'RAF' Finningley - rumour
 

I heard a funny rumour today. If Linton closes then the UAS/AEF might move into 'RAF' Finningley (ok, Doncaster/Robin Hood London Yorkshire International, whatever!). Also, that the UAS/AEF at Colerne might move to Exeter?

Anyone else heard that rumour? Any idea of timescales?

Do I need to advance book my taxi back from the Doncaster Royal Infirmary after first night madness in Camelots! :ok:

iRaven

Isn't the Glasgow UAS at Glasgow airport? Makes sense to move from Linton to Robin Hood I guess.

Bristol University Air Squadron at Exeter? Wouldn't that just be silly?

YUAS would be going home if they did move to Finningley, but if Linton should close would it not be an awful lot cheaper to move to Topcliffe, an existing MOD site?

Why would they want to close Linton? Oh, I forgot, it's a proper RAF station which people want to serve at, foolish question......

Good luck to Ascent trying to recruit QFIs for the T6 at Valley on below market (pension adjusted) salaries!

London UAS at Wittering?

We'll sort of, YUAS having formed at RAF Church Fe............ Erm Leeds East Airport. If Linton closes then surely a move back to LEA would be much more sensible? Only problem being that YUAS' THQ (the old SHQ) is now the LEA HQ.

Ken Scott,

Good point well made, but if I had to choose between driving from London to Wittering (80 miles up the A1) or from Bristol area to Exeter, I know which I'd prefer.

If BUAS go to Exeter I'll have to dust off my AEF Tutor rating....

pr00ne:

As students are unlikely to have cars the provision of rail services are probably more pertinent.

I have to agree with your basic sentiment though, that establishing UASs miles from their catchment universities is rather silly.

True but hardly a new phenomena. UBAS was always a bit of a schlep from Birmingham to Cosford. And Woodvale isn't exactly convenient for Manchester and Salford. It's almost like its part of the joining procedure to test your sense of humour and staying power!

Don't forget, there is also a very large university at Exeter......

And even more of a schlep when UBAS was at Shawbury. ;)

You should try the trip from North Wales - eg Bangor - to Saints!!:{

ATC,

Shhhh! You'll alert the fun detectors.;)

ATC Woodvale also has a VGS (in theory :rolleyes:) and an Auxie Sqn and a cadet HQ and a Cadet Sqn .......

....... probably some other stuff too - used to have a Police helo but I think that's gone now......

ATC;

Woodvale is one of the few places on the west coast of the UK that has an RAF presence. It is next to Altcar training area, the Marines were flying night ex's there not long ago. Chinooks have been known to slip in over the fence crossing the railway from the sea. Quiet transit route from NI. In house Auxiliary squadron re-inforcing an RAF presence. Handy for Morecambe Bay gas rigs.

Liverpool, too small and constrained by the location.
Woodford, just about to become a housing estate
Sealand, civil industrial estate
Waton and Salmebury, VGS moved to Woodvale when security was raised.

Certainly is, and a very good one too.

TTN, BA (Exon) ;)

Liverpool is constrained by the river around two sides and housing and a Tudor hall on the other sides so expansion is not possible. Think somewhere like Waddington, which is a long thin airfield site.

BAe is very sensitive about who it now lets onto its airfield.

I've known 'people' use Woodvale and Warton would charge an arm and a leg open out of hours, Blackpool would have been better but that looks as if it's closing slowly.

Could Bristol UAS not move to -ahem- Bristol Airport? Or even RNAS Yeovilton?

Oh, sorry, common sense kicking in. Silly me.

When the Tutor replaced the Bulldog across the UAS/AEF units, a single national contract was placed for the supply and engineering support of the fleet. That had some expensive consequences, as the owners of several sites refused to let the new contractor onto their airfields. Thus, Cambridge UAS & 5 AEF had to leave Marshalls and move to the specially re-opened Wyton, Bristol UAS & 3 AEF had to leave Filton and move to Colerne - where the airfield was re-opened for them, and a hangar cleared of asbestos at enormous cost. There may have been others.

Glasgow - I've had no recent contact, but when I was airline flying out of there in the 90s the UAS could fly only dual sorties because of the intensity of airline traffic. Central Scotland has few airfields; how they did solo, I don't know. I doubt it has changed.

...occasional research level UAV testing. There was nothing else happening on a Monday, after all....

Bristol UAS moved to Colerne long before the Tutor came in. In fact they were at Hullavington before that.

Any details on that?

BUAS moved from Filton to Hullavington in March 1992 before moving to Colerne in 1993.

At that time they were operating the Bulldog TMk1, they didn't get the Tutor until October 2000.

There's plenty of room at LEA, although the buzzy Grobs might annoy the actorrrrrs in hangar 1??
It's waiting an EASA operating licence then I guess the RAF could put back all the stuff it ripped out.....

If Linton closed, there would be no need to keep Topcliffe open, and I am sure the Army would love to get their hands on all the real estate that is the airfield at Topcliffe.

Civil/military airfields
 

I find it very hard so see the problems with combined military & civil airfields, it's quite common in other parts of the world, I often stopped to refuel my light aircraft in Tours in the middle of France and found myself in the circuit with French military fast jets.

With good airmanship and an open mind to operational procedures most types of aircraft operations can be safely integrated, those who have problems with this are usually those who have very little experience outside one very narrow branch of aviation.

Civil/military airfields can result in cost savings a for all and should be considered as a way to make the defence budget go further.

The problem is that some/most of the pilots you are talking about integrating would be UAS and EFT students. The ones who have yet to properly develop a robust level of airmanship and have 'very little experience', as you put it...

DF

That never stopped BUAS from operating perfectly safely at Filton with Concorde in the circuit!

True, but I wasn't around them so can't compare to today. All I will say is that judging by the stories and dits told in various crew rooms (and listed in threads on here) by those that were there, safety is viewed much differently today. Things that happened then simply wouldn't be tolerated as ALARP or considered safe these days.

Safety, how it's viewed and managed has moved on, despite what the 'when I was on (insert pre-90's type)' brigade on Pprune will admit to!

BUAS already serves as the Air Squadron for Exeter University alongside UWE, Bristol, Bath and Plymouth!! University Air Squadrons - BUAS Events

YUAS cover the following - Leeds College of Music, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds Trinity University, Sheffield Hallam University, The University of Bradford, The University of Huddersfield, The University of Hull, The University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, The University of York, York St John University
University Air Squadrons - YUAS How to Join

UWE


Ah yes, the Early Larning Centre :}

So how do you figure YUAS managed to operate perfectly safely at Finningley when there were Dominies, Jetstreams, Hawks, and Tucanos also operating there. Indeed at the time Finningley was the busiest Military field in the UK and far busier than many provincial airports.

By flying mostly at weekends when everything else was in the hanger?

No problem! After all, these days there's nothing bigger than this operating from Donny:

That thing is amazing.

I recall seeing it crossing in front of me on airways at the Scunthorpe RVC years back

I'm sure it wouldn't take long to trim the lawn to recreate 02L and 20R aka 'The Grass'.


Might take a bit longer to rebuild Filton Block though......

Reflecting my days as a YUAS student in the early 90s, I recall I managed to "operate perfectly safely" in a busy circuit by being blissfully unaware of almost everything going on around me.........

I was once subject to a CFS check sortie during my time on YUAS at Finningley.....returning to the circuit, we coincided with the Dominie morning wave recovery and the JP recovery resulting in getting one circuit (final landing) in 45minutes circling between 1,000 and 2,000 ft at the whim of ATC...however, most of our flying was at a weekend which tended to avoid the other military traffic!

Linton wont be closing anytime soon ;)