Tashengurt,

Alconbury is too far gone ever to be an airfield again. Sculthorpe has almost no support facilities. And seeing as the closure of Scampton was part of an MoD estate rationalisation exercise to reduce the defence estate, I doubt if they will be contemplating reopening anywhere! Wyton airfield is scheduled for large scale redevelopment so no chance of that coming back into the fold.

Is there still plans to joint base the RAF and USAF Rivet's at Fairford, plenty of space there, and its not near any main arterial roads, and a known display base, and going back home to Glos could be spun nicely in the media?
Proximity to Brize might be an issue though I guess?
I'm sure they will end up at Wittering though.

GeeRam,

Was there ever a plan to move 51 Squadron to Fairford? They have a newly refurbished hangar at Waddington and that is the RAF ISTAR home. Fairford is a thinly staffed USAFE deployment base with expenditure planned to build new accommodation and infrastructure to accomodate the USAF RC's that deploy to Mildenhall. No RAF infra or admin there, and again, the whole point of Scampton closing is to reduce the MoD estate and reduce the estate spend, not add more and spend more.

I have no idea, thats why I was asking.........just remember someone here posting a link some time ago, of a specialist defense media article about the cost saving implications being looked at of a joint RAF/USAF Rivet base at Fairford once Mildenhall closed. Have no idea whether it was real, speculation or complete guff and what the current situation was :confused:

Their have been enough screw ups in the past to prove your theory sadly wrong. Those in power are more than capable of adding more and spending more to close something. I was in a Quarter that had gas central heating installed precisely 6 weeks before it was demolished!

I think I may have the answer.

B site at Culdrose is undergoing refurbishment and the plan is for 736 NAS to move across to it with their Hawks. Perhaps the Reds could move there instead. B site is on the other side of the airfield from the rest of the flying units and is adjacent to the public viewing enclosure. Furthermore, if the Reds would like a separate entrance, then use could be made of the large entrance next to the public car park, which would allow direct entrance to what could be termed the RAF Culdrose enclave. Practice flights could be held over Predannack (Culdrose's satellite airfield) which, as it is on the Lizard peninsula, is a long way from any civilisation anyway. Of course, fuel costs would increase as long transits would have to be made to anywhere else in the UK to display but, looking at the just published 2019 schedule, the team seems to have an aversion to displaying anywhere north of Cosford anyway.

By the way, only 39 public displays this year, including the North America tour? I guess that is how the team is being affected by squeezing defence expenditure.

When I was doing the Gnat CFS course the Arrows were using Fairford (so were we!). Why can't they do it again?

Not "was" but definitely "is" - the plan is under consideration.

Do the rocks still occupy Honington?

M the M and others.
 

I was being VERY tongue in cheek. Maybe I should have used some emoticons.

OldnDaft,

Says who?

Not according to 51 Squadron or the USAF at Fairford.

Stop talking sense Bob!

None of the 3 airfields mentioned would suit the current incumbents and the disruption to the local area of wherever they decide to place R313 will be considerable too, except perhaps Leeming where the airspace is less busy than Lincolnshire.

just another jockey,

Or Wittering, where R313 could be placed over Cottesmore

As Cottesmore is south of 53 deg N, the RAFAT Restricted Area would no longer be 'R313' if a decision was made to base the team at Wittering, with a nearby RA.

For various reasons, Leeming seems the obvious choice. Particularly since it has very little other traffic these days.

When I joined the RAF 50 years ago, there were 50 more UK aerodromes available to the RAF (yes, really). Most have now either been squaddified, turned into housing or left to rot. Which means that only Leeming, Waddington or Wittering are the available options...

I looked at Wittering on Google Maps today, using the 'satellite' option. What a shame to see that the only aircraft sitting on the ASP were the UAS/AEFs' plastic pigs......:(

Like I said, it would seem unlikely that a location without Crash Rescue and Fire fighting capability at the primary training location would satisfy a modern risk assessment! :ooh:

OAP

They do. I've been told the runway isn't in great shape and I know that the approach lighting has been pulled up.

I know you weren't trying to offend but I do find that comment a little more than annoying.

I spend my life flying those "plastic pigs" and many, many students who will form the backbone of tomorrow's RAF will have many happy memories of those same "plastic pigs". So just because they don't fulfil your definition of a great aeroplane to fly doesn't give you the right to be so disdainful. Perhaps you could choose your words a little more carefully next time.

Oh, and btw, the UAS and AEF are the lesser part of the flying that occurs at Wittering. Please can some of you drag yourselves kicking and screaming into today's RAF?

Like I said: "...and the disruption to the local area of wherever they decide to place R313 will be considerable too, except perhaps Leeming where the airspace is less busy than Lincolnshire".

Placing a new R313 over Cottesmore would take out a huge proportion of the flying area currently used by a large number of both Tutors and Prefects.