Privately owned light-aircraft used for duty travel...

[BritishPPL]

On the MOD website today I spotted an update (v37) published to JSP752 Regulations for Expenses and Allowances
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tri-service-regulations-for-expenses-and-allowances-jsp-752

I checked the rates for Duty Travel using privately-owned vehicles on page 3 - 1 - 6. Unchanged rates are Cars at 25p per mile and bicycles 15p per mile !

I recalled that back in the day I used to know a few Junior Officers that kept their privately owned light-aircraft in spare hangar corners on various stns. I could be wrong, but I also seem to remember seeing, as recently as the late 90's, in the predecessor documents to JSP752, that there was (possibly for commissioned officers only?) a published per mile rate for Duty Travel using privately owned light aircraft. Does anyone else remember this allowance and what year it was stopped?

[ORAC]

“Sticky” Bostock was the Sun Cdr at Boulder during my second tour their. He owned a Hornet Moth and had done a deal with the farmer who owned the old WWII grass airfield and had a gate made in the fence so he could it inside the SAR hangar.

[BritishPPL]

“Sticky” Bostock was the Sun Cdr at Boulder during my second tour their. He owned a Hornet Moth and had done a deal with the farmer who owned the old WWII grass airfield and had a gate made in the fence so he could it inside the SAR hangar.
The airfield pattern at Boulmer is still clearly visible (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.4125333,-1.5958938,2534m/data=!3m1!1e3) and it would make a great flying club location on the Northumberland coastline. However, I've never known any fixed wing use of its runways in the last 25 years.

[Davef68]

Didn't the RAF Lossiemouth Staish have an issue a few years back with a light aircraft he was piloting when making his way back from Warton with OC XV on board?

[wub]

There was a corporal at St Mawgan in the early 70s who owned an Auster

[Wander00]

Aah, SNB, same Towers entry. Saw him at the Towers (and Entry) reunion last year

[ex82watcher]

Going off at a slight tangent,but regarding the use of RAF airfields by civilian light aircraft.In the late'80s or very early '90s,the Royal Engineers (Territorials I think) in Norfolk wanted to practice their runway bomb-damage repair skills.To facilitate this,the MOD came to some arrangement with Arrow Air Services at Shipdham,whereby,in return for the RE being allowed to 'blow up' the runway at Shipdham,which I doubt had any maintenance since the USAF left at the end of WW2,and subsequently repairing it,the flying club was,for a period operated from RAF watton,5or 6 miles down the road.I don't know how much of the R/W was demolished and relaid as I had moved away from Norfolk by then,but I'd be surprised if Nigel Wright and his organization didn't gain some benefit from the scheme.

[Dave Sharpe]

there is also the instance of the Jodel then being built by Ian Grace at St Mawgan while a engineering shift Officer on the Nimrods back in 82-83 -kept in the scheduled servicing hanger and just accepted as normal ---

[k3k3]

There was a Dutch SNCO who built a KitFox in the maintenance debrief hut at Geilenkirchen.

[Rigga]

A friend of mine (a Corporal) claimed for his weekend milage from the Gutersloh area to Bavaria and, when questioned that he could not have driven there so quick to enjoy a weekend there and return for a Monday, had to explain that he flew in a hired Cessna...

Another friend flew his microlight from Coningsby to Scampton as his (summer) commute to work on the Reds.

[rlsbutler]

While I was flying with the AEF at Benson in the 1990s, I was very aware of the Antonov AN-2 Colt quietly standing in our hangar.

I normally drove my family in a converted 12-seater Transit, so I nurtured a fellow-feeling with the unknown owner more than I would have done if the aircraft had been a conventional Cessna or Piper. No special envy, since I could not afford any of them and since I was getting many more hours in HM's Bulldogs than the owner could possibly afford in his Colt.

[Mogwi]

I remember (sometime in the late 80's) leaving Yeovilton in a Harvard to pick up a brand new Jumping Bean from Dunsfold. Lots more goofers to watch my arrival in the Harvard than watched my perf hovers on arrival back at base!

PS Duty mileage paid for the Harvard flight.

Mog

[Manandboy]

I did it from Boscombe up to 2005. As long as the appropriate insurance was in place it was a straightforward 1771 claim for a hypothetical car journey.

[bunta130]

What I still find shocking is that the rate for duty car travel has remained the same for the last few years......of course, motoring costs have also remained static!

Before I left, I always used MT when 'on business', as not to have done so would have cost me a significant sum. Those lease Priuses were horrible....and I bet they cost the Service more than if I had used my own car at a reasonable reimbusement rate.

[Dan Winterland]

I managed it in the 90s. There were a lot of barriers in the way, including a rennet inspection of the aircraft by a licenced engineer, but I managed it. Much to the dismay of OC Accounts.

[Dan Winterland]

On a different tack, there was a requirement for a duty QFI in the tower at Barkston Heath if solo circuit consolidation was being flown there. In theory, there was a duty vehicle available in which to drive there. But the system of booking it, getting authorisation, getting to MT to collect it (if in fact some Corporal decided he was eventually going to let you have it) that the system was too unwieldy and difficult. It was much easier to jump into an aircraft and fly over there from Cranwell and park next to the tower. So that's what we usually did.

[just another jocky]

The flying club aircraft at RAF Marham were certainly available for duty travel in the late noughties. Don't know if that is still the case.

[matkat]

Privately owned piper aztec was in the VASS hangar at Lossie in the late 1970s piloted by an ex FAA Bucc pilot initials IA part of the deal was if seats were available anyone could go with it, it was used by the whisky companies to ferry there top guys around used it lots of times as I was on VASS at the time.

[5aday]

I used a Cessna Cardinal (177RG) whilst employed on the AEW Comet during the Nimrod Mk3 program. Quite useful really especially when we needed spares
collecting from Elstree. I did approximately 400 hours in two years at the behest of Marconi Elliot. . Bae never allowed it into Woodford so I used Ringway instead.
For recreational purposes,I took it to Malta and Shannon as well.
Thread drift........