Station Closures, Your Choice
 

OK troops, this could be fun, if you were the Boss of your particular Service which station/base/camp would you close and why?
And which would you re-open and why?

Easy - Tri-Service answer...MOD Main Building! You don't have to ask why!

:yuk:

CLOSE = Kinloss

Y? Because it's location is the single most, and probably only, reason why we can't recruit and keep WSOps in the RAF. :hmm:

Where to put the Nimrods then?

St. Mawgan ;) (Newquay is 'UK Ibiza' playground)

Y? Because it's location is the single most, and probably only, reason how we can recruit and keep many happy WSOps in the RAF.

M7 :ok:

Re Open
 

Take Chivenor back from the RMs and let the RAF have it all back again.

Cos we had it when I was trying to join and they got rid before I could get posted somewhere as perfect.

Surf. Mmmmmm.

Once closed, stations can seldom be brought back into operation, unless retained under MoD ownership and maintained under Care and Maintenance. Stations represent the only long term route to expansion, if it is ever required in a century's time.

If forced to consolidate, I'd withdraw everything from North of the border, since we'll lose it all anyway when the Jockistanis get independence. Ditto Valley, St Athan, etc.

:rolleyes:
S'only a game Jacko.
Para 2, concur.

Put all crabs on Diego Garcia.. Tally ho chaps :p

Was this inspired by the article in the news about the RAF closing for a month in January?

My choices for closure would be:

RAF Brize Norton, RAF Basra.

And reopening:

RAF Gan, RAF Changi, RAF Sek Kong, RAF Seletar, RAF Tengah
RAF Butterworth, RAF Kuala Lumpur, RAF Kai Tak, RAF Muhurraq, Bangkok, Saigon, Belize etc etc.

And anywhere else hot and sunny.

Please don't put us on Diego Garcia - far too dangerous - much too close to fish 'eads - ships run aground too often!

Stoppers you've gone all Oriental on us; fed up with Ginsters & Kebabs?
Muhurraq?!? Like Marham without grass.:yuk:

you crabs are such drama queens, whats a measley £42m worth of damage??? It was a mere dent, don't know what all the fuss was about.. we kept a load of shipyard contractors in work didn't we?? :ok:

Close:

Valley
Kinloss
Valley
Kinloss
Valley..

Return:

Chivenor
Abingdon
Thorney Island
Wattisham

Keep open:

Lyneham - with A400M when the C130s are finally retired
St Mawgan - with Nimrod

..and close Valley and Kinloss, in case I forgot to mention them!

Marham without grass????
Dear god - I didn't know Gulf Air hosties were quite so prevalent in Norwich.....

PS. You can never get fed up of kebabs....you just have to make sure that you imbibe enough village wine/red paraffin such that you don't remember the experience. Thus every kebab is a whole new experience......
That said, I would rather stagger about the fleshpots of Bangkok than those of Limassol.

:yuk:

To my 'close' list, add:

1. Anywhere with 'al' in the name. Including Valley. Excluding Coltishall!

2. :mad: Base Aerea Gringo, Islas Malvinas.

Hosties???
Last time I went through there they didn't have Gulf Air, well if they did it had DH Doves or something.

Village wine?? Ah, cute. Does it still make yer teeth turn purple? Still, you were weaned on it IIRC.

Close:

Valley
Marham
Coningsby
Kinloss
Northolt
MPA

Reopen:

Chivenor
Brawdy
Gutersloh
Finningley
Binbrook

Edited 'cos I got a D for spelling:O

Station Closures
 

Kinloss

But, why do you need to ask?

YS

Eh cum on, Kinloss isn,t that bad, just because you young growbags just want (scam) to get flying pay to bop around the clock all the time.

They (Growbags) moan when they fly and then moan when they don,t.

The place they should shut is Lossy, there's never anyone there anyway, 'cos of detacments.

Camps to re-open, most definately GAN, and RAF holiday camp Chivenor.

Why.......never went to either, but just allways heard bloody good stories,

Tin hat on and ducking:cool: :cool: :cool: :mad:

Close:-
Kintoss(Deadloss)
Tossiemouth (Lousymouth)
Valley

Re-open:-
Finningley
Binbrook
Chivenor

Ideal world:-
civvies do all the op stuff and deployments, we all move into the sleepy hollows (as were).....Cranwell,Fenton,Finningley,Linton etc aaah, easy life,happy days
:ooh:

SS et al,

I take it the closure of Cranditz was an an oversight and how could you possibly not re-open Church Funtown!!. Heard a rumour that 30 Sqn is being moved to LCRA next Spring!!!.

Load Moving......

P.S. Stoppers,

Last route was a complete be-atch, darn it, fancy having to put up with the French doing a topless swimwear fashion photo shoot on the beach in the Seychelles when a chap is trying to have a kip!!

Just to go slightly off topic.............
 

DR

A move to LCRA would be ideal especially as our Mediterranean bastion is soon to revert to the operating hours of old. Ah, happy days.... Aircraft circling overhead waiting for the place to open... Fabulous departure times from the UK just to make the most of their meagre opening hours...

