Why did RAF CHIVENOR Close??
 

I'm just wondering if anyone could shed some light onto Why RAF Chivenor Closed in the mid 90's? I heard it was one of the best postings a Fighter Jockey could get!

If any one has any great stories they would like to share please post.
Cheers!

Because they didn't need two TWU/AFTS bases (let alone three), and Valley was uncloseable because of what else was there, and for electoral reasons.

Because its written down in some dusty manual of regs that in order to level the playing field and stop anyone whinging that they are missing out on something good only cr@p RAF stations are permitted to remain open. See also, closure of RAF Locking, squaddification of RAF bases in Germany etc.

THS is right, the RAF Transformation Strategy directs that the only Stations to remain are Valley, Marham and HQ Air Command.

Now I thought it was because they needed a decent area to develope for a R/C flying club, a glider school and a launch site for sailing boats! not withstanding the space for housing for a marine logs unit though!
Oh and maybe the odd Yellow Seaking!

I SAY

Hold on old chap, the aircrew made be odd, but the yellow SeaKing is perfectly normal.


Head down, look out for the flack

They had just spent millions doing up the hangars at Chivenor, the work was still going on when they announced the closure!!

Generally accepted as the signal for imminent sale/closure. After all, who doesn't spruce-up their house before trying to flog it?

But they didn't sell it, did they?

Ahhhh, Chivenor!

I was there in the late 80's, and even then we would joke that since the station had been recently modernised it was ripe for closure.

I worked in the new tower/ops/flight planning building, which must have been one of the best in the RAF.

Good accommodation, limited night flying, no weekend flying (SAR flight notwithstanding) and all on a lovely coastal setting! No wonder the locals called it RAF Butlins....

Not to mention a quick medical, watch the ejection video and then access to as much back seat Hawk flying as a young LAC could cope with!

I'd agree with Jackonicko's assessment.

DH

TWU
 

Don't write many posts, but feel the original question wasn't answered (cocktails = nostalgia)...

There was a magic about TWU that made the place(s) special. For the stude, perhaps it was about being made (for the first time?) to feel genuinely part of fast jet flying; operating an aircraft instead of just flying it. Suddenly you were an "adult" who flew, fought, questioned, debriefed, bantered and felt part of a team...indeed at times led it? Plus, the instructors were just as happy to be there as you were.

As to Chivenor, what's not to like...sun, sea, Barnstaple, Saunton Sands beach, the Gribble Inn... just a fabulous part of the UK.

Perhaps testimony to this is a later experience of Brawdy which on the face of it would seem like second fiddle but turned out to be the most rewarding, entertaining , fun, enriching, put-a-huge-smile-on-your-face-tour I ever had...Puddy, Phil F, Chalky...just a few of the myriad characters ...

But back to the grist of the thread....stories of Chivenor; they abound, but my threepenny worth is getting stopped by the feds on the way back from the "Snatch" when duty driver of the stude wheels which were inconspicuously painted in zebra stripes...what could possibly go wrong...

There were two ceremonies going on pretty much at the same time at Bentwaters in the 1990s;

One was to celebrate the formal closure of the base...

The other was to celebrate the completion of the major runway reconstruction (9" of concrete removed and replaced along the whole 3Km length, plus a course on top except for where the jets would have burnt it off at each end on rotation, had they ever operated on the new runway.)

Quite astonishingly, no civil servant was sacked for wasting public money.

These chaps are correct. Chivenor did not close and is alive and well. Indeed I was there in my trusty kite just t'other day. Nope, Chivenor didn't close...... just the RAF abandoned it and handed it over to the Royal Navy.

RAF Chivenor was criminally abandoned to dirt-dwellers (fine chaps though they are - except when wearing pink marigolds and surgical masks...) because:

• It was by far the best RAF station in the UK.
• It was only a few minutes fom Pembrey Range.
• It wasn't in some dreary, god-forsaken Celtic outpost of empire, inhabited by dribbling inbreds who spoke in unintelligible mumbles.
• The locals were overjoyed to see the RAF back again.
• It bordered ample low flying areas, rarely used by other fast jet aircraft.
• It was by far the best RAF station in the UK. Not for nothing was it known as 'Heaven in Devon'.

:=Dangerous grounds, Beagle! ex 120sqdn

Amen, BEagle. 1964 - 1969

Nope - you're all wrong
 

The RAF left Chivenor (now a Royal Marine logistics base) because in 1991 I'd opted for a Civil Service posting to Barnstaple solely because it was near to Chivenor and the room I was to occcupy overlooked the approach. I'd been there on an ATC summer camp in about 1963.

