relocation of current base services and personnel from RAF Scampton to RAF Boulmer
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relocation of current base services and personnel from RAF Scampton to RAF Boulmer
Interesting Screening Opinion validated on the Northumberland Planning Portal today..
https://publicaccess.northumberland.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RV3TMHQS0MJ00
https://publicaccess.northumberland.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RV3TMHQS0MJ00
https://publicaccess.northumberland....N--2379820.pdf
. The size and design of the whole development The proposed development comprises the demolition, construction of new buildings and the refurbishment of existing assets across two sites consisting of operation and administration. The new buildings and infrastructure will be in keeping with the current assets and will not differ from the existing character of the base assets. The proposed development works include new builds / extensions (Accommodation, physical training accommodation, office accommodation, storage and equipment maintenance and parking) and the refurbishment of (accommodation, physical training accommodation) buildings and assets. The total ground footprint of all the buildings and infrastructure components to be constructed will total approximately 0.75ha including 0.1ha for operation facilities and 0.65ha for administrations. Additional land may be required at each site for temporary works and construction compounds as part of the proposed development. The exact extent of additional land take is currently unknown however, it is not anticipated to exceed 0.25ha
It is proposed that existing RAF assets be relocated to RAF Boulmer following the scheduled closure of RAF Scampton. The development will facilitate the relocation of assets, services and personnel with the incumbent units at RAF Boulmer, comprising a mixture of living, working and training facilities as well as the addition of infrastructure assets within the existing administration and operational sites. The development will additionally support a suite of upgrades and refurbishments across RAF Boulmer
. The size and design of the whole development The proposed development comprises the demolition, construction of new buildings and the refurbishment of existing assets across two sites consisting of operation and administration. The new buildings and infrastructure will be in keeping with the current assets and will not differ from the existing character of the base assets. The proposed development works include new builds / extensions (Accommodation, physical training accommodation, office accommodation, storage and equipment maintenance and parking) and the refurbishment of (accommodation, physical training accommodation) buildings and assets. The total ground footprint of all the buildings and infrastructure components to be constructed will total approximately 0.75ha including 0.1ha for operation facilities and 0.65ha for administrations. Additional land may be required at each site for temporary works and construction compounds as part of the proposed development. The exact extent of additional land take is currently unknown however, it is not anticipated to exceed 0.25ha
It is proposed that existing RAF assets be relocated to RAF Boulmer following the scheduled closure of RAF Scampton. The development will facilitate the relocation of assets, services and personnel with the incumbent units at RAF Boulmer, comprising a mixture of living, working and training facilities as well as the addition of infrastructure assets within the existing administration and operational sites. The development will additionally support a suite of upgrades and refurbishments across RAF Boulmer
Whilst its nice that the RAF retains a presence in the frozen north one can't help think that it would generally be a better policy to retain and improve those bases that actually posess a serviceable runway rather than those that do not. Makes for a lot more 'resilience'
But when you've hardly any aircraft left why do you need all those runways?
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The development will facilitate the relocation of assets, services and personnel [...]
Just one question:
Why did they move the fighter controllers from Boulmer to Scampton all those years ago? (About 25 years ago I think but I could be wrong.)
Why did they move the fighter controllers from Boulmer to Scampton all those years ago? (About 25 years ago I think but I could be wrong.)
In Cold War times there were CRC’s at Buchan and Neatishead too. Now they are Remote Radar Heads.
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Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
In Cold War times there were CRC’s at Buchan and Neatishead too. Now they are Remote Radar Heads.
CRC = Control and Reporting Centre with a control team plus a reporting team identifying the air picture.
CRP = Control and Repprting Post with a small control team plus a small team telling the air picture back to the CRC for identification (earlier manually then replaced by RAPDS then fully auto mated.
RP = Reporting Post with no (official) control capability but a small reporting as defined above.
RRH = Remore Radar Head with just a radar head feeding back the radar picture.
During most of the Cold War you had :
SOC/CRC Buchan with CRC Saxa Vord, CRC Benbecula and RP Polestar (Faeroes)
SOC/CRC Boulmer with CRC Staxton Wold and RP Bishops Court
SOC/CRC Neatishead with CRP Ty Croes and CRP Portreath
The run down is complicated as IUKADGE and further cuts came along - but basically all the the CRPs became RPs then RRH, followed by Buchan and The Neatishead going the same route.
(SOCs we’re consolidated for one year at SOC UK at Bentley Priory before being absorbed into the UKCAOC at High Wycombe before that, eventually, was folded into the CAOC at Uedem)
My participation finished when I took my option date and left from the UKCAOC rather than accept the offer to go back to Neatishead to “train the next generation”..
Last edited by ORAC; 25th May 2023 at 04:31.
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I recall having to visit Ty Croes back in 1975, to check up on the lack of progress being made by DOE to fix MQ issues. What a dump - it was like something out of The Avengers, with deserted wooden buildings and doors banging in the wind. There was an inert Thunderbird missile (or Bloodhound?) by the entrance - and the AMQ varied between dreadfully tatty huts, through the walls of which conversations of the next door occupants could be hear, to an absolute palace being occupied by a Master Aircrew chap of 22 Sqn and his wife....
I was amazed to hear that No. 144 Signals Unit was there for a short time some 20 years later!
I was amazed to hear that No. 144 Signals Unit was there for a short time some 20 years later!
I recall having to visit Ty Croes back in 1975, to check up on the lack of progress being made by DOE to fix MQ issues. What a dump - it was like something out of The Avengers, with deserted wooden buildings and doors banging in the wind. There was an inert Thunderbird missile (or Bloodhound?) by the entrance - and the AMQ varied between dreadfully tatty huts, through the walls of which conversations of the next door occupants could be hear, to an absolute palace being occupied by a Master Aircrew chap of 22 Sqn and his wife....
I was amazed to hear that No. 144 Signals Unit was there for a short time some 20 years later!
I was amazed to hear that No. 144 Signals Unit was there for a short time some 20 years later!
I was at Ty Croes for a brief stay in '79. We were actually at Valley for summer camp with cadets, but the cadets' accomodation was at Ty Croes which was otherwise almost deserted, there was a 'social club' but otherwise no catering, cadets having to be ferried to/from Valley by coach but there was also a small army (or was it or rock) presence for shooting at 300 yd from the clifftop
2 years earlier I had visited Benbecula from Farnborough and saw the CRP which was (I think) a Type 88 radar head to the north east of the airfield.
2 years earlier I had visited Benbecula from Farnborough and saw the CRP which was (I think) a Type 88 radar head to the north east of the airfield.
On the plus side, there's an excellent museum at Neatishead now - see:
https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/
https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
I recall moving into the new mess and comparing it to the old prefab mess and accommodation blocks, including “the swamp” which flooded every winter.
Then remember that was about 40 years ago…
Then remember that was about 40 years ago…
No-one has mentioned Pattrington yet. When Binbrook and Coltishall were still going we far prefered working with them than Boulmer. It took too long to get that far north and back again!
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If you, or anybody else, is passing, drop in. The leisure facilities are open to the public and the food, has, justifiably, won several awards.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
That coincided over a couple of years with the change in terminology from MRS (Master Radar Site) to SOC/CRC.
For the Lightning pilots among us note the Firebrigade datalink equipment at Patrington. The software was built into SLEWC but never enabled, but we still had to do a mandatory number of intercepts each month using it with a second controller passing the commands to the pilots by voice.
https://marconiradarhistory.pbworks....68412542/SLEWC
The run down is complicated as IUKADGE and further cuts came along - but basically all the the CRPs became RPs then RRH, followed by Buchan and The Neatishead going the same route..