Will Marham Close?

[Gary]

My personal view is Marham will stay open for now. Tornado Depth Support Wing is at Marham so makes sense for the base to stay open while the Tornado's are in service. Unless they no longer plan to support the fleet with depth maintenance. Then Marham could be in trouble

[yankwatcher]

Would love to say that it would be here in 5 or 10 years time but cuts have to be made, reading more into what journalists and media commentators are saying it could be that the fleet be retired early? (would be an absolute up if they did) but if that is the case it may not mean the end of Marham as we know it, their are other facilities that are not in as good condition as Marham, and an option would be to close other older and/ or smaller facilities and move operations to Marham.

On the other hand though, their are a few other airfields within a 100mile radius and some are comparable or even better than Marham has to offer.

My honest opinion is .

Thursday will be D-Day.

[tonkatom]

In my opinion,everytime there has been cuts in recent years,Raf Marham always seems to crop up somewhere,but over recent years it seems to be more of an essential for the RAF with the maintenance now moved in and OP HERRICK.I hope it does not become a victim of this cruel slash of budget on our armed forces.

[vinnyboy]

Well sadly it has become a victim not just yet but when we come out of afghanistan the tonado is to be scrapped leaving only 2 fighter type a/c. Marham is safe for now so why cant they base typhoons there in the future or the new JF i guess its wait and see.Not looking good for the future though sadly.

[markranger]

Well sadly it has become a victim not just yet but when we come out of afghanistan the tonado is to be scrapped leaving only 2 fighter type a/c. Marham is safe for now so why cant they base typhoons there in the future or the new JF i guess its wait and see.Not looking good for the future though sadly.

Is this true?Taken from the SDR thread?

Tornado GR.4

Tornado Squadrons - 13 Squadron and 14 Squadron to be disbanded by 31/03/11.

Tornado Wing - To be made up of six squadron's.

Tornado Bases - Fleet to be centralized along with the aircrafts depth maintenance at RAF Marham by 31/10/11.

Tornado Fleet - To be reduced from its current size of 133 airframes is to be reduced by 53 aircraft to 80. Those aircraft withdrawn from service to be used as a spares score enabling the Tornado fleet to reach its O.S.D. by 31/10/11

Tornado Reorganization - All remaining Tornado squadrons to made up of 10 aircraft each by 31/10/11.

Marham would have a lot of Tornado's for one base?

Mark.

[Gary]

Not sure Marham could cope with 6 squadrons. As i said on the SDSR thread at the moment the four/five big hangars are all in use by depth support wing. But with the reduction in airframes they might be able to squeeze in...

I said all along XIII Sqn could be under threat but its bad timing with them only just completing there Op Herrick deployment. If 14 Sqn are going from Lossie thats a major kick in the balls seeing as they only took over the Op Herrick deployment last week

So in one day we could have lost three of the top six most senior squadrons in the RAF Nos 1(F), 4(R) & 14

[headset 57]

It will stay as long as Sandringham is up the road.

My thoughts EXACTLY!....
Marham will have room for everything cause they will build room and the Tonkas will be stored on the field or in hangars.

[tonkatom]

About the tornadoes moving to marham,i heard about this when the goverment first made threats of cuts, and to be honoust i can see it happening.Kinloss is a goner!so they will surely axe lossiemouth aswell and save on two major bases in the north but still have qra from leuchaers.
I think marham could hold 6 squadrons at a push,with the maintenance hangar and the ramp outside of that,it was only a few years back they took down those temporary theatre hangars at marham.
I would say marham looks bright as long as the tornados are with us and even for the JSF.

[vinnyboy]

Hope your right but i was thinking when the tornado goes which will be sooner than anticipated marham will close but i hope i will remain open for the JSF its a big base but i love visiting there but i guess our hobby is being cut too

[Blackcat1]

This is what it says on the top of the BMAL news site

PLEASE NOTE

The information below is based on the information within the actual S.D.S.R document although some of this information is yet to be confirmed.

[vinnyboy]

Sorry im lost blackcat what do you mean?Marham is likely to stay open for future generations?? Im lost

[Blackcat1]

I meant not all of it was confirmed on the bmal website regarding 13 and 14 Sqdn being disbanded, just answering Mark Ranger's post thats all.

Cheers