Rumor of USAFE former installations being reactivated

[Doctor Cruces]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Forget Alconbury, Greenham Common, Molesworth but quite a few others like Sculthorpe and Heyford might be possible.

According to a friend who lives adjacently, Heyford is a housing estate now.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by Doctor Cruces

According to a friend who lives adjacently, Heyford is a housing estate now.

Only a bit of it, at the western end of Camp Rd, as per my previous post a few days ago. A lot of the southside camp has also been changed to commercial and residential as well.

The runways and HAS area are all still intact, but the encroachment of the residential and commercial areas in and around the camp mean that it will never be used for aviation again.

[AeroAmigo]

What backup airbases do the RAF actually have ready to go if we found ourselves in a situation where Marham, Coningsby and Lossiemouth became unavailable? That could adequately handle the Typhoon and F35 anyway.

[pr00ne]

Originally Posted by AeroAmigo

What backup airbases do the RAF actually have ready to go if we found ourselves in a situation where Marham, Coningsby and Lossiemouth became unavailable? That could adequately handle the Typhoon and F35 anyway.

The RAF have never had “back up” airfields.

[SLXOwft]

Back in 1968 (when I was very young)

Captain Kerby

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many airfields remain Royal Air Force property in the British Isles; how many it is planned to close by 1972; how many are in constant use and how many on care and maintenance; and how many have been closed in the past two years.

Mr. Reynolds

110 airfields in the British Isles remain R.A.F. property. This figure includes those in use by the United States Air Force and also some which lack full airfield facilities, but which are used as relief landing grounds, or for other special purposes, such as parachute dropping zones.The closure by 1972 has been announced of the following five airfields:

• Ballykelly.
• Bassingbourn.
• Bovingdon.
• Ouston.
• Watton.

Of the 110 airfields, 92 are in constant use; 10 are used occasionally; 3 are on a care and maintenance basis; and the remainder are in various stages of disposal.

No airfields have been closed in the past two years.

[Sideshow Bob]

Originally Posted by pr00ne

The RAF have never had “back up” airfields.

We had more than you could shake a stick at during WWII

[AeroAmigo]

It's an interesting one, Only recently there was a practise Typhoon deployment to Boscombe Down out of Coningsby but I can't think of many other bases in the UK that could take them should they need too.

[bobward]

The were sent to Northolt to cover the Olympics way back in 2012 I think

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by bobward

The were sent to Northolt to cover the Olympics way back in 2012 I think

And as a former nearby resident, it was bloody marvellous, especially when they did the practice QRA launch over my house heading for LHR in full reheat at not a lot of altitude.

The mass hysteria of all the neighbours in the street was hysterical to watch.

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by AeroAmigo

What backup airbases do the RAF actually have ready to go if we found ourselves in a situation where Marham, Coningsby and Lossiemouth became unavailable? That could adequately handle the Typhoon and F35 anyway.

Leuchars, Kinloss, Wittering, possibly Cottesmore? The main problem being as soon as the RAF relinquish an airfield the pongos move in and go out of their way to make it uninhabitable; strange they didn't do that with Scampton.
Even Little Rissington and Woodbridge could be used at a pinch but there's no infrastructure.

[DogTailRed2]

Originally Posted by Sideshow Bob

We had more than you could shake a stick at during WWII

Satellite airfields? A field with some tents for dispersal? Or something else?

[DogTailRed2]

If there was a war presumably we would just commandeer civilian airfields for military use?

[SASless]

Originally Posted by Sideshow Bob
We had more than you could shake a stick at during WWII

Back then you had an Air Force!​​​​​​​

[Top West 50]

Originally Posted by SLXOwft

I presume you mean the Belgian Air Component reserve airbases that 'can be activated by NOTAM'?

So:
Jehonville aka Bertrix (EBBX) - gliding activity possible outside military operating hours
Saint-Hubert (EBBU)
Weelde (EBWE) - civil flying club has concession to use when inactive

Yes, thank you for reminding me. I visited them all in the early eighties as part of a gastronomic extravaganza, sorry, AAFCE dispersal plan.

[OwnNav]

Elvington still has acres of concrete paid for by the good ole USA..

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by OwnNav

Elvington still has acres of concrete paid for by the good ole USA.

They paid for the new runway but there hasn't been an RAF or USAF presence there for many years.

[OwnNav]

https://metar-taf.com/GB-0075

I'm sure it's still useable at short notice, I think it was a Space Shuttle go to back in the day.

The museum cafe can rustle up lots of bacon butties..

[pr00ne]

Originally Posted by Sideshow Bob

We had more than you could shake a stick at during WWII

Really?

Name one.

Pretty familiar with UK airfield history and they were ALL in use in WW2.

[chevvron]

If you include Elvington you should also include Bruntingthorpe once you've cleared all the cars off the runway.

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by OwnNav

https://metar-taf.com/GB-0075

I'm sure it's still useable at short notice, I think it was a Space Shuttle go to back in the day.

No way; it's only 10,000ft and shuttle runways needed 12,000ft minimum and in any case there's still no infrastructure ie accomodation and bulk fuel installations.
Intitally the Shuttle diversion was Banjul in the Gambia until they altered the launch trajectory then they were supposed to use 'an airfield in Spain' which I suspect was Barajas as it has 4000m runways.