The powers that be couldn't bear the thought that I'd spent (? wasted) many hours gazing out of the window at the Hawks etc flying by :=.

The local rag mentioned that a Harrier Sqn might move in having left Germany but apart from a couple of weeks of an 'away' Harrier deployment including a Rapier set up just off the Tarka Trail at Fremington, that came to naught.

Regards

Chris

An enjoyable ATC camp spent there in 1969, pre modernisation so were were in wooden huts! Great Chipmunk flying low level over the moors to the north; Ilfracombe not far away; 'flying' the Hunter sims, trips through Saunton Sands in the DUKWs from Fremington and an airshow on the last saturday.

From what I've gleaned over the years, I think the basic answer is that there was a greater interest (economy and local politics-driven) to use Brawdy, and Chivenor was simply the victim of this process. I think everyone agrees that it was a mistake and that Chivenor should have stayed in business. But then you could write a book on daft decisions like that!

"The RAF left Chivenor (now a Royal Marine logistics base) because in 1991 I'd opted for a Civil Service posting to Barnstaple solely because it was near to Chivenor and the room I was to occcupy overlooked the approach."

Chris,
As an ex-pupil of both Pilton Primary and Barnstaple School for Boys, I'm trying to picture where this could be. The approach used to be right overhead St. Mary the Virgin - well north of Barum proper.

Slightly off topic, what happened to the old aircraft at the North Devon Flying Club at Wrafton? I seem to remember peering through a side window of the hanger & seeing what I beleive was a Miles Aerovan and at other times a red Magister in the pattern glimpsed from the railway.

Can anyone tell me how the parking was arranged when Hawks flew at Chivenor? The aerial photos of the airfield show the apron covered with the Junglie kit that lives there now.

I guess the Hawks parked facing east (facing the hangars) - does this sound right?

Also, there seem to be markings on the sorth-east / south-west disused runway that suggest it was used for arming the aircraft (or at least for parking).

I am asking as I'm one of those people who plays with MS Flight Simulator...

All the best

David "Felix" Pike

Welcome Felixpike,

From what I remember (I was there in 87/88) the Hawk's faced towards the Hangars. 151 Sqn used the northern apron, and 63 Sqn the more southerly one. I don't remember them using the disused for arming Hawk's during my time, but it was certainly used to park our many visitors.

I'm pretty sure there was a Whirlwind gate guard outside the SAR flight. I can't see it on Google earth, anyone know what happened to it?

DH

Hawk parking
 

Felixpike,

DH is correct as to the sqn dispositions with respect to the 2 ASPs but the normal parking direction for both 63 and 151 Sqns was outwards with armed aircraft on the westerly line facing west and the easterly line facing the hangars. Occasionally, if there was a strong westerly wind, the easterly line would also face west as the Hawk did not like starting with a wind up its rear.

Thank you for the info, chaps.

I have one more silly question: were there any standard departure and recovery procedures? I think the US Navy calls them "course rules".

Many thanks once again

Felix

I can't remember the speeds and heights, but when I was there when Chiv re-opened with the Hawk, we'd recover either via Baggy Point ('Baggy Rejoin') or via the Tavistock line rail bridge over the A377 in the River Taw valley ('Barnacle Rejoin').

We were always strict to observe noise abatement rules for the benefit of the locals - unlike the fun we had on the Hunter at Brawdy!

I'd left before they built the new Officers Mess, but even with the mud and crud of all the building works - and the joy of those cold huts - Chiv truly was 'Heaven in Devon'! I just couldn't believe it when the RAF handed it over to other people - such an utter travesty.

Thank you Beagle, that's great. No more silly questions now, I promise.

Well, not for a few days, anyway... :)

I was at Chivenor in the Hunter days, from '73 until it after it closed first time. I lived in a wooden hut, (E-Lines) which had a coke stove with the chimney sticking out through the roof. It was classed as sub-standard accommodation (outside loos) and we got 75p a week allowance because of it. We used to 'borrow' coke from the back of the airmens' mess to power these things which, given a fair wind could glow bright red!

One particularly stormy night one of the huts on E-lines blew down and I was woken up by four soggy mates looking for somewhere to spend the night.

I worked at the GCA site on the bank of the river and to get to work, had to phone ATC local from the Ground Radio bay for a 'green' and then had to run across the runway in between four-ship take offs.

I was on duty the day the Staish ejected from his Hunter and had to man the radar for the subsequent SAR activity.

The radar was an American bit of kit called MPN-11A and comprised two caravans mounted on a turntable. When a runway changed was required we pulled pins out of the ground, rotated the entire radar, by hand, and re-secured it with the pins, there were also stabilising legs with large footpads that attached to the corners of the caravans to prevent them rocking.

