Should have kept Lyneham Open
aa62-the runway has had 2 refurbishments since then. In fact after the last bolthole (2000ish ) there were problems with the breaking up of the taxiway in what appears to be a similar manner to the current runway issues. As a civil eng mate of mine said at the time-either someone cocked up the contract or someone cocked up the work. To be honest I am not sure which way I would bet.
Runway and taxiway construction hasn't really changed much in the 40 years I've been involved in doing it......so MOD wanting a Rolls Royce for Skoda money as usual, and/or appointing the cheapest, and least experienced contractor would be where I'd be looking at. However, even the so-called experienced contractors these days don't appoint experienced site engineers on site anymore, as they are too expensive.....
I seem to remember visiting the Vindolanda Museum on Hadrians Wall and reading a parchment by a Roman Soldier about people at the sharp end muddling through and keeping the show on the road whilst senior officers caused chaos and confusion whilst trying to climb the greasy pole.
It was at Housesteads.
Today, the Sunday Telegraph contains an article dealing with (avoidable) problems at Brize Norton. Quite frankly something like this would always happen so where are the realistic CONTINGENCY plans? (Private Eye was already in there).
How much would it have cost to set up an enclave at Lyneham? There would only need to have been a small permanent crew, which would have been reinforced when required. This crew would have been 'parented' by the REME. At Benson in the early 1960s, the air movements unit was run, at least one day per week, by the senior air movements course gaining practical experience and supervised by their instructors.
I note the RAF is trying to put a brave face on - almost suggesting that this perfectly normal.
Is it so difficult to get it right????
When the revolution comes, I shall dust off my Tumbrill and carry the bean counters to their just deserts!!!
What nonsense has HS2 got to do with providing the nation with a decent railway. The money - I've forgotten the actual billions - should be deployed elsewhere and soon.
Old Duffer
How much would it have cost to set up an enclave at Lyneham? There would only need to have been a small permanent crew, which would have been reinforced when required. This crew would have been 'parented' by the REME. At Benson in the early 1960s, the air movements unit was run, at least one day per week, by the senior air movements course gaining practical experience and supervised by their instructors.
I note the RAF is trying to put a brave face on - almost suggesting that this perfectly normal.
Is it so difficult to get it right????
When the revolution comes, I shall dust off my Tumbrill and carry the bean counters to their just deserts!!!
What nonsense has HS2 got to do with providing the nation with a decent railway. The money - I've forgotten the actual billions - should be deployed elsewhere and soon.
Old Duffer
Classic example of doing things on the cheap or official view "value for money". Another example at said base when most of the old pans/stands were made into one larger area, but not every new stand could take Heavy aircraft to save money again. I remember talking to someone about the new large concreted spaces and was told of a tale. Even Eng Ops controllers did not know which new stand could support Heavy aircraft, they had to talk to VASS who it appears had one of the few "maps" of whole area stating the load supported on each specific new stand. Fiasco or what, there again why should we be surprised!
A tale of two Tartans last week
I popped by the Hall last week and saw two Voyagers (now RTB) as one had gone out on mission came back and parked up next to a new visitor. So caught the tails as NJ ANG KC-135R here supporting the Aviano F-16 deployment to Red Flag Alaska came in.
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you’ll have well done to read the tail numbers off those pic’s
Last edited by Mr N Nimrod; 10th Aug 2021 at 12:49.
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