Leuchars handed over to pongos

[mummymonkey]

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/lo...chars-marches-into-the-history-books-1.858289

Nothing lasts forever but it's still sad to see the closure of the place where I did most of my time. Over a century of aviation history and all they could manage to say cheerio was a couple of Typhoons. Attack and Protect - no more.

 

[TG3 TILL I DIE!!!!]

Great shame. Many fond memories of living down afterburn alley. Great place great time great people.

 

[LightningMk6]

Sad to see yet another RAF Station go, I was born in Dundee and used to go to the open days as a kid. At least as a member of the Lightning Preservation Group we have secured a good home for the Leuchars Lightning FMk3, which is now on site and being reassembled as a static exhibit outside the QRA shed.

 

[grimm6]

RAF Leuchars Airfield side

RAF Leuchars Airfield side

Although the Pongo's have taken the Camp the Airfield itself is still in the hands of the RAF with RAF Air Traffic Control etc as they need the runway as a diversion for Lossiemouth for the Typhoons...

 

[br9mp81]

Although the Pongo's have taken the Camp the Airfield itself is still in the hands of the RAF with RAF Air Traffic Control etc as they need the runway as a diversion for Lossiemouth for the Typhoons...

was that not the excuse for keeping kinloss open?

 

[grimm6]

was that not the excuse for keeping kinloss open?

All to do with arrester gear

 

[Digzster]

Don't tell me that they will let the army use the links courses at St Andrews - there goes the neighborhood!

 

[Ghandi's Flip-Flop]

Apparently theres to be a Typhoon turn around team set up there imminently too

Call me a cynic but I can see a few turn around servicings taking about the same time it takes our airships to complete 19 holes of Golf

 

[mild mannered janitor]

Apparently theres to be a Typhoon turn around team set up there imminently too

Call me a cynic but I can see a few turn around servicings taking about the same time it takes our airships to complete 19 holes of Golf

spent two of the best years ever there in the late 90's.

slightly Off Topic i remember having to wave in one of the reds to the HAS site complete with JT in the back seat to do the AF and BF in the morning, and what was the whole purpose of the impromptu visit? delivering christamas presents to a mate. DT_Xtremez_42:

 

[Scouser812]

Apparently theres to be a Typhoon turn around team set up there imminently too

Call me a cynic but I can see a few turn around servicings taking about the same time it takes our airships to complete 19 holes of Golf

There's still a VASS element remaining there, along with ESUAS. Last i heard they were setting up in the Southern HAS site to ensure that the pongos didn't vandalise the giant Winged 1 on one of the walls.

Funny thing about Leuchars staying open, they had to deal with several Typhoons before Xmas diverting there as the weather wasn't good enough at Lossie for our jets coming back.

 

[grimm6]

There's still a VASS element remaining there, along with ESUAS. Last i heard they were setting up in the Southern HAS site to ensure that the pongos didn't vandalise the giant Winged 1 on one of the walls.

Funny thing about Leuchars staying open, they had to deal with several Typhoons before Xmas diverting there as the weather wasn't good enough at Lossie for our jets coming back.

That was always the plan as the RAF didn't have a diversion airfield with a RHAG in Scotland...

 

[Scouser812]

Aside from Kinloss, which is an RLG to Lossie (according to TAP charts anyways)

 

[Joe_90]

As I understand it it's because Lossie and Kinloss are so close together. Any weather related closures are much more likely to affect both airfields. If Leuchars wasn't kept open the next airfield available for armed aircraft is Leeming, quite a distance.

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[br9mp81]

when the budget cuts really start,i can see the idea of sharing civil airports,lots of other countrys do it,just before i joined elder forest set up shop at some civvy airports as the game plan read for ttw in the 80s
its a strange fact that its the actions of putin that will do more to save the raf that tory defence policy.

 

[Joe_90]

Civvy airports in the UK really don't like having armed aircraft near them. I think, although happy to be corrected, our explosive licensing rules are more stringent than most which make running a civvy airport round about us more difficult.

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[Max Reheat]

Spent 6 years there over 2 tours. The camp and area had gone massively down hill socially when I returned in 2008. I couldn't wait to get out of the place unlike my previous tour when I was sad to leave.

 

[Joe_90]

I'm thinking of QRA specifically when I talk about armed aircraft and having an area to bung them compared to having them regularly using your airfield are different things. Military aircraft have to be guarded when at civvy airports for a start, that causes issues that businesses don't want to deal with.

I can't see the value in combined airfields. The reduced infra costs would be minimal I'd have thought as you'd effectively have a RAF camp and everything that entails sharing a runway. The hassle's involved in getting the slots you need on there for normal ops, never mind anything out of the ordinary, seem not worth it.

It'll probably happen now and save around £15 a year.

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[Digzster]

Wouldn't it be great though, to see the winged master race at the counter waiting for a ticket to get a slot?

The "don't you know who I am" line wouldný work, shocking.

 

[bigtrev952]

Works at dalaman in Turkey though, in circuit / approach with a pair of f16's last week, with a hind Air Sea Rescue helicopter behind our A321

 

[Joe_90]

I suspect Turkey don't quite operate to our standards, either military or civilian.

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