As a former QFI/CO with happy memories of RAF Woodvale, I am aware that the future of the airfield has been reviewed many times. Somehow it has survived several rounds of defence cuts despite more operational bases closing. The savings made by closing Woodvale would be a fraction of those from the closure of a major base like Leuchars and Kinloss (Both of which still have limited use by the RAF. Manchester, Salford and Liverpool universities all provided a good number of aircrew and engineering recruits to the RAF in my day, and Woodvale is conveniently placed for students from there to start their RAF training. Unfortunately, the emphasis on flying in the UASs has been reduced in recent years. The current Grob contract can't have much longer to run and the advent of MFTS may introduce a more complex and expensive aircraft for EFT. I am sure that the bean counters will be looking again at the need for and cost of every base in the UK. I am aware that Woodvale has some civil activity but this is unlikely to contribute mor than a few thousand a year towards the maintenance of the airfield, ATC and emergency services. To call Woodvale an emergency diversion airfield is fancyful. The runways are shortwith low load carrying factors, there is no regular source of avtur and the crash cat is not suitable for anything other than light aircraft. In my time there only a handful of jet aircraft used the airfield - on preplanned visits and each one generated a storm of protest from local residents! To suggest that UAS/AEF operations can operate successfully from a major civil airport is incorrect. Continuous circuit training does not mix with heavy instrument traffic. UGSAS had to detach to an RAF airfield for the circuit consolidation phase each year (The need for this may have reduced since the reduction of UAS hours in recent years). my years at Woodvale were, in the main, very happy and we produced many good pilots (including RED ONE) and engineers for the RAF. Good luck for the future!