Not a trace of irony?

Perhaps. What once was, is again......sans aeroplanes. From my last visit the current tennants dont appear to give a toss about the place.

GGR

Not one of the more well known ones but RAF Chilmark near Salisbury was very quaint. A really facinating place.

Never ever liked Coningsby.

I liked Coningsby for my 3 tours - not as good as Leuchars but better than Leeming (ie. a service station on the A1!). IMHO, of course!

My least favourites have been:

Valley - it rained every day or night I was there over 6 months
Valley - the locals were some of the most ignorant I have ever met
Valley - I don't rate the 'best' on offer (Treadur Bay Hotel and the Moonlight in Llanghefni)
Valley - the A55 sucks the dog of death!
Valley - the Officers' Mess is a converted hospital without the nurses

We should have kept either Brawdy and/or Chivenor and given Anglesey to the Free Welsh Republic

LJ

Maybe because I didnt actually train there I'd nominate South Cerney. Lovely little station with an old-fashioned feel to it, near Cirencester and adjacent to the beautiful Cotswolds. Nice change from most of the places east of the A1 where anyone on Vs tended to end up.

South Cerney was the first Mess I stayed in as an APO (after the Cranwell short course) upon joining my UAS (albeit it was Army by then).

Also went to several Mess functions there when I was on Albert.

Lovely place.

I'd also nominate Hullavington.

Hullavington..was empty to the most part when i was working there. Lovely feel, wood paneled mess if i remember... also bumped into my old swinders DI who was now the SWO. He seemed genuinely touched that i rememberd him after 15 years.
Good call.

Hullavington was great even after the Regt pulled out leaving only the Balloon Sqn.

Yes, a wood panelled Class A Mess which had been divided into 'O's and NCOs halves.

After the Army took it over it really didn't change much.


Interesting tales could be told of landing Albert there at night. :)

Re-open Bruggen and Tengah please...say no more!

Bucklt :ok:

Sign of the times, I'm afraid. The RAF isn't big enough to utilise its estate, and it makes perfect sense to hand it over to those who can best make use of it, even if they have to adapt the facilities to their particular requirements. If you want a museum, put some cash into saving what is left of RAF Bicester.

Interestingly, Cawdor Barracks - aka Brawdy - has been described by the Defence Secretary as "not fit for purpose" with the highest number of unaccompanied in the UK. Howcome it was ok for the RAF for all those years...?

Interesting that no one has mentioned Little Rissington yet? Must be worthy of an entry even if it's only for the beer in The Fox at Broadwell.:)

YS

The good, the bad and the ugly
 

Akrotiri.

I wouldn't have minded if my pay statement had said 'invoice' at the top of it.

Catterick.

Greenham Common.

Was exactly my argument at the time. Good access to LFA7 and Pembrey (happy days), but the Viet Taff won on political grounds. The locals did nothing but complain about the "Occupying Forces of the Island of Anglesea" then as soon as there was a wiff of closing Valley it was all "Oh, you can't do that, the local economy would collapse", "Typical London decision to close bases in Wasles" etc.

RAF Mountbatten was a cosy little place. Sat in the mess overlooking the water....

A real aerodrome!
 

Not many replies wanting RAF Ballykelly opened then!! I enjoyed my two years on "Coastal" and as a 17/18 year old found the locals friendly(1960ish)and the Guinness a good drink at a shilling a bottle!Of course the shacks were big and slow and most of this forum appeared to have driven "paraffin budgies!!!

Happy times
 

Closing Church Fenton as a proper station was criminal. keeping it on as it is now is downright cruel. I spent three and a half very happy years there at the end of the eighties and it was mega. Everyone knew each other it was that small. I got involved in all aspects of stn life, living in the mess, running the footy team and the stn mag, and heavily involved in the theatre club. Also fire flight commander - what a great bunch of lads they were, mostly. I ran the weekly quiz in the White Horse in the village - miserable b****rds and drank ever so occasionally in the Fenton Flyer.

One that deserved to be closed - West Drayton. Good location so close to London, great community feel in the mess, but what a dump the mess was. Missed the closing down party which apparently was one hell of a night. Should have developed North Luffenham to house London Mil rather than move to Swanwick.

.. as I'm sure you know Rigga, the airfield is still ours and used as an RLG by Shawbury rotary and also houses 632 VGS.

The "Station" is now Clive (of India?) Barracks; and the first thing the pongoes did was ruin the proportions of the Officers' Mess by demolishing the wings - :ugh::ugh: - makes a once wonderful Mess a most odd shape.

[B]Where and why[/B]
 

To have kept/keep:ok:

Tangmere - Spent my formative years lying in the long grass along side the threshhold watching the Hunters coming & going, then (later) flying out of there with the ATC.

Akrotiri - A Wonderful place

Kingsfield Dhekelia - Soloed gliding in 69 and its near AKR.

Laarbruch - 7 cold war years there in toto . Worked hard - played harder. Wonderful people We had a purpose for being. Loved it!

Bicester - Its still clinging on to aviation but if it ceases to be, it will be a crime!

Places to close?:*

Valley Lovely part of the world, but never high in the management stakes (IMHO)

Airfield Camp Belize - Run by the pongos - NOT GOOD

Saxa Vord of course!

raf saxa vord - Bing Images

Here are some sobering numbers ...

Since the formation of the RAF ... there have been some 737 former RAF Stations of various sizes in the UK. Likewise there have been 214 former Overseas RAF Stations.

We now have 54 in the UK ... The Americans occupy a further 10 ... and our overseas RAF Stations number 7

Too time consuming to work a cut on these numbers per decade ... but you get the picture :(

Coff.