Flying Training & Middle Wallop
The HALS is in the wrong place & the Fixed Wing runways cut the airfield into segments (which, to be honest, compromises effective flying operations for Rotary). Apache have to go elsewhere to simply fly circuits & other rotary spend much of their time training on Everleigh where there is no crash cover. MW isn't being operated as well as it could or should be. It needs to get rid of FW ops and build a HALS in the middle of the field and have a professional long-term view of how it would function best.
The Wildcat is probably going to Yeovilton so that leaves some Squirrels and the Apace Conversion Sqn (ignoring the dying Gazelle & single 212). Put the Apaches with all the others at Wattisham and safe a substantial amount in duplication of resources. The Squirrel training could easily be done at Shawbury but the over-reliance of civvy instructors wouldn't sit well with the AAC there. AAC ground training could be absorbed into any one of a load of bases within Southern or Eastern England - the numbers are small in comparison.
Much is always said of the 'strategic' proximity of SPTA, which has some validity but we are only talking 'skids-on' options here as most other training can be/is done in the general Low Flying System.
Training RAF pilots at Sandhurst is a top idea. The RAF Officer Training System is dreadful, especially the leadership training which is probably not much different to that conducted in Tescos (but with boots). The IOT course was extended by 3 months a few years back specifically to address leadership but some schooly-lefty pinko didn't make the connection with 'Military Leadership' so it's all group hug stuff and geared around admin staff.
On the topic of real estate, the Lynx sim is soon to be redundant, the Thales Apache Sim is in a shed which could move to Wattisham for less than the income from the real estate and the housing patch looks as though it was built for it's resale potential anyway.
Or we could just put the Pumas there when the Merlins go to the Navy and make all rotary pilots either Navy (Merlin & Sea King) or Army (Apache & Chinook) & close Benson instead?