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RAF Little Rissington

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RAF Little Rissington

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Old 12th May 2013, 13:44
  #21 (permalink)  
 
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Greenham Common had the runways removed for gravel extraction I believe and is now a nature reserve..

See

Greenham Common airfield eb33937a.jpg

Greenham Common airbase eb33921a.jpg



..

Last edited by NutLoose; 12th May 2013 at 13:46.
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Old 12th May 2013, 13:58
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Skua, you just beat me to it, Greenham Common would have been an effective third runway for LHR.
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Old 12th May 2013, 14:23
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Alconbury always struck me as a decent place to introduce overflow into. Shedloads of space, useful runway, gateway to the Midlands and that part of the country is where we need and want to build housing anyway.

I had a quick look; I see that Magic Mountain is being recommissioned.. as a $69,000,000 mortuary. Bizarre that it was in service for only two years and amazing that it was allowed to fall into such neglect in the interim.

Inside a shuttered Cold War bunker - World news - Fall of the Berlin Wall: 20 Years Later | NBC News
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Old 12th May 2013, 14:35
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Aside from from the potential as a Park + Ride for Bourton on the Water, does anyone know how Little Rissington is to be developed? When Devonair moved across from Kemble some years ago there were several suggestions re future aviation use but all, sadly, seem to have come to nought.
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Old 12th May 2013, 14:44
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Coming from the Central South of the UK, via Basingstoke - the rail/air bus service from Woking is usually quite relaxed; until you get the Heathrow effect and it all goes downhill.

Used to race Karts (RAF Champs) on the Little Ris track. Came off quite often but didn't break anything; that all happened when I started doing grown up stuff.

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Old 12th May 2013, 15:07
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Stansted has a fast rail service, as does the increasingly busy Saarfen'.
Would only use Stansted as a last resort. After putting up with years of fighting my way through crowds just milling around the place, tripping over ski bags and trying to avoid the mid morning lager swilling types, I ventured down to London City. Fantastic little airport, Swiss Air were cheaper than Easy Jet out of Stansted, far nicer atmosphere, more civilized clientelle and even the drugs dog seemed happy to see me.

Last edited by Melchett01; 12th May 2013 at 15:08.
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Old 12th May 2013, 15:47
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Greenham Common had the runways removed for gravel extraction
In actual fact, 1000's of tonnes of Greenham concrete was used in the construction of the Newbury bypass (A34).

Greenham does look like a missed opportunity on the face of it, but one not immediately obvious obstruction to its development as a civilian airfield might be the large "weapons factory" that lies at approx 5 miles under the extended centreline for the former westerly-facing runway.

(have a look on Google Earth)
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Old 12th May 2013, 16:07
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Some pics of Little Rissington here:-

Little Rissington - Page 6

for those who may like a last look...

Last edited by Jobza Guddun; 12th May 2013 at 16:09. Reason: Grammar!
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Old 12th May 2013, 16:09
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Millerscourt

The airfield near Wing and Cubblington was to be a 4 runway monster over a huge area. You are right, that middle-class England kicked off big time and it was 'turned off' - in a smaller way the same thing happened at Little Rissington with a succession of failed MOD attempts to reuse the base. I only hope they move al lthe problem families out of all the sink estates in the South East to the new housing development at Rissington to give these NIMBYs a real taste of their medicine!

By the way the old airfield in Oakley is very adjacent to the M40, as is Upper Heyford. How about old RAF Finmere (that should get Courtney going!) and also Bedford.

LJ

Last edited by Lima Juliet; 12th May 2013 at 16:12.
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Old 12th May 2013, 18:45
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Little Rissington was the location of my first annual ATC camp with 24(F) Sqn. It is where I had my first ever jet flight (in a 2 hole Meteor). How dare they meddle with such a magical place.
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Old 12th May 2013, 19:46
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Yes it was the Holy of Holys. I was there at CFS in 1970.

However, as a new airport, anything wrong with Fairford?
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Old 12th May 2013, 19:52
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However, as a new airport, anything wrong with Fairford?
Access?

.
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Old 12th May 2013, 21:03
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Beagle, don't always agree but this time you are absolutely correct, access to Fairford is a nightmare! Little Riss. is a joke (hopefully)! I even had problems with the Piston Provost there in 1964! (Probably me!!) I think that we have to be brave and develop (big time and sensibly) our 60 year old hub at Heathrow.
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Old 13th May 2013, 17:26
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Al R - I agree Alconbury looks good. Weren't they planning to develop it as a freight hub after the spams left? Dunno wot happened to that plan.

Good road access, except for the last mile, good runways and facilities. Close to A1/A14 Interchange and so M11 and easy access to several other Motorways. Only about 5 miles away from Huntingdon Railway Stn (which is on the East Coast main line from London to Edinburgh).

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Old 13th May 2013, 18:08
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Hi, Melch.

You said

"After putting up with years of fighting my way through crowds just milling around the place, tripping over ski bags and trying to avoid the mid morning lager swilling types"

Isn't that all UK airports?

P.S. Never flown from London City.

Rgds SOS
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Old 13th May 2013, 18:10
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If a fortune is going to be spent on any project / 3rd runway what's wrong with making the runway at a small base near Heathrow run paralell with the big ones to it's south and extend into the green fields at the western end of said base.
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Old 13th May 2013, 18:42
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Oddly enough we all seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet, why build a new airport when the south is full of existing airfields in various states of repair that could be brought into service. Even Greenham would probably be cheaper to reconstruct than to sticking a new one in an estuary.
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Old 13th May 2013, 20:12
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Yup, access is presently a big problem. But the airfield is superb (used for Concorde) so all they would have to do is build a new dual carriageway up from the A419 duel carriageway. Less than 4 miles!
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Old 14th May 2013, 08:15
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Slight thread drift ... Is Duncan still the CFS "live" Pelican mascot ?



Above is Patrick from the 60's
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Old 14th May 2013, 08:25
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Why not pick the one with the most runways, Bedford Thurleigh! Hasn't it been suggested before?
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