Festina Lente,
I believe the reason for the move from St Mawgan to Kinloss in 82 was the assumed availability of a Mk2 simulator
That was indeed part of the justification, but when it became clear that the simulator wasn't going to be available on schedule there was an obstinate refusal to re-evaluate the plan. There were other options available that would not have necessitated the move north and then south but these were "politically" unpalatable.
The irony of it was that the initial courses at Kinloss had to go to Woodford for cubicle\rig training because no simulator or cubicles were available. Then to cap it all when the OCU moved back to St Mawgan we had to charter a Brymon Dash7 to move the first course to Kinloss for simulator training.
I also never understood why it was considered necessary to set up NCF when the Group already had a training unit.
YS