Britain's last pristine Spitfire station.

[Al R]

To disappear for (relatively speaking) peanuts.

Campaign to save Britain?s last pristine Spitfire station | HeritageDaily ? Heritage & Archaeology News

Are we mad or stupid?

BBC News - MPs' portraits exhibit contrasting styles

[Tankertrashnav]

Particularly sad for me - I did my first solo landaway there - Lands End - Perranporth (paid my landing fees) and then back to Lands End. I was like a dog with two tails that day - even better than my first solo, in spite of a scary approach over the cliffs which is a bit daunting if you have less than 10 hours solo under your belt! On an earlier trip with my instructor it was my first landing (and take off) on tarmac!

Quite apart from the heritage question, if Perranporth closes West Cornwall will be totally bereft of airfields for private flying - Lands End kicked out the flying club a few years back, so the already overcrowded Bodmin will be the nearest possibility.

[Dengue_Dude]

Surely there are better things to spend money on . . .

[BEagle]

And what would happen to the aerodrome should Perranporth be closed to flying?

No doubt it would become a 'windfarm' or a 'solar farm' or some other trendy London-luvvy form of inefficient 'playground technology' (as Nigel Farage terms it) to provide 'green' energy...

Eco-freak envirofundamentalists and greedy farmers have ruined the lanscape with these expensive, heavily subsidised and inefficient schemes - hopefully this won't happen at Perranporth.

Must dash - it's a nice day and I feel the need for speed. And screw you, Al Gore and your fellow warmists!!

[steve611]

I am given to understand that planning permission for any use other than airfield has neither been granted nor applied for. Any planning application would be long and drawn out with no guarantee of success. There are lots of more certain ways to invest £1.5 mill.

[thunderbird7]

No doubt it would become a 'windfarm' or a 'solar farm' or some other trendy London-luvvy form of inefficient 'playground technology' (as Nigel Farage terms it) to provide 'green' energy...

Eco-freak envirofundamentalists and greedy farmers have ruined the lanscape with these expensive, heavily subsidised and inefficient schemes - hopefully this won't happen at Perranporth.

You've obviously not been down 'ere recently, then. The A30 and country lanes are littered with fields of government subsidised eco-****e. We don't grow crops any more, just shiny panels and holiday yurts.

[Roland Pulfrew]

Not sure Perranporth counts as the "last pristine" Spitfire station. Looking at Google E all that appears to be left is the runways. Surely stations like Kirton in Lindsey and even Church Fenton are better examples more worthy of protection?

[Whenurhappy]

Or RAF Digby?

[skippedonce]

I'd certainly second Roland wrt KiL; apart from the Rapier simulator dome and the fourth 'hangar' in front of the original three, it's a pretty 'pristine' WWII era Fighter Command station that played host to the Eagle and Polish spitfire sqns, complete with grass rather than tarmac, Ops Room bunker, and original O'Mess across the road.

[Rakshasa]

Surely Kenley is the most pristine? It's all still there apart from the hangars... and that was the Luftwaffe's fault!

[Wander00]

Wot about Duxford - though it is a hangar short!

[Martin the Martian]

I suspect that if not sold Perranporth will just remain as it is, slowly decaying, like the majority of closed airfields.

It's a rare thing to see any aircraft that does not have 'Royal Navy', 'Air Ambulance' or 'Skybus' written on it these days down here in West Cornwall. I heard someone mention once that we have an air force.

[3 Point]

Interesting that the journalist who wrote the piece for the paper chose to illustrate the story about a spitfire station with a lovely picture of a Seafire!!

Kind of underlines Martin's point that if it doesn't say Royal Navy you don't see it in Cornwall!!

Happy landings

3 Point

[Boy_From_Brazil]

RAF Northolt was in pretty good nick last time I saw it, and it is still going strong.

[CoffmanStarter]

No doubt it would become a 'windfarm' or a 'solar farm'

Or they stick "people hutches" on them as per RAF Hawkinge Housing Estate and RAF West Malling Housing Estate

[The Helpful Stacker]

RAF Northolt was in pretty good nick last time I saw it, and it is still going strong

Heathrow Annex is hardly a pristine example of a Spitfire station. Yes it was a Spitfire base but its changed a bit since those days, understandable given its one of the few (only?) BofB stations still operational.

[thunderbird7]

I believe the Officers Mess at Northolt is a Grade II listed building as an example of a BofB mess. Shame they didn't save CF as it was very similar (like most messes! Always a help finding the bogs when under the affluence of incahol...).

[Wensleydale]

I would second Digby - after all, it still has its WW2 Sector Ops Room in ww2 condition as part of the excellent museum there

[Hangarshuffle]

We are both mad and stupid.....

....when it comes to history. Hope they keep it going. That said, when an old base has finally gone, I like to see them entirely returned to farmland or nature, as they were before WW2. So many off them seem to linger slow deaths.