Originally Posted by
pr00ne
Melchett01,
Really don't see how Benson can be as overcrowded aircraft wise as you claim. It has 23 Pumas and 6 Chinooks, surely spread around the 4 huge C Type hangars and the tin T2 hangar that Benson has that leaves oodles of room?
Before the OCU moved in it was home to two bigger Puma Squadrons and the two squadrons of the entire RAF Merlin force, with attached Operational Conversion Flights.
It has swapped the whole Merlin force for 6 OCU Chinooks.
Must be plenty of room.
pr00ne,
May well be more space than I recall, there have likely been a fair few changes in the time since I sold my soul and disappeared into MOD staff appointments. However, whilst there may well be more hangars now than the 3 hangars we had when I left (only 2 when I arrived - 28 & 33 - with 230 in Aldergrove and not including th UAS/AEF who also had/have a hangar), the realities were different to the numbers on paper. The OCUs were actually Flts on the sqns rather than independent sqns such as 15, so took up no more space than a few offices and classrooms alongside the Sim building. And whilst the Merlin Force was undeniably large with 28 aircraft eventually split over 2 Sqns, I don't ever recall ever seeing a full complement on base. Deployments to the Balkans and then Iraq before Afghanistan meant there were nearly always a handful of cabs away, with another handful on exercise around the place and others in depth maintenance. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say it was rare to have more than 50-60% of the cabs on Stn at any time and then it was a work of art getting them into 2 hangars.
And completely coincidentally, I was talking to a colleague still on the Chinook force a few days ago and as we were talking about real estate he did mention that elements of the operational Chinook force had already considered and dismissed Benson as an option precisely because of hangar space. I have no reason to doubt him, he is far closer to the front line than I currently am.
So assuming he is correct, and hangar space is a critical factor, then I'm not sure where you could put one of the Odiham sqns into Benson. Looking at an aerial photo the site is asymmetrical and there has been clear encroachment over the years onto the west of the airfield by housing developments, and with 2 crossing runways I doubt where you could squeeze another hangar in anywhere else to use both sides. If you need 2 hangars to get an entire sqn under cover, then with 28, 230 and the UAS/AEF on site it would need some juggling to say the least as well as considering domestics.