ORGANISERS of a tour around the Cold War bunkers of a former airbase near Bicester were overwhelmed by the amount of public interest in the site.

Three times more people turned up for the tour of the former RAF Upper Heyford than organisers were expecting. A second event is being planned for those who had to be turned away.

About 100 people flocked to the site to see the hardened aircraft hangars, battle command centre and nuclear weapon bunkers, many of which have recently been classified by English Heritage as internationally important.

After the guided tour was a talk by Martyn Brown, former heritage and arts manager for Oxfordshire, about a new Cold War museum at Balaklava nuclear submarine base in the Crimea.

Tour organiser Peter Clifton, of the Oxford Trust for Contemporary History, said: "The empty command centre was particularly admired, with its original phones and panels."

"It is good to know that some of the Cold War buildings we saw at the Upper Heyford are to be preserved as part of a site of international importance.

"It will remain a shrine for the American airmen and the local people who worked there, but also one of the most effective ways of showing future generations the horror of nuclear warfare."

Bicester resident John Broad, of Mallard's Way, was one of those who went on the tour.

He said: "The first stop was the command post. The main door is about an inch thick and is airtight with numerous locks around the edge. This leads through the decontamination shower room and then through two more doors.

"Although the desks, telephones and display boards are still in place, most of the electronics were removed when the Americans left in 1994. In one side room on the back wall are the remains of a large map of Europe, stretching from the UK well into the old Soviet Union, reminding everyone this was the Cold War.

"Back on the coach, the tour took in the perimeter track to the Quick Reaction Alert area. It was pointed out that those within this area were ready for take off at three minutes notice.

"The story of the F111 that crashed here was told the pilots elected to stay with the aircraft to ensure it cleared the village rather than eject and leave the aircraft to its own path."

Mr Broad added he believed the fact the tour was so oversubscribed showed how much interest there would be in a cold war museum on the site.

The base is earmarked for 1,000 houses and was last month bought by a consortium of housing developers for £24.4 million.