Originally Posted by
Bonkey
At what point to these Meteor's become just uneconomical / dangerous to keep airworthy? Surprised that by now they have not switched to something like a couple of surplus Hawk's for example.
Plus how cost effective is it for M-B to continue to maintain their own airfield when for the amount of flying they do they could surely set up residence at somewhere like Northolt, Benson, Farnborough, Odiham etc - all of those being within a 15-45 minute drive from their HQ at Denham.
The testing of ejector seats requires the runway and indeed entire airfield be 'sterilised' for long periods so operations at any of those airfields would cause delays to other traffic (not that Northolt has a lot even when their runway is open)
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M B were supposed to re-equip with Hawks back in the '80s but it just never happened. I saw it on a list of aircraft allocated to the (what was then) MOD(PE) fleet.