RAF Kirton in Lindsey to be sold
 

Bid to land better future for RAF Kirton base | This is Scunthorpe

The Airfield and Technical Site at RAF Kirton in Lindsey is to be sold off. I presume the accommodation being retained is the Officers' Mess and some MQs; isn't there enough room to move all of these people down to RAF Scampton where they work yet? Surely enough money could be found.

Perhaps by selling-off KiL?

Not many quarters at Scampton,most have been sold to people who thought the airfield was closed....

Chatting to a friend working on a building site off Carholme Road in Lincoln, apparently the builder has sold 70 properties to the MOD. If this is the case, for growth at Waddo or Scampton??

The Scampton & Kirton in Lindsey fiasco :ugh: :mad: Parliament should call for an investigation and call for some heads to roll, pensions reduced, and gongs to be returned to the Palace.

Cant the qtrs at Scampton be CPO'd back again?

Secret,
The KiL / Scampton fiasco is small beer compared to MoK, Chinook Mk3, Nimrod, XV179 and other airworthiness/procurement fiascos which have cost more money and, ultimately, lives. Can't recall many (if any) senior careers being affected, gongs returned or even apologies issued. Those at the top look after themselves and their acolytes first.....

What is the current state of the historic Officers' Mess at RAF Scampton?

Do officers posted to Scampton really live 15 miles away at Kirton-in-Lindsay? What utter idiot has managed to cause this ridiculous situation?

Beags, long saga going back to the proposed A6 hub.

Scampton needed a lot of work to bring it up to standard. Plan was to decant incoming units through KiL, as this was usable, having not long being handed over by the Army. Once the accommodation at Scampton usable, unit would move down the A15 from KiL. The Mess at Scampton was/is in very poor condition, and plan was to refurbish it, the one at KiL was in reasonably good condition, and being an ex Fighter Command mess, of a more suitable size for the personnel based there.

Move forward to now, and the mess at Scampton would cost £ lots to bring up to standard, and for the numbers of Seniors and Officers involved, would not be cost effective. Plus the married quaters at KiL, for as others have said, those at Scampton have mainly been sold off.

...a complete joke of a third rate organization.

So is the historic RAF Scampton Officers' Mess just being abandoned to its fate?

Why was it allowed to decay in the first place? I thought it was supposed to have been 'mothballed'?

Mind you, the state of the single room I had in 1977 encouraged me to move out a.s.a.p.!

It was depressing enough seeing what had happened to an iconic bomber station when CFS was there - it must be appalling now....:(

As a small aside, ex RAF Manby was used as an example in the OPs article.
The chap who bought the airfield got it for a bargain couple of million.
His company immediately broke up the runway and sold the hardcore for a massive profit, not to mention what the real estate of the remaining land is now worth. Now why couldn't someone else have thought of that?! :ugh:

RAF Kirton in Lindsey to be sold
 

Beagle, the mess at scampton is not as bad as people make out. Repairs have been costed and funding is achievable through various means. I'm not saying it will be refurbished but, it is being looked at very hard.

I walked around the mess a little while back and it would be great to see it up and running. The mess at KIL is falling apart and more importantly , is way too close to Scunthorpe!

Yes, the officers and sncos do indeed travel 16 miles each way to work each day. Probably the COs biggest risk. They have come close to being snowed in at the mess several times.

A15 Problem
 

To add to the mix: The main runway at Scampton was lengthened for the mighty Vulcan many years ago, and the A15, which runs past the main gate, was re-routed. It was once the longest straight road in the UK, and possible Europe. It takes the route of several Roman roads including King Street, Mareham Lane and Ermine Street. The road now loops around the threshold.

The kicker is, apparently, that if (when) the MoD land is sold off, the A15 must re returned to it's original straight route. Now that will be a costly undertaking. But knowing the financial "brains" in MOD(PE) they are likely to sell the land for x millions having spent 2x millions on road works!

Pip Pip

ON

Not the only place we've been stitched into one of those deals, ON. Halton is another "restore to original condition" requirement. So the pressure is always there to keep them open(ish) even if we don't need them or can't find the cash to keep them from decay.

Halton and the Rothschilds
 

I understand that the land on which RAF Halton, and the splendid Halton House OM, stands was let to the Air Ministry for a relatively small sum by the Rothschild family. The deal being that when the Air Ministry no longer needed it, the estate was to be returned, in it's original condition, to the family.

I'm not sure if the old RAF Hospital and the Nursing Officers Mess (ah, what pleasant memories) were included. But it seems that MoD have been caught again, as you say CM. Lands were salivating about the huge sum they could get from developers, when the Rothschild's lawyer said, "Erm excuse me, but....."

Pip pip

ON

Busy BEagle
 

BEagle, if the number of posts you've made (20,244) and the date you joined (May 1999) are correct then you have been a busy lad. That means almost 4 posts a day for 14 years! (who says you can get bored in retirement).

Pip pip

ON

The Halton rumour just won't die. We (the RAF) own the whole estate outright having bought it for the princely sum of £112K around 1916 or so. As an aside I'm still eagerly awaiting the last ever Poirot episode which was recently filmed in Halton house.

Wittering on the other hand still has the "return to previous state" and resell to the original owners clause if it ever stops being used for a military purpose having been appropriated from the Burghley House estate.

Oh Dear
 

A pity, it was a good rumour. But it does beg the question why is Halton still there? The real estate it stands on must be worth a fortune and the business carried out there could be done elsewhere within the RAF estate. After all, this government is strapped for cash pandering to Brussels and cocking most things up!

Pip pip

ON

While we can blame our membership of the EU for much I don't really think we can blame our present financial situation on Europe. An immoral banking industry, incompetent spending by government departments (most notably MoD) perhaps, but Europe - really! And to surrender Halton, to yield a transitory few million and suffer the loss of yet another piece of RAF history forever - no thanks.:ugh:

Cheers old bean.

History, it's all the Royal Air Force has left.

Combined Mess
 

Beags, it does seem that all Living In Officers, WOs and SNCOs do really live at Kirton in Lindsey.

RAF Scampton and Kirton

I must say I wouldn't relish the 14 mile drive each way every day on that great Lincolnshire road the A15!

Better than the road between Horsham St Faiths MQ and RAF Neatishead!

Of course if the crash gate exit onto Middle Street was opened, you could avoid the A15 altogether. The B1398 can often be a much easier drive than the A15!

Beags is correct and that is how it was done in the early 70s when a large number of Scampton bodies were quartered at Hemswell. Nip down the back road and in through D dispersal crash gate. It was also very handy for a couple of lunchtime pints in "Mr. Bells"