Anyway, I assume that the sqn you refer to would have to work to LCRA's hours? In that case, I'm looking foward to the 0700 start and the stack in time for a late morning gin frenzy at 1130. Fabulous.

PS. As for the trouble you've been experiencing on route I do hope that you a) Route Staged the place b) took a 24hr delay due to disturbed sleep and c) got lucky.
I suspect, however, that none of that happened. especially c).

What's wrong with Colt Beags? It's a great place! Concur on las malvinas though. Oh and sorry guys but Chivenor aint going to happen. The windfarm at the end of the runway would make life a little too entertaining for you flying chaps. Course you wouldn't want to go there for the flying I suppose....:ok:

"To my 'close' list, add:

1. Anywhere with 'al' in the name. Including Valley. Excluding Coltishall!"


Err, that means don't close Coltishall!

Too late for Colt, surely, BEags.....?

I'd move everything down from Lossie, myself......

What's everyone's big probs with Kinloss & Lossie?

Jordan

Talking of opening and closing of bases, has anyone heard about the possibility of reopening Scampton properly ie: Domestic and Technical site as well as airfield. I drove around it recently and to see a station with such an illustrious history in a state of semi dereliction brought a tear to my eye.

Hell, I'm Welsh and only ever had to spend a few weeks in Valley but I'd still cheer (on your behalf) were it to close.

The attitude of the locals made my teeth itch plus the pure desolateness of the place is enough to drive you to drink.

It must be the biggest economic asset to Anglesey and thus one of the biggest assets to North&Mid-Wales. Yet you never saw an utterance of the fact in any local press. Close it and watch them wail I say. I'd laugh in their faces.

What is it I recall about some local MP and an enquiry about pre-Christmas beer runs out of Kinloss/Lossie..? Something about putting local shop keepers out of business. I'd close both bases on the same day with no notice and then laugh in their ungrateful faces as well.

Toodle pip!

WWW

Dream on !

Close : Coningsby
Wattisham
St Athan

Reopen:
Tern Hill
South Cerney
Little Riss.
Colerne
Bruggen
Gutersloh

Recycle / obliterate Brawdy :mad: !!!!!

Or use the above as a nuclear waste tip, asylum centre---- unless Ryanair decide it will become Cardiff (St.Davids ) International of course. The absolute a$$e end of the world. As for Valley, great place :ok: I am surprised that you don't like the place BEagle, I would have thought it was perfect for you--after all you could live in Imperial splendour at the top of the hill, the SNCO's have their own site and the great unwashed a nice compound ! . Other than work, no need to have any contact with each other and plenty of social elite in Beaumaris and Menai Bridge :p It was a nice quiet posting when it was wholly RAF operated and I spent reasonably happy years there after all. :ok: :

Drove around Laarbruch the other day - very strange. Parts of it on care and maintenance, parts abandoned - the married patch is a fenced-off jungle. My old office was littered with beer cans - no change there then. The HASs are being broken up and there is a brand spanking new terminal where 1 Hangar used to be - at least Ryanair are using the airfield.

The Sergeants' Mess is now the "Royal Officers' Club - Available for Conferences and Meetings".

I thought that HMP & Stalagluft Valley would be top for closure, but I'm slightly bemused that Coningsby gets a few mentions; it used to be fairly popular what happened?

As for me I'd move the Kinloss stuff to St Mawgan, Lossie to Honington, Leuchars to (Da! Da!) Tangmere and Valley to Chiv. The Bootnecks can blow up the wind farm as they leave. St Athan assets to Abingdon.

Akrotiri to be returned to H24 and have some AT, AD assets based.

Oh, and buy some more aircraft.

Huh? Pembrokeshire was infinitely friendlier than Angelsey and I had a splendid time at Brawdy in 1975-6. Apart from the local Taffia who ran the Officers' Mess pulling union action now and again...

The OM at Valley was quite pleasant back in the 1970s. Especially when Mary with the long legs used to run the 'Dragon room' - where a couple of bratties and a pint or two would finish off many an enjoyable evening's revelry. But all gone now and there's just the one big soulless place. You are right though, the oiks were kept well away. There was a fair bit of socialising with the local expats (non-Welsh) - often centreing around the 'Sandymount' in the nearby beach village of Rhosneigr. Anglesey was 'dry' then on Sundays, so to to get a drink on Sunday you had to be a member of a club - as all the Officers Mess were.....

Only one bridge across the Menai and no dual carriageways meant that excursions back to England were rare, so we had to make the most of the place despite the rudeness of the locals. They once made the mistake of mouthing off about a group of u/t Gnat students in a local shop in Llangefni - big mistake for them as one of the group was fluent in Welsh and gave them the full benefit of his linguistic ability!

The only thing which spoiled Coningsby when I was there was that Ba$tard Bill was Stn Cdr - otherwise a very reasonable spot. But not as nice as rural Wattisham down in sunny Suffolk- and at neither of which was life anything like as truly excellent as it was at Scampton was in the late V-force era of 1977-79!

