Slater Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I recall days of USAFE past: http://soesterbergwolfhounds.nl/galleries/eagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Speaking to some PR guys from Mildenhall last night. Working on the premise that the base will* close in 2020, the Base Commander is very much of a mind to stage a last Open Day, and they want to do it on the scale of the previous shows. They are expecting 250,000 visitors per day just like in the past. Obviously there is much detail planning to do, but these guys really want to put on a proper show; burgers, Budweiser and all. Here's hoping. *Politics aside, unless there is a major sea change, the tankers will go to Germany. Their operation field already covers from Mid Atlantic to the Arctic, Eastern Europe, North and Central Africa, The Gulf and Afghanistan. Moving 300 miles is a minor detail when you cover a patch like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungo1974 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Well I for one hope we do get one last harrah Edited April 12, 2015 by mungo1974 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Does anyone have any updates on the Mildenhall closure? I keep promising myself a trip over there to take some photos. Don't want to get there and it's all locked up with the lights out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Keep an eye out here. http://www.usafe.af.mil/index.asp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Cheers bentwaters. I will keep an eye on that. I did check out the official RAF Mildenhall web site and found out the last MC-130 Combat Talon has already left. I tend to find these things out after the event! Would like to see the OV-22 Ospreys, but I understand they operate quite often at night. What are the chances of seeing them in the circuit during the day? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Sometimes, it's pot luck. At night they wander far and wide. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaker Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I was there twice in the last 12 months, Ospreys were flying most of the time I was there. My best friend married a USAF Sergeant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I've heard the Ospreys are busy mostly on Fridays during the day, but please don't quote me on that. Still got to go get them myself.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Downside of a Friday is Lakenheath only work a half day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Cheers for the info guys. I have a few days off work week after next. If the weather is reasonable I might pop over and spend a few hours there. Fingers crossed for some interesting 'visitors'. Thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-35346003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 Thats a shame. I have some great memories if the Air Fetes of the 80s and 90s 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 What RAF bases will be left, I wonder? At this rate there won't be any. I see some Government person has leaped up to sat that the military bases up for sale will allow lots and lots of new housing. That might be a good thing but culdn't some thought be given to using some of them as regional airports? Just a thought ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I very much doubt the great British public realise just how much has closed in the last 30 odd years. Off the top of my head (and all these stations were open when I joined the RAF in 1981, many of which I served at): UK: Aberporth Abingdon Alconbury Bampton Castle Bawtry Hall Benbecula Bentley Priory Bentwaters Binbrook Brawdy Buchan Catterick Chilmark Chivenor Church Fenton Coltishall Cottesmore Dishforth Ely Hospital Finningley Greenham Common Halton Hospital Hereford Hullavington Innsworth Kemble Kinloss Leuchars Llanbedr Locking Lyneham Macrihanish Manston Molesworth Mountbatten Neatishead Newton Nocton Hall Hospital North Luffenham Pitreavie Castle Portreath St Mawgan Saxa Vord Scampton (just the Reds left) Sculthorpe Sealand Stanmore Park Staxton Wold Stornoway Swanton Morley Uxbridge Upper Heyford Wattisham Welford West Drayton West Freugh West Raynham Wethersfield Woodbridge Wroughton Hospital Wyton (now Joint Service) RAFG:: Bruggen Gatow Gutersloh Laarbruch Rheindahlen Wildenrath 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Not forgetting that wonderful place in S Wales, St Athan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circloy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I very much doubt the great British public realise just how much has closed in the last 30 odd years. Off the top of my head (and all these stations were open when I joined the RAF in 1981, many of which I served at): UK: Aberporth Abingdon Alconbury Bampton Castle Bawtry Hall Benbecula Bentley Priory Bentwaters Binbrook Brawdy Buchan Catterick Chilmark Chivenor Church Fenton Coltishall