Closure of Odiham, Benson and Wallop and turning Boscombe into a heli base- my proposal

[baz1]

in this present climate with what's going on with Putin you should never put all your eggs in one basket!?

[cat1]

Would just add one more thing here, the UK has an agreement with the USA from the cold war, with words to the effect 'in the event of a war in Easten Europe, we will use your nation as an FOB and a massive unsinkable aircraft carrier.

We're going to need to put those jets somewhere...

[NorvilleRogers]

in this present climate with what's going on with Putin you should never put all your eggs in one basket!?

One missile on one helicopter base or 3 missiles on 3 bases… the end result will be the same. If the UK is in a shooting war with Russia then so is the whole of NATO and with it most of Europe , a few helicopters would be the least of our worries. Best just get on with life and enjoy it while it’s here.

[baz1]

yes and NATO is dragging it's heals letting Ukraine join i guess because they don't want to take Russia on.

[Fighterfoto]

Whatever the pros and cons of centralising rotary assets the reality is there is no money available to build the extra housing and other infrastructure required. Just look at how long it’s taking to move Phase 1 training from Halton to Cranwell which is years behind schedule.

And re the often touted covenants which require land to be reinstated to its original state, frankly the land is far more valuable with hangars, houses and runways than as fields, and the original owners would not therefore enforce their rights

[JLewis_Aviation]

Moving everything to Shawbury would make more sense.

Continuity of lead in training.

LL area away from civilian airspace.

Benson and Odiham are sat in LFA1 and train within local airspace daily

[1marshn30]

With to he ongoing cust cutting the big house builders and development companies would be only to pleased to buy any MOD airfield . I did see a news report of a plan for 5000 new houses on Abingdon airfield (Dalton Barracks )
Just what the A34 needs

[Malcolm]

With to he ongoing cust cutting the big house builders and development companies would be only to pleased to buy any MOD airfield . I did see a news report of a plan for 5000 new houses on Abingdon airfield (Dalton Barracks )
Just what the A34 needs

The point is, neither Odiham nor Benson are the MoD's to sell - they have to be returned to the original land owner. The original land owner may or may not then sell the land to developers, but the MoD will not see any of the money. And if the sites require any clean-up activities first (asbestos, fuel /oil spills, nuclear stuff) then it could actually cost the MoD a great deal of money.

[Phoon]

Surely Yeovilton and Culdrose must also be in the mix. I can see one base from each of the services potentially closing. Six flying bases for an ever dwindling rotary fleet is to excessive with current financial pressures. It might also be time to consolidate all helicopters to a single force, eg the RAF gains them all and the FAA and AAC are no more.

Culdrose's position is protected by it being perfectly located for ASW and maritime training. It is also the hub for all Merlin maintenance (even for the RAF when they had them). Significant engineering and pilot training facilities are also at the base (contracts for new £100m facilities have just been signed for). The training pipeline for both RAF ISTAR and RN observer crews is also reliant on 750 Sqn and they make use of the huge training areas off the coast. The RN's UAV squadron is well established and makes heavy use of Predannack Airfield.

Yeovilton meanwhile is, on its own, home to over 80 helicopters as well as the administration HQs for several decently sized units. NATO JEWCS is also based there.

As I pointed out in my earlier reply, a lot more goes into the planning of which bases to keep and which to dispose of than simply the numbers of aircraft based there.

Expenditure counts for very little with the MOD, look at Finningley, workman still working on the brand new navigation centre the day the closure of the base was announced. Cottesmore another that had vast sums spent on, all dispensed with with a change of policy and cuts. Regardless of numbers of airframes at an airfield, six current main operating bases for the helicopter force just isn't going to continue.