Help save RAF bicester
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Hello All
Just to correct a few things here. The latest info dated March 30 as far as we see is as below regarding the site being turned into a "Business Park"
BBC News - RAF Bicester airfield to become heritage business park
zetec2, as per Chugulug2's comment...don't know how many people will be taking their kids to a "Business Park" for a bit of fun and education on a Sunday afternoon, but who knows!
1.3VStall. Can see where you are coming from, but Chugulug2 has said what needs to be said most eloquently.
Thanks to everyone for the support. We aren't shoving our heads in the sand just yet, so watch this space! If there is any good news in any way, shape or form..we'll keep you all posted.
Just to correct a few things here. The latest info dated March 30 as far as we see is as below regarding the site being turned into a "Business Park"
BBC News - RAF Bicester airfield to become heritage business park
zetec2, as per Chugulug2's comment...don't know how many people will be taking their kids to a "Business Park" for a bit of fun and education on a Sunday afternoon, but who knows!
1.3VStall. Can see where you are coming from, but Chugulug2 has said what needs to be said most eloquently.
Thanks to everyone for the support. We aren't shoving our heads in the sand just yet, so watch this space! If there is any good news in any way, shape or form..we'll keep you all posted.
Last edited by bc_heritage; 30th Mar 2013 at 17:29. Reason: URL
BCH, welcome as ever back to PPRuNe, though would it were in happier circumstances. Thank you for the kind words about my post, but I should perhaps make it perfectly clear that it was just that, ie my own personal thoughts on this latest turn of events. I do not speak for Bomber Command Heritage, which of course you do, and I think that I must make that perfectly clear.
As you say this is not the end, but it may well be the end of the beginning. One can only hope that an accommodation is possible between Bicester Heritage and Bomber Command Heritage that will allow of the site to not only be saved and restored but to also tell the story of Bomber Command's heroic fight for the freedoms that we all enjoy these days. If the Memorial tells us anything it is that one has to have faith, that right will prevail. Not a bad motto all things considered. As appropriate today as it was in those dark nights of the 40's.
As you say this is not the end, but it may well be the end of the beginning. One can only hope that an accommodation is possible between Bicester Heritage and Bomber Command Heritage that will allow of the site to not only be saved and restored but to also tell the story of Bomber Command's heroic fight for the freedoms that we all enjoy these days. If the Memorial tells us anything it is that one has to have faith, that right will prevail. Not a bad motto all things considered. As appropriate today as it was in those dark nights of the 40's.
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Bicester
Well not only living in Bicester (over the road from the airfield) flying from there & having been involved with the airfield since 1958 one way or another (I was flying from there before the Windrushers & RAFGSA whilst still an RAF base !!!) the news is far better than having another 1500 houses being built on the airfield as the current local infrastructure just won't support it. From latest news regarding the vintage car setup it looks as though a very respected Bentley restorer & racer will be heading that, also the aviation side of the winning bid looks as though it will be an active warbird restorer & operator, the Windrushers Gliding Club looks secure. The plans indicate that it may take some years to be fully operational but better than more houses, we will see, PH, Bicester.
I also live 8 minutes drive away from Bicester Aerodrome and I also concur with your thoughts. This is a far better result than was originally planned for the aerodrome - a gazillion houses and the demolition of several unique buildings.
I would hope that there would be scope for BCH to be invited onto the technical site as there are so very many buildings in a decaying state. I was never really convinced that another massive aircraft museum was a good idea - Hendon, Cosford, Brooklands and Duxford are all 1 hours drive from Bicester. That said, BCH's vision is unique to being solely just Bomber Command. I can't see Windrushers, a Bentley Restorer and Chiltern Classic Flight (CCF News | Meet the Team | About Us) using all of the real estate on the aerodrome. I would have thought a less modest use of a building and one of the four hangars would be more within BCH's scope - filling 4 hangars with Bomber Command aircraft and artifacts is massively ambitious (in my opinion).
Well done to Bicester Heritage Ltd - there was still a distinct danger of more houses (the Garden Quarter opposite the aerodrome is an example Grade II Listed | Houses | Apartments | Historic Buildings). I would hope to see it develop with a full working aerodrome, a motor heritage museum (including stuff from nearby Silverstone), aviation heritage (including BCH) and other heritage (how about a gliding museum?) - how about an apprenticeship scheme for youngsters? Bicester is expanding rapidly and having something for the 'herberts' from the local new-build estates to do is a definate requirement.
LJ
I would hope that there would be scope for BCH to be invited onto the technical site as there are so very many buildings in a decaying state. I was never really convinced that another massive aircraft museum was a good idea - Hendon, Cosford, Brooklands and Duxford are all 1 hours drive from Bicester. That said, BCH's vision is unique to being solely just Bomber Command. I can't see Windrushers, a Bentley Restorer and Chiltern Classic Flight (CCF News | Meet the Team | About Us) using all of the real estate on the aerodrome. I would have thought a less modest use of a building and one of the four hangars would be more within BCH's scope - filling 4 hangars with Bomber Command aircraft and artifacts is massively ambitious (in my opinion).
Well done to Bicester Heritage Ltd - there was still a distinct danger of more houses (the Garden Quarter opposite the aerodrome is an example Grade II Listed | Houses | Apartments | Historic Buildings). I would hope to see it develop with a full working aerodrome, a motor heritage museum (including stuff from nearby Silverstone), aviation heritage (including BCH) and other heritage (how about a gliding museum?) - how about an apprenticeship scheme for youngsters? Bicester is expanding rapidly and having something for the 'herberts' from the local new-build estates to do is a definate requirement.
