Farewell Colt
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Wellington
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Coltishall and others
Well written Mowgli!
I used to loiter in East Anglia when Wattisham and Bentwaters and Coltishall all were busy, I was a schoolboy living so close to Northolt that the first/last of the approach lights was just a pebble's throw from the garden fence and ..oh, okay, I can feel the grimaces and frowns already, enough history.
My point is that it is not so much the material that is lost, it is easy enough to build another runway, erect another hangar, put up another fence, construct another mess ... such things can be replaced in weeks.
BUT what cannot be replaced in a hurry is the people with experience, the people with skill, the people with knowledge, the people that made, in this case Coltishall, what it was ... Coltishall had precisely the same hardware as any other RAF base, its bricks and concrete were no different, it was the people that made it different, the people that made it work (okay and the location no doubt helped too).
Yes it can be entertaining to argue and debate how many airbases, airfields, aerodromes are needed but it is not about the bricks and the concrete, it is about the people.
The RAF had some exceptional people at Coltishall, where are they now?
A few years ago the Government of New Zealand (wherein I have dwelt for some 20 years) decided it no longer required the services of its Skyhawks, so it disbanded the RNZAF's leading edge and hundreds of people suddenly were out of work.
The base is still there ... the aircraft are still here (although officially they were "sold" last September) but the people that made it all work have been scattered and abandoned, their individual and collective skill gone.
So I reckon that looking at individual bases is misleading, it is not the bases that matter, it is, always, the people that matter.
It is the loss of people that is tragic, it is the loss of people that cannot (easily or quickly) be replaced or even restored.
It is fun to argue and comment about tomorrow's aircraft and tomorrow's weapons, but none of them are of any use whatsoever without the right people.
Right, that's it for now ... on my current average I will not post another message until mid-2007 ...
I used to loiter in East Anglia when Wattisham and Bentwaters and Coltishall all were busy, I was a schoolboy living so close to Northolt that the first/last of the approach lights was just a pebble's throw from the garden fence and ..oh, okay, I can feel the grimaces and frowns already, enough history.
My point is that it is not so much the material that is lost, it is easy enough to build another runway, erect another hangar, put up another fence, construct another mess ... such things can be replaced in weeks.
BUT what cannot be replaced in a hurry is the people with experience, the people with skill, the people with knowledge, the people that made, in this case Coltishall, what it was ... Coltishall had precisely the same hardware as any other RAF base, its bricks and concrete were no different, it was the people that made it different, the people that made it work (okay and the location no doubt helped too).
Yes it can be entertaining to argue and debate how many airbases, airfields, aerodromes are needed but it is not about the bricks and the concrete, it is about the people.
The RAF had some exceptional people at Coltishall, where are they now?
A few years ago the Government of New Zealand (wherein I have dwelt for some 20 years) decided it no longer required the services of its Skyhawks, so it disbanded the RNZAF's leading edge and hundreds of people suddenly were out of work.
The base is still there ... the aircraft are still here (although officially they were "sold" last September) but the people that made it all work have been scattered and abandoned, their individual and collective skill gone.
So I reckon that looking at individual bases is misleading, it is not the bases that matter, it is, always, the people that matter.
It is the loss of people that is tragic, it is the loss of people that cannot (easily or quickly) be replaced or even restored.
It is fun to argue and comment about tomorrow's aircraft and tomorrow's weapons, but none of them are of any use whatsoever without the right people.
Right, that's it for now ... on my current average I will not post another message until mid-2007 ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Originally Posted by Foxed Moth
Well written Mowgli!
I used to loiter in East Anglia when Wattisham and Bentwaters and Coltishall all were busy, I was a schoolboy living so close to Northolt that the first/last of the approach lights was just a pebble's throw from the garden fence and ..oh, okay, I can feel the grimaces and frowns already, enough history.
My point is that it is not so much the material that is lost, it is easy enough to build another runway, erect another hangar, put up another fence, construct another mess ... such things can be replaced in weeks.
BUT what cannot be replaced in a hurry is the people with experience, the people with skill, the people with knowledge, the people that made, in this case Coltishall, what it was ... Coltishall had precisely the same hardware as any other RAF base, its bricks and concrete were no different, it was the people that made it different, the people that made it work (okay and the location no doubt helped too).
Yes it can be entertaining to argue and debate how many airbases, airfields, aerodromes are needed but it is not about the bricks and the concrete, it is about the people.
The RAF had some exceptional people at Coltishall, where are they now?
A few years ago the Government of New Zealand (wherein I have dwelt for some 20 years) decided it no longer required the services of its Skyhawks, so it disbanded the RNZAF's leading edge and hundreds of people suddenly were out of work.
The base is still there ... the aircraft are still here (although officially they were "sold" last September) but the people that made it all work have been scattered and abandoned, their individual and collective skill gone.
So I reckon that looking at individual bases is misleading, it is not the bases that matter, it is, always, the people that matter.
It is the loss of people that is tragic, it is the loss of people that cannot (easily or quickly) be replaced or even restored.
It is fun to argue and comment about tomorrow's aircraft and tomorrow's weapons, but none of them are of any use whatsoever without the right people.
Right, that's it for now ... on my current average I will not post another message until mid-2007 ...
I used to loiter in East Anglia when Wattisham and Bentwaters and Coltishall all were busy, I was a schoolboy living so close to Northolt that the first/last of the approach lights was just a pebble's throw from the garden fence and ..oh, okay, I can feel the grimaces and frowns already, enough history.
My point is that it is not so much the material that is lost, it is easy enough to build another runway, erect another hangar, put up another fence, construct another mess ... such things can be replaced in weeks.
BUT what cannot be replaced in a hurry is the people with experience, the people with skill, the people with knowledge, the people that made, in this case Coltishall, what it was ... Coltishall had precisely the same hardware as any other RAF base, its bricks and concrete were no different, it was the people that made it different, the people that made it work (okay and the location no doubt helped too).
Yes it can be entertaining to argue and debate how many airbases, airfields, aerodromes are needed but it is not about the bricks and the concrete, it is about the people.
The RAF had some exceptional people at Coltishall, where are they now?
A few years ago the Government of New Zealand (wherein I have dwelt for some 20 years) decided it no longer required the services of its Skyhawks, so it disbanded the RNZAF's leading edge and hundreds of people suddenly were out of work.
The base is still there ... the aircraft are still here (although officially they were "sold" last September) but the people that made it all work have been scattered and abandoned, their individual and collective skill gone.
So I reckon that looking at individual bases is misleading, it is not the bases that matter, it is, always, the people that matter.
It is the loss of people that is tragic, it is the loss of people that cannot (easily or quickly) be replaced or even restored.
It is fun to argue and comment about tomorrow's aircraft and tomorrow's weapons, but none of them are of any use whatsoever without the right people.
Right, that's it for now ... on my current average I will not post another message until mid-2007 ...
I'd like to say yes, but I think we all know the true answer
