Should have kept Lyneham Open
 

https://www.forces.net/news/raf-briz...closed-repairs
Brize Closed as runway appears to have melted, 1 Voyager at Mildenhall.

1 of the White Tails and 1 Voyager at EGNX

ZH871 Hercules C.4 calling RRR5711 diverted to Northolt, arriving there at 22:33 on the 19th from Nice. As of the evening of the 20th, this C-130 remains at Northolt.

Wrong type of warm weather for the tar - a bit like British Rail "wrong type of snow" in 1991 !

Ever heard of concrete? Works wonders in hot and cold climes....

Maybe use Fairford as happened in 1974 and again since then.

Lyneham is of course still open, although a Voyager landing there might have given a bit of a shock to the REME trainees busy practising recovering tanks on the runway!

Yep as I was there yesterday


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5055a3e48.jpeg

cheers

A stupid situation isn't it... and the fact they are having to shove them into civilian airports just makes the whole of it even more farcical, to not have the capability to move the fleet elsewhere is ludicrous. Take out the Brize runway and they are screwed.

If only someone had told them that putting all the AT assets into a station with only one runway could cause problems. We are all culpable for not doing so.

History Never Repeats
 

I vaguely recall a couple of Hercs visiting Brize to 'dry run' the concept, just before the closure of Lyneham. Of course, one landed Gear Up on the runway, and stopped :)

Base Commander bragged that the runway was still used, as a C-17 flew off the remaining length. Where to? To Lyneham, to fill up with fuel and cargo before continuing onwards.

On the positive side, handy to know that a request to transit the Brize zone is unlikely to be refused at the moment...

It wasn’t too difficult to foresee! I'm sure the issue was discussed when RAFLyneham was withdrawn from use.I don’t really see the point. Seeing as Lyneham is still an MOD establishment, just occupied by the Army now. So what was actually saved. An embarrassingly strange decision that creates operational risks and lack of flexibility.

Yup, seems like a few have cottoned on to this and are making use of the short-cut.

I know its hot but its been hotter over the past few years, so why this problem now? Didn't they do some work to the runway recently?

Anyone trying to land at Lyneham now is in for a rude awakening !! Runway has many "buildings" on it, and the grass to the North and West of the runway has all been replaced by solar panels !!

Apart from the diverted aircraft,how many others are actually stuck at Brize until the runway reopens?

I believe quite a few people at Lyneham did mention it including the local Wiltshire MP. I was rather severely told off by the then Stn Cdr for not being an ‘advocate of the move’ to Brize. As a Gp Capt he was required to be one although he told a marginally different tale at his dining-out night.

The birds are coming home to roost now though.

Apologies for the slight thread drift here.
In todays Daily Telegraph is a report on a statement by ACM Sir Mike Wigston that the RAF needs to 'relearn skills not practiced for 30 years'. A new series of exercises called Exercise Agile Stance will see fighter jets dispersed to civilian airfields or even motorways to make them harder for the Red Forces to destroy. I can't wait to see them at Norwich, although don't come on Mondays as they don't allow circuit training (grass cutting in progress!)

Yup, they could have had two molten runways instead of one! Can't beat concrete eh?