LJ
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Bicester
After spending a pleasant morning chatting with some local business people over a pint (ok a couple) & a pie, there is great interest (and discussions I understand are already underway with Cherwell DC) from a local engineering college & F1 & Sports Car fabricators based in Bicester to take up options on available units on the old tech site, If it all comes to fruition then the site could become a centre for engineering, aviation & motor sport excellence, just hope I live long enough to see it all happen, Paul H, Bicester.
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That's excellent news!
I used to live just round the corner in one of the "local new-build estates", we flew our Pumas out of there in 2004-ish when the Benson Stn Cdr "invited" us to "consider" moving our OCF night flying phase with its attendant noise elsewhere over the summer.
The gliding school there at the time were very helpful, I got my one and only trip in a glider too!
I used to live just round the corner in one of the "local new-build estates", we flew our Pumas out of there in 2004-ish when the Benson Stn Cdr "invited" us to "consider" moving our OCF night flying phase with its attendant noise elsewhere over the summer.
The gliding school there at the time were very helpful, I got my one and only trip in a glider too!
And the Flywheel Festival (the second one occurs in early July) was rather decent last year.
Airshow Review ? Bicester Flywheel Festival 2015 | GAR
(Yes, the Vulcan didn't appear, but the impression that I had was that a significant proportion of those who stayed around did so to avoid the car park queue and to have some more time looking over the static display and the old cars. Or to explain to their 4 year old that while he'd been shown how to do a proper parachute landing, the Dakota on static was, sadly, unable to take off so that he could try to see how to do it for real...)
Airshow Review ? Bicester Flywheel Festival 2015 | GAR
(Yes, the Vulcan didn't appear, but the impression that I had was that a significant proportion of those who stayed around did so to avoid the car park queue and to have some more time looking over the static display and the old cars. Or to explain to their 4 year old that while he'd been shown how to do a proper parachute landing, the Dakota on static was, sadly, unable to take off so that he could try to see how to do it for real...)
When I was a flt cdr at the Towers in the 80s, my flight got Hobson's Choice for project weekend - we went gliding at Bicester. My philosophy was that those that wanted to be aircrew should find out what it was they were getting into, the potential penguins should have an idea of what it was they were going to support. I got the odd trip as well, including an aerobatic trip with a guy ISTR was UK aerobatic gliding champion. We stayed in Halton House - I will never forget the look on the face of an Omani cadet - not from a rich and powerful family - his Dad was a sgt in the Omani Army - he was totally astounded by HH
AlR:-
Indeed Al, and it would seem on the face of it that the thread title has been secured, ie that RAF Bicester has indeed be saved! However, if you read the OP it promoted the saving of RAF Bicester and to help promote support for a "WWII-Themed Bomber Command Heritage Centre for the 21st Century". That is yet to happen and, if the London BC Memorial is any guide, might have to wait for another half century to do so. We can only hope that the commercial success that the Classic Car operation appears to be enables the BC heritage centre to happen soon.
What is encouraging is the obvious respect and recognition given to RAF Bicester's past. Old buildings are being reused in an appropriate and sympathetic way with their original RAF titles preserved. This all augers well for the Technical Site as a whole and the excellent groundwork of BC Heritage lays down a blueprint for the future if the present owners are so minded. Their public announcements to date certainly do not preclude such a possibility and the OP's hopes may be realised yet.
Nice to see Bicester being used.
What is encouraging is the obvious respect and recognition given to RAF Bicester's past. Old buildings are being reused in an appropriate and sympathetic way with their original RAF titles preserved. This all augers well for the Technical Site as a whole and the excellent groundwork of BC Heritage lays down a blueprint for the future if the present owners are so minded. Their public announcements to date certainly do not preclude such a possibility and the OP's hopes may be realised yet.
As someone involved with Bomber Command Heritage, it seems that attempts to be part of the new set-up there all came to naught, which is a sadly missed opportunity. I think it unlikely that those ideals will be realised in the future.
SB:-
I'm not too surprised by that. Bicester Heritage seems to be very commercially minded, but that doesn't mean that they would not be interested in incorporating a Bomber Command Heritage theme within the site themselves.
As Leon points out, there is an abundance of accommodation (especially of Hangars). These are listed structures so if they are to be maintained they will have to pay for themselves. There will be a limit on how much repair, restoration, tuning, or selling of Classic Cars that the site can support. There is already an aviation aspect on offer from the links posted already, so it takes little stretch of the imagination to see that extended to telling the RAF Bicester story, both wartime and pre-war, and how that melded in to what would become Bomber Command's European Campaign.
BCH might baulk at the thought that such a theme could be commercially self-supporting, but people these days are more and more prepared to pay out good money to visit preservation sites that educate; be they castles, stately homes, or preserved railways. I am a volunteer at a latter such site, and the "bums on seats riding up and down the line" has long since become merely part of the "experience" on offer. If Bicester Heritage tells the BC story in an engaging and respectful way, I for one would be in favour of it and be prepared to pay in order to partake of it.
it seems that attempts to be part of the new set-up there all came to naught
As Leon points out, there is an abundance of accommodation (especially of Hangars). These are listed structures so if they are to be maintained they will have to pay for themselves. There will be a limit on how much repair, restoration, tuning, or selling of Classic Cars that the site can support. There is already an aviation aspect on offer from the links posted already, so it takes little stretch of the imagination to see that extended to telling the RAF Bicester story, both wartime and pre-war, and how that melded in to what would become Bomber Command's European Campaign.
BCH might baulk at the thought that such a theme could be commercially self-supporting, but people these days are more and more prepared to pay out good money to visit preservation sites that educate; be they castles, stately homes, or preserved railways. I am a volunteer at a latter such site, and the "bums on seats riding up and down the line" has long since become merely part of the "experience" on offer. If Bicester Heritage tells the BC story in an engaging and respectful way, I for one would be in favour of it and be prepared to pay in order to partake of it.
