How about Scampton?

In theory it would seem a good option, once the Reds have moved out......but that won't be for a couple of years.

IWM Duxford Curator has made the following somewhat astonishing recent Tweet, which probably explains as much as anything......:eek:

Yes - the staff are idiots.
I assume there must be facts to back up such a statement but I find it hard to believe.

Sywell - if it can cater for 2,000 movements during the annual LAA Rally, then surely it can cope with Flying Legends.

GeeRam, definitely sounds like someone talking nonsense. Not, perchance, the same person who is the Director of Visitor Experience at the NT is it? :}

If you can get a B-17/DC-3 into Sywell, gets my vote. Despite my scary incident there with a Beagle Pup in 1988...

I can see all flying being terminated out of Duxford in the medium term and then a large part of the "redundant" airfield being put up to be sold for development.

Not sure about Sywell......good friends of mine run a weekend event there (or did pre-Covid) and visitor parking for Sywell will be a problem. There's only about a third of the space available across the road in the fields for car parking compared to the limitation at Duxford, so you will have to bring in a lot of either park n ride options from nearby landowner fields (at cost) as well as transport from the station. I know what it cost them in terms of bringing in facilities for a fraction of the people that would be there for Legends and its not cheap.
The costs to TFC for show infrastructure that they currently don't have to think about is a lot, on top of the other stuff they will have to employ people to do.
As someone that has been involved on the fringes of large public event organisation, don't underestimate the amount of work and costs involved in taking on a LOT of more than what you've been used to doing........and still expect to not loose money.

I think the only way TFC can do this is going to an airfield where there is already an established show structure in place to piggy back off/share etc, and there's not many options there, Cosford, Biggin and Old Warden are all that I can think of. Either that or joining forces with a previous show team, that have had to stop a show and try and revive it under the Legends banner?

St. Athan? Airfield is now civilian, relatively good communication and infrastructure.

Surprised by statement from IWM, ok, it's a war museum first, however with a large aviation content, TFC are by definition warbirds which makes the IWM statement a little contradictory.

Disagree with the 'niche' statement, run two shows, flying legends and ' generic' and compare gate receipts; difficult to understand IWM rationale on this.

Obviously IWM don't just want profit - they want more profit. Other organisations on the airfield will be feeling that same pressure too.
Having been in a business driven to closure by relentless hangar rent rises. The needs of an airfield owner are often outside most operations contexts and when TFC move out there won't be any real profit in whoever moves in - especially if they cancel a huge revenue event. Is the IWM being driven by a new CFO/accountant with no IWM or Duxford experience? Perhaps one who sees more profit in car parks than airfields?

Sywell has always tried to engender the Aviation spirit and would be a good match 'spritually' but as others have stated, the infrastructure probably isn't there to deal with regular large crowds during the season.

Having learnt to fly at Sywell in '84, you've piqued my interest. I regularly flew BASP and AZSW which, I believe drowned itself on the IoW many moons later.

With that rather shocking statement from IWM, what price flying operations at Duxford in the long term? What price even an airfield at Duxford in the long term?

My feeling exactly.

If her new airshow grand plan backfires, I'm sure it will just be a case of, no point in having an active airfield anymore so we can sell of most of that empty space over there for housing, which given its location, and demand for new housing in the Cambridge area would solve a lot of IWM's financial issues in a hearbeat.

Job done from her point of view.

I was surprised to read the statement. Flying Legends has been a world renowned event and they kill it?
Will they move it to the continent due to Brexit is a far wild guess, but I am still waiting for more details.
Just glad we went there in 2019 to see 'the last' !!!

I'm not sure it pays to be too gloomy about the future of Duxford as an airfield. I believe there are plans afoot to build an aerotech campus to the South of the runway and it's coming partially because of the proximity of the airfield. Or has that been binned as well.

Are you not thinking of the proposal for Marshall Aerospace to relocate from their existing Cambridge airport site to Duxford, and which was going to be built in the south-west corner of the airfield?

Can't recall which one it was, G-AZ?? I think, but it was started up between the hangars, ran up to high power, shot forwards towards the airfield, the right wingtip clipped a fuel pump (I think - it's no longer there) on the corner of what is now 2Excel's hangar, it pirouetted round the pump and the nose went through the front of the glazed area. A friend and I were walking in front of the hangar on the tarmac strip towards the corner and were suddenly confronted with this spinning prop a few yards away - John broke right and I was contemplating diving over the wing I think, fortunately the momentum taking it into the side of the hangar likely saved our bacon!

Two guys who looked like mechanics were in it and I assume the throttle had been left open and the parking brake off when they started it. Looked like the right wing was slightly twisted and presumably the prop/engine/cowling were damaged too. Pleased to report there was no laundry bill on our part, can't comment on the state of the occupants' smalls - I imagine they may have had a no tea no biccies style interview with their manager later...

[/drift]

GeeRam, the aerotech campus idea was much more recent than the Marshall's project, which foundered on runway access and hangarage I believe.

treadigraph. Wow. Well, I promise it wan't me.