Beags - You Quote "Abingdon was a perfect UAS base, having 2 excellent runways arranged almost at right angles to each other. Benson has one plus the limited use secondary. Abingdon never had much in the way of noise complaints, Benson is surrounded by rich Nimbys.
Trouble is, Abingdon has since been ruined by the grunts."
The Army did ruin it abit yeah ie: Tower now vandalised, & when they first moved in the Army held a series of exercises which for example left the runways lights flattened , churned up grass , debris all over the place etc...but i do know a 'clean up' was carried out especially when the VGS moved in .
Considering its been 12 yrs or so not in full RAF use, the runway surfaces aren't too bad as i have found out running my annual Abingdon Fayre Air days ...and limited runway maintainence is or will be carried out to hopefully keep the surfaces decent... & in general is in reasonable condition overall..
All the runway lamps, traffic lights at hold points & anything else looking dangerous were removed about 4 yrs ago as were a Health & Safety issue...
Your quite right in saying that Abingdon had far fewer noise complaints - thats why for example recently a fare bit of Merlin & Puma night flying has taken place here (& has done in the past)cos Benson were getting a shed load of complaints so this way the noise is 'distributed' around, according to a senior source i spoke to very recently from Benson.
pr00ne - Yep 612 VGS are situated here, have been for around 7-8 yrs i think, so that, Heli activity, the odd Skyvan ,C130 or Let410 on Parachute drops makes it pretty active. Better than a Housing estate!
Last edited by Neil Porter; 26th Jul 2004 at 22:50.