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RAF Fairford to become operational once more!


andy wood

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It has just been announced in the US FY18 defence budget that the Mildenhall RC135s are to be based at Fairford. The base will have $45 million spent on the infrastructure to bring it up to speed.

As someone who lives a few miles down the road I am one happy chappy 

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This may yet include RAF RC-135 ops, as Waddington is not long enough for Rivet Joint to get airborne with a full fuel load, and the RAF have been looking at co-locating with the USAF.

 

It shouldn't affect RIAT, as I would have thought that the RC-135s could be tucked far enough away from the plebs. If it does, RIAT might be looking for a new home.

 

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1 hour ago, andy wood said:

It has just been announced in the US FY18 defence budget that the Mildenhall RC135s are to be based at Fairford. The base will have $45 million spent on the infrastructure to bring it up to speed.

As someone who lives a few miles down the road I am one happy chappy 

 

Hi Andy,

 

Can you please provide a source for that info?  I can find nothing online except another forum post referring vaguely to the US defense budget for FY18 (which, as we all know, can change)...but my Google-fu may not be up to snuff.

 

Many thanks,
Mark

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Only $45 million?

Last time I was there, about 4 years ago, the accommodation blocks were condemned as unfit for human habitation and having spent a week in them, they will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt.

I think the more they dig, the more they'll find to do.

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1 hour ago, HL-10 said:

Only $45 million?

Last time I was there, about 4 years ago, the accommodation blocks were condemned as unfit for human habitation and having spent a week in them, they will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt.

I think the more they dig, the more they'll find to do.

All the married quarters are currently occupied by RAF families so they should be ok. The gym has recently been overhauled l ( I did hear it had nearly a million dollars spent on it). The bank, BX and shops will need to be rebuilt as they were torn down some years ago.

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1 hour ago, HL-10 said:

Only $45 million?

Last time I was there, about 4 years ago, the accommodation blocks were condemned as unfit for human habitation and having spent a week in them, they will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt.

I think the more they dig, the more they'll find to do.

You must be ex RAF lol....they are probably palaces:ner:

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27 minutes ago, andy wood said:

All the married quarters are currently occupied by RAF families so they should be ok. The gym has recently been overhauled l ( I did hear it had nearly a million dollars spent on it). The bank, BX and shops will need to be rebuilt as they were torn down some years ago.

Wonder if RAF families will get access to the comissary

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1 hour ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/Portals/84/documents/Air Force MILCON FY18.pdf?ver=2017-05-23-153715-980

 

Page 11.

Pages 197 to 209 covers the work at Lakenheath, which will lose the F-15Cs.

 

Many thanks!  That's what I was looking for.  Like I said, my Google-fu wasn't up to snuff today.

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16 minutes ago, junglierating said:

You must be ex RAF lol....they are probably palaces:ner:

No I'm not.

I attended RIAT a couple of times as part of the Emergency Medical Services and we were put up in the rat holes      accommodation which was an interesting experience! :poop:

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Hands up who thought the runway, being the longest in Western Europe, would be deemed too short for RC135 operations? Reading the document in full it would appear the overruns  are going to have to be upgraded to be included in the available take off distance of 27/09.This would confirm the concerns re RC135s operating from Waddington. 

 

I dont think the basing of RC135s will affect RIAT. It didn't affect Mildenhall Air Fete, and RIAT (or IAT as was) continued when 11SG with the KC135s were there. I was on  that unit at the time and we just sent the tankers to Lajes AB and other locations, but kept some for the static.

 

Anyhow building work starts next March

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It's never really shut down.  Ignoring RIAT activity I reckon on seeing B-52s in and out of there 2 or 3 times a year and the occasional U-21.  You get other odds and sods as well at irregular intervals.

 

1 - Absolute jammiest sighting was a couple or three years ago when the Canadian Lanc. was over here.  The BBMF & Canadian Lanc flew right over the house at lunch-time heading roughly southerly.  Ten minutes or so later saw a U-2 on final approach.

 

Edit to add.  Gratuitous (and not especially good) snap of a couple of B-52s heading to Fairford.  About 4pm one afternoon late spring or early summer last year. *Just checked* Early June.

 

27510815916_838e764d1b_z_d.jpg

 

A couple more ropey snaps.

Edited by TheLurker
Typo.
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RIAT shouldn't be affected, all jesting aside. The MoD did give as one of the reasons for discontinuing the Waddington show the presence of sneaky beak aircraft at the air station, not that it worried them before. I suspect they were more worried about the Shadow R.1s than the RC-135s.

 

By the way, there should be another USAF bomber detachment at Fairford this June as well. Rumours of B-1s or B-52s, but nothing firm yet.

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12 hours ago, andy wood said:

Hands up who thought the runway, being the longest in Western Europe, .... 

Is that actually so?  How does it compare with St Mawgan's (allegedly an emergency landing location for the space shuttle) or Benbecula's?

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I believe the runway at Fairford is supposedly 3,046 m (9,993 ft) long, St Mawgan's is about the same.

RAE Bedford's runway is 3,200m (10,500 ft) 

I do not assume that these figures are 100% correct so if anyone has more accurate data, please post it up :)

 

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Forget Bedford/Thurleigh: the runway's currently covered in used cars (anyone remember the scrappage scheme?) and the local council want to build several thousand ghastly new "houses" (glorified cardboard boxes waiting to become the slums of tomorrow) all over it, ditto Manston (a former Master Diversion airfield with a very long and wide runway).  Access to Thurleigh isn't brilliant either; although it's just off the A6, not itself a particularly marvellous road, all of the local roads are single track and generally narrow.  One of these however is of concrete slab construction and has a narrow, grassed "central reservation" so may at one time have been within the airfield boundary.

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Talking of long and wide runways, 05/23 at MOD Boscombe Down is 10538 ft long and twice the width of a normal runway, (its a bit of a switchback though). It was also used for two RIATs in the early 90's.

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