Originally Posted by
Easy Street
IIRC, stations are only entitled to maintain one ‘gate guardian’ at public expense. Marham has three, and (like all military establishments these days) has a plethora of issues to address with its domestic infrastructure. A lot of time and energy has been put into keeping the Victor presentable over many years but there is only so far that voluntary effort can take preservation without the injection of cash. And the arrival of F-35 has (rightly) made access to the Station much harder, with enthusiasts mostly limited to the excellent off-camp Heritage Centre. If, as I suspect, it is a question of money then it’s an easy decision to get rid. People first.
I would be interested in where your cut off point exists, The BBMF, perhaps The Reds, heck why not simly flog off the F-35 fleet, that will bring in lots on nice monies to maintain the peoples first, in fact you wouldn't need the base at all after that, even more nice savings....
Flogging off ones history and aircraft is not the solution to piss poor management and piss poor funding in getting the infrastructure right in the first place...
You watch the services budget squandering billions on failed projects such as Nimrod through piss poor management and contracting when a small proportion of that funding would have brought the RAF infrastructure up to a standard the 21st century demands.
Selling off the married quarters etc was a classic example of a cash generating scheme that proved to have been flawed in so many ways.