Cottesmore Dishforth Ely Hospital Finningley Greenham Common Halton Hospital Hereford Hullavington Innsworth Kinloss Leuchars Llanbedr Locking Lyneham Macrihanish Manston Molesworth Mountbatten Neatishead Newton Nocton Hall Hospital North Luffenham St Mawgan Molesworth Pitreavie Castle Portreath Scampton (just the Reds left) Saxa Vord Sculthorpe Sealand Stanmore Park Staxton Wold Stornoway Swanton Morley Uxbridge Upper Heyford Wattisham Welford West Drayton West Freugh West Raynham Wethersfield Woodbridge Wroughton Hospital Wyton (now Joint Service) RAFG:: Bruggen Gutersloh Laarbruch Rheindahlen Wildenrath The Reds may be the only ones flying out of Scampton but it's also home to the three units below (for operations and training) so must be considered as being very much open. Control and Reporting Centre 1 Air Control Centre Mobile Met Unit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 What RAF bases will be left, I wonder? At this rate there won't be any. I see some Government person has leaped up to sat that the military bases up for sale will allow lots and lots of new housing. That might be a good thing but culdn't some thought be given to using some of them as regional airports? Just a thought ... The problem is that even the regional airports we currently have are not expanding in the way they like. And some of those have closed, such as Sheffield, Manston and Plymouth. We need housing in this country, and the MoD has a lot of land. And if I'm honest, as much as I am an aviation enthusiast, I would rather see unused airfields built on than abandoned. Turning Hullavington over for housing may also stop the scheme to turn Kemble -a thriving airfield- into a housing estate, so that might be a good thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Wow,...the list that Deb`s posted certainly makes you think doesn`t it! Isn`t Hullavington a listed site due to its grass airfield and the fact that it is a fine example of an early expansion scheme airfield? Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Not all those in that long list are closed to aviation activities. Some are operating as civilian airports so its not all bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I believe that the plan is to sell off the Hullavington airfield site, although I am not sure how they intend to achieve that since, IIRC while a major part of the technical site was originally Bell Farm owned Mr F J Huntley (indeed several of the original farm buildings are still there and are Listed), the airfield proper was gifted by the local peer and reverts to ownership should the MOD relinquish the site.It's also a bloody stupid place to build property since it would inevitibly destroy the character of the villages of Hullavington (to the NW) and Stanton St Quintin (to the S).Furthermore, Hullavington is probably the best example of an Expansion Period airfield - indeed, while it wasn't the first to open as such, the buildings there were the Lutyens blueprints for the rest of the Expansion Period airfields (and, again, many of these buildings are Listed). In fact, to my knowledge, Hullavington was the only Expansion Period airfield where the buildings were built of local stone (a requirement of the gifting of the land) and the only one of 2 airfields that had an A Class Officers' Mess (the other being at Manby and which is now a hotel and Listed Building). 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blogs On Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I couldn't agree more Debs. I have been flying out of Hullavington for more years than I want to admit, and in my humble opinion, it is the finest pre-war airfield in the whole of the U.K set in glorious countryside. Sadly, for all it architectural and historic merit the Treasury couldn't give a fig. As I've heard it once described, " they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing" Blogs off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Indeed. Look at the stupid fools' attitude to Bicester which is the finest example of a Pre-Expansion Period Airfield and, AFAIK the only one left! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonM Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We're wiping the history of the 20th Century out at a massive rate. Just in Cambridgeshire there are plans to build new towns or business parks at Alconbury, Bourn, Oakington and Wyton. Warboys is an industrial estate, Basingbourn is being left in limbo following the Libyan training fiasco. Upwood is becoming ever more derelict. The saddest thing is at those sites slated for redevelopment the developers want to demolish as much as they can - there's no use for aircraft hangers (too big, drafty, uneconomical). History, smishtory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Hopefully they'll leave Bassingbourn alone - the airfield became an Infantry Training Area and is perfect for my cadets to learn fieldcraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now