The political changes throughout Europe in the latter part of the 20th century have brought about a reduction in the number of military establishments in the British Isles. Large areas of land including airfields and ranges are now classified as 'brown field' sites ripe for development. The archaeological potential of such sites should not be underestimated. Over a three-year period archaeologists from the Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA) and Wessex Archaeology have monitored all intrusive work carried out at the DERA airfield Boscombe Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire. This has been complemented with a desktop survey using vertical photographs from the sites archive, material which has not been available before. The preliminary results indicate that, far from being a sterile site, Boscombe Down still retains a substantial number of monuments and features.