The Hunters used to practice 1-in-1 approaches, simulating a flame-out and for that the radar antenna was jacked up to a higher elevation. The jack motor used to burn-out with monotonous regularity and a new one was obtained by flying the target-towing Meteor T7 up to collect one from North Luffenham. It came back strapped in the back seat.

The day the Hunters left for Brawdy was a strange day, really wet and horrible day so the planned mass fly past never happened. That was in contrast to the weather the day we had final fly pasts from just about everything the RAF had to mark the closure. I still have a vivid memory of an RN F-4 coming over the hill at Heanton Punchardon, crossing the runway at 90 degrees and causing one of the controllers who hadn't seen it coming to throw himself, and his tea to the ground!

After the Hunters left the messes were combined and we all ate and drank in the one mess, the Officers', of course. Booze was about 5 pence and regular dances, with buffets, were held in an attempt to spend all the mess money, it was brilliant! I even remember the odds on the fruit machine were frigged to ensure it paid out more often.

During the Cyprus Emergency many families were sent to Chivenor because there were so many empty married quarters and we spent a lot of time equipping the houses with furniture etc.

My task, after the aircraft had left was to de-commission the radar, the yanks wanted it back, despite it being over 40-years old. We spent months and gallons of WD-40 loosening everything that hadn't moved for years and screwing hundreds of blanking plates onto the caravans.

On the day the radar was to be moved, a Scammel Wrecker, the last of its type in RAF service, was used to haul the caravans off the turntable, space was tight and I remember the Wrecker hit the hut, which was our workshop and office, dealing it a crippling blow.

Ahhh! happy days, sorry for the rambling post but I was overcome with nostalgia.

Don't worry about the "rambling" post - I love reading this kind of stuff and I bet I'm not alone!

Thank you Wub for your memories.

Dave

And how terribly depressing that Google Earth image is to all those who flew from Heaven in Devon.

Seeing all those bastard grunt trucks parked on 'our' ASP nearly brought tears to my eyes.

Why the hell did such a tragedy happen?

Brown jobs whatever their service seem to do this; at Abingdon for instance, they erected a fence all round the airfield but inside the peri track, thus denying its use and use of the hangars to aircraft.

From personal experience, the parking of vehicles, staging of materials and building such things as fences in the aircraft operating areas is often specifically directed from above so that the aerodrome isn't surreptitiously eased back into service thus leading eventually to funding requests for maintenance of a capability the establishment isn't supposed to have anymore.

This spiking of guns is a stock beancounter procedure.

This shot on a misty summer morning sums up the Station today. The 22 Squadron A Flight Sea King just rolled out in anticipation of a job to do. Otherwise all is calm and peaceful.


http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...ofChivenor.jpg

Stop it Snaga II you will make me cry. For me it is Vampires and Sabres, but that was a long time ago!!!

Why did RAF Chivenor close?
 

Vampires and Sabres - please tell all??

Looks more like a container port than a military unit. What a complete waste of an excellent Station.

I seem to recall that didn't stop one senior retired Army Officer from regularly phoning up and complaining about the noise...... until the Station Commander at the time had a few choice words with him. If he's still living he's probably entirely happy with the current state of affairs.

Only got to spend 3 years there but they were the best 3 years of my time in the RAF.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a24...VENORHawks.jpg

Scan of a pic taken in '82 (I think). PR Shot of 151(F) Sqn Hawks taken over Lundy

"I lived in a wooden hut, (E-Lines) which had a coke stove with the chimney sticking out through the roof."

Ahrrg......remember those very well.

One winter evening in '67/8, whilst I was "entertaining" a lovely example of the local crumpet, a certain hooligan mate decided to climb on to the roof and drop a starting gun cartridge down the chimney. Took about two minutes for it to go off, blowing the front of the stove open - and she didn't notice!!!

Very liable to cause premature.......if not on ball!

Vampiredave, 1953-54 time a bit before yours I guess!! Oh! I forgot to add Meteor 7s to the list,

Why did RAF Chivenor close?
 

Raven 30: Great shot. The formation from 151(R) Squadron was indeed put up in 1982 to celebrate the victory in the Falklands by spelling the station name with their tail codes. One or two aircraft had to be 're-coded' for the event.

Shack: By about 10 years. But go on, tell us :)about the Vampires and Sabres... and the Meteor 7s?

I have a little sympathy for those such as BEagle and Raven30 who seem unable to come to terms with the fact that the RAF is so small as to be unable to make use of its estate, but you might at least wish to recognise the hard work and sacrifice of Chivenor's current occupants, the Commando Logistics Regiment.