At the risk of sounding repetive (and seeing we're on a new page), what's the problem with Lossie/Kinloss?

Jordan

Coningsby is currently a building site, but methinks many many people will find it the centre of their world again. It is going to be the home of Eurofighter after all! Tee hee. You will all soon discover the gloom of the Near East Air Force again - the sinking feeling of driving through - well - not many places really - to get there, passed the boarded up pub, the locals, the illegal immigrant field picking teams all the way to the front gate. At least the SuperBlocks will be built for the lads by then.

Abandon hope all ye tarred with the Eurofighter brush.

Top thread!
 

Stopstart, you want "anywhere else hot and sunny" to be reopened, doesn't RAF Basra fall into that category?
:D

Jordan D, I'll answer you. Lossie and Kinloss are at the ar*e end of nowhere (Scotland) and the nearest decent place to shop is Inverness - a bit of a drive away. Does that answer your question? I've paxed on a 6 hr Grimrod trg sortie over Stavanger, and I have no intention of doing it again!

Gainsey, good choices - with you there.

My own choices for CLOSURE:

1. Benson.

a) Why? As an SH operator, I can see no practical use for the place. Its full of plastic Pumas that are taking up countless resources that a few more Chinooks could be using.
b) And as for the Freak Sqn... What a waste of R&D money. Again, more Chinooks or off-the-shelf Black/Pave Hawks for the JPR role. (Which is supposed to be the Merlin's best use? ha ha ha.)
c) I'm bl**dy fed up with having to catch MT to the place to use the sim, because Odiham is too bl**dy small to have one!

2 and 3: Lossie and Kinloss (See above) (Send their assets to Honington and St Mawgan.)

4. Valley. (Do you need to ask why?)

5. Shawbury. Too bl**dy close to Wales. Decentralise DHFS to Yeovilton, Middle Wallop and Manston.

REOPEN:

1. Manston.

a) Claim back the airfield from MK Airlines, et al.
b) Put Wattasham's SAR flt back here where it should be: on the SOUTH COAST. (doh, Its not rocket science!) (Put SKOCU here as well, to make more room at St Mawgan for all the Grimrods.)
c) Farm out DHFS functions to Yeovs, Wallop and here. Ie, Navy and RAF SAR studes get more access to the sea. Navy, Army and RAF SH studes could go to the other two for closer access to Salisbury Plain.

2. Honington.

If there is room, the Regt can stay. If not, I'm sure they would rather be back at Catterick, closer to Otterburn and Spadeadam.
Put Lossie air wing here.


What a master plan eh?

Close everything except Waddington and Conningsby.

Then perhaps we could look forward to having some money spent on brand new bases with brand new facilities.

I would bet that even Annington wouldn't buy Lyneham.

Close: Lossiemouth Lyneham
Odiham
Aldergrove
Cranwell
Halton
Kinloss
Reopen: Honington Church Fenton Kemble
Wattisham Chivenor Little Rissington
Binbrook Manby Thorney Island
Hemswell Strubby Gaydon
Scampton Greenham Common All RAFG
Topcliffe mountbatten

Said it once
Said it Many times
Say it again.............

Re open Jurby before they build a prison there, and move EFTS and BFTS to it (and a SAR flight). And let everyone pay local tax for the duration of their tour.

We'd all be pleased to see you - and grateful for the extra cash in the local economy.

At a push, reopen the range whilst were at it

BEagle

And the Course dining-outs, the Staff dining-ins, the fire-eater, Langroid's lilting, the Lightning/Hunter banter - and, sadly, too many wakes ---------------

Fairford is looking quite slick at the moment after its multi-million pound refit, looks better than any RAF runway that I have seen. If you put the hercs there they would only take up a fraction of the pan space, and the Spams could still launch WWIII!

Close Brize in my opinion, it has become bland, run down and lacks everything that makes a good RAF base, except the location.

It's also the only place I served at which doesn't have a gate guard. Even Binnsworth had a Meteor 7.

Or maybe that 'Home of AR and Air Transport' sign:yuk: is supposed to count?

Jordan,

In answer to your question, the biggest problem with Kinloss and Lossie are those moaning people up here. No, not the locals, those few vociferous RAF types that always put the place down.

Yes, Moray is a long way north and the nearest decent big town for shopping is 30-45 minutes drive away. However the area is lovely and the locals (if you take the time to get to know them, without slagging them off all the time) are very friendly.

The majority of people I talk to, that are based up here, are very happy. If you come here with a positive attitude you won't spend all your time feeling depressed and longing for the high cost of living, high crime rates and traffic jams of the south. Take a look at how many ex-Forces (RAF and RN) have stayed in the area after handing in the uniform!

You will probably find most of those wanting RAF Moray closed are those that had the attitude that they wouldn't like it before they ever got here, or those that have never even been here (or only spent a couple of days here).

Standing by for a barrage of anti-Jockland rants :D


MadMark!!! :mad: