could have gotten.
“It is a very rare surviving example of this building type,” stated one of the application documents. “[It] represents the physical manifestation of the global division between capitalism and communism that shaped the history of the 20th century.”
