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There is my old TA depot there as well, the former RAF Spitalgate
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Melchette,
Regarding the 'Eggs', the AT fleet is all in one place, as will be the majority of the ISTAR platforms (if they ever finish the the runway). |
Not just Colerne and Henlow but a number of other well known historic sites: Chalgrove (believe this sale/move of Martin Baker was mentioned on the Meteor thread), Amport House and Prince William of Gloucester Barracks (RAF Spitalgate). PW of G barracks...........aaaargh, I did my basic there! RCT, not RAF. Don't know why it saddens me.....it just does! It wasn't such a bad place. Ah well.:{ |
There is my old TA depot there as well, the former RAF Spitalgate mine too Wander00......mine too! Happy memories there actually. Memories of watching the "guests" of the tory governments "short sharp shock" justice system..........made me feel a whole lot better about things! At least I was getting paid to be bawled at! Apologies for thread drift. MD |
Night "circuit and bumps" at Spitalgate in 195.. in Piston Provosts. OK until they turned out the street lights in Grantham at midnight. Perhaps that was Maggie Thatchers father saving on the "Rates" as they were then.
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Originally Posted by Could be the last?
(Post 9499508)
Melchette,
Regarding the 'Eggs', the AT fleet is all in one place, as will be the majority of the ISTAR platforms (if they ever finish the the runway). But I'm sure all these issues have been recognised, considered and appropriate measures put in place. Right????? |
Melchette,
I am with you, it is bonkers. However, I did have a selection of Movers and Snr Logs Os try and explain that operating all AT assets from one base with one rwy was perfectly acceptable - I can't recall whether that was the day before or after the Herc landed wheels up.......................😎 |
With all the 'eggs' of the AT/AAR force at one station now, there's even more pressure on the local housing market.
The headline in today's local rag stated "Rental prices are 'spiralling out of control', housing in crisis as cost of town's apartments soar" Despite poor road links and no rail links to Oxford or London, Witney property prices have risen twice as fast as those in Oxford for the first 6 months of the year. Doubtless the 'buy to let' jackals and speculators are rubbing their greedy hands with glee, but in the none too distant future, how on earth will any young servicemen be able to afford to move to the area? Even Cartoontown is becoming very expensive - a 2 bedroom flat in Base Hangar View is around £800+ per calendar month to rent, or about £190K to buy (without a garage...) :eek: |
Aynayda not sure of the logic of that. Chalgrove village is already on the centreline so no real change, and it's a long way out so approaching aircraft aren't that low. In fact it removes a problem in that Chalgrove traffic, if it actually had any, would conflict with the Benson IAPs.
If we lose Benson it will be disastrous for my cadets. Brize are always too busy for a visit and Benson is a perfect station to see the RAF at work. (Halton are accommodating (literally) but hardly a typical station.) |
Approaching aircraft are low enough over Chalgrove to generate noise complaints as it is, building a whole bunch of houses there is unlikely to improve matters. Chalgrove traffic is suitably deconflicted from Benson by mutual agreement, so there is no problem there, but the loss of useful training estate may be.
I seriously hope I am proved wrong, but I think Benson is too much of a valuable asset not to sell off. It is in a lovely location with good links to Oxford, Reading and Henley and with improvement of the roads through Watlington to the M40, could make commuting from it a doddle. From a financial and societal perspective, why would you keep noisy helicopters there rather than on significantly cheaper land closer to their main customers around Salisbury Plain? |
As the release suggests, there are more bases to go yet and from what I see in this release, this tranche looks to be the small fry. Some big bases to go yet I suspect. From what I hear, the actually money to be made from selling-off a lot of these places is less of an issue (the military doesn't get the money anyway and the FQs were sold by Portillo many years ago) than the savings brought by shutting them down.
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Perhaps it's time to consider the dual mil/ civil airfield concept which is quite prevalent overseas with costs shared between both sides? As a start how about re opening the mil side at Newquay Airport? I'm sure Cornwall CC would appreciate the assistance with running costs, it's a good training base for the C130s & A400s who can't operate at their home base without upsetting the locals & it could even be the base for the new MPA - a bit further from the northern approaches granted but some of the seed corn crews might actually want to stay if they weren't going to Lossiemouth?
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Ken - given the majority of the seedcorners (all?) until recently were at ISK, can't see coming back to Moray being an issue (apart from the ribbing they will get for any 'yankee' accents they might have picked up :) )
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STH - this is nothing to do with either savings or profit from land sale, but is due to MoD being instructed to release a set amount of land to meet central Govt housing targets!
But you are correct in saying this is just the tip of the iceberg.... |
Sandy - as I heard it the majority (all?) had declined to return to Morayshire & were seeking employment in sunnier climes.
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Other countries do seem to manage the dual mil/civ airfield quite happily. In some parts of the world virtually every significant airfield seems to have a reserve squadron in a corner.
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From the MoD website:
More than 1,200 hectares of surplus public sector land is being released across sites which stretch right across the UK. The sites are expected to provide land for up to 17,000 new homes, contributing to the government’s target of building 160,000 new homes by 2020 and all of the money generated from land sales will be invested back into meeting the needs of the Armed Forces. The land will include two golf courses at RAF Henlow and Southwick Park after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon questioned the need for them during a speech on defence reform, where he confirmed the estate optimisation strategy would aim to reduce the size of the defence estate by 30% over 25 years. Today’s announcement – which is the third tranche of sites to be released - means the MOD has now freed up enough brownfield and surplus public sector land for up to 39,000 new homes, expected to generate around £930 million. These sites also contribute to the Government commitment to provide land for 160,000 homes in this Parliament. The intent to dispose of these 13 sites will provide land for up to 17,017 homes (of which some 12,565 are expected to materialise in this Parliament). In addition to the sites announced in January and March of this year, this represents the expected provision of land for up to 14,700 homes this Parliament against the MOD target of 55,000. The remainder of the target will be met through other rationalisation activity including the Reserves estate, the Training estate and MOD accommodation. http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11572224._/? LJ |
Does that mean Henlow airfield will remain?
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Wander00
Now that the VGS has gone there is no public task at Henlow's airfield. The Henlow Flying Club is a commercial company and on a DIO licence. The Henlow Aero Club is the RAF club and is an approved sport only - so unlikely to be allowed to remain. So in short, unless someone buys the airfield it will be put to other uses by the highest bidder I suspect. LJ |
That will be another good one gone, as they say
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