Finningley Boy wrote:andrewn,
The points you raise may have a point, but with all respect, you sound like a typical modern day boardroom management speak educated type. what resources is it you're referring to that were easily available to Waddington, Leuchars, and all other RAF stations which since the invention of the jet engine have managed to come by to put on an airshow but which can't be put in place at Scampton? Are you referring to the condemned Barrack Blocks? isn't that an issue which is now being addressed with a view to the station's long term future. If not surely it would be the first hurdle to dismiss the credibility of the idea before it surfaced in public, suggesting the billets are vital to providing accommodation that is? It may well be the infrastructure issue to be addressed mentioned in the official public statement which has already been alluded to and while I don't want to use Silent Flight as the only reliable oracle on the matter, necessarily, he must be fairly close to what's been reviewed so far and just why Scampton is considered to be a possible option. As others say, it may not happen for one reason or another, but sweeping claims about lack of resources, what resources? Participating aircraft? Its a big airfield, it once housed four squadrons of Vulcans, it is in active use currently, so it has a runway perhaps more than twice the length and width of the one at Cosford, however much of its associated tarmac, asphalted track and hard standing isn't usable, enough of it must be because along with the Red Arrows and HHA Ltd there has to be certain a sizeable amount available, if currently some of the former V dispersals are in need of resurfacing that doesn't necessarily impinge upon herding 50,000 people on the other side of the airfield. Again, like that other chap no143773 and reheat module, if you can explain in detail just what it is you know to make holding an airshow on an active RAF Base impossible then by all means explain, but as Derek F pointed out, all you need for an airshow is a big field, everything the public then need arrives in marquee, trailer and pre-pack form.
FB
Hi FB,
If things were as simple in the modern world as you describe then I'd agree with you wholeheartedly - but they aren't. My credentials? I don't have any really, other than I've been going to airshows, big and small, since I was a wee lad and I'm now the wrong side of 40:)
I have been inside Scampton in recent years and it looked very uncared for, almost derelict in places, and our guide told us that large parts of the airfield (taxiways, dispersals, some hangars, other buildings) were unfit for use. How bad it is and how much money needs spending on it I don't know, but just the fact the official statement makes reference to "infrastructure issues" must tell you something. For what its worth I'd guess we're talking a few million quid, minimum, to bring the old place back up to a standard good enough to host an annual international airshow.
Regards resources then both Waddington and Leuchars are/were large, frontline MOBs, thus they had a decent number of fulltime RAF personnel whom could be called upon for various purposes to assist with the planning, preparation, running and post event clean up. Scampton hasn't been a MOB for many years now and pretty much ALL resources required to do anything would need to be sourced from either the private sector or other RAF bases.
With time, effort and money all the issues above (and many more) CAN be overcome, however my personal view is that the RAF/MoD have other priorities right now and that this whole Scampton idea will never see the light of day.
IF the MoD/RAF had been so committed to holding a large annual open day at a decent sized venue then there's no way they would have let Waddington go. Call me cynical but I simply do not believe the security issues related to UAV ops were in any way an insurmountable obstacle to holding an annual airshow (in 2014 I spent a great few days at a fantastic airshow in a country not far away from here where it is well known that US nukes are stored!!)
As they say FB, it'll all come out in the wash