Marshalls moving, Cambridge to be redeveloped

With regards Wyton, what about the radiation at and around the nuclear wash ramp? I’ll bet that would take some clearing up!
The 543 Victors, 51 Canberras and sometimes the 39 Canberras were all washed there.
Looking at Google Earth it shows no sign of clear up.
Many good men ended up with cancer washing the radiation off these aircraft and the MoD still deny them help.
I’ll bet that no civilian operator would want to go there with that lot still around.

Remember the grand plans in the mid 90s to relocate the Harriers from Cottesmore and Wittering to Bentwaters/Woodbridge…. Well I pointed out the reason why it never happened last week

Hi All,
What about reactivating Woodbridge/Bentwaters ?

Geoff.

The rationale is explained in the weblink to the Cambridge newspaper article in the opening post of the thread and the aerial view of the site in the same article shows the close proximity of the exisiting local housing etc.

But wouldn’t it cost a fortune to bring any of these alternative sites up to there required spec, plus the costs of moving and disruption to there present staff and also losing key staff.
Not that people count when money is to be made.
I of course have no idea of the cost of one against the other.

More money to be made by releasing the land for housing at Cambridge.

Am I missing something here, but why don’t they just stay where they are.

None military activities at MoD St Athan, don’t seem to affect what still

goes on (supposedly). Or has the MoD finally abandoned the place????

MOD not abandoned the place, but the less than 20 year old maintenance super-hanger built there to service fast jets at huge cost to the taxpayer, is now being incorporated into the new Aston-Martin car factory being built on the site.

None military activities at MoD St Athan, don’t seem to affect what still

goes on (supposedly). Or has the MoD finally abandoned the place????

Hangars at Wyton will be of little use to Marshalls, too small and too old.
New hangars, offices and associated ramps will be required, preferable well away from the existing and well used RAF buildings, some of which IIRC were built over the western end of the taxiway.
For those that do not know Wyton is home to one of UK’s main intelligence hubs and as such is a very secure site and is unlikely to be considered available.

You’ve got the large area on the northside that could be built on and developed, where the Air Ambulance operates from, which also already has a seperate access entrance from the A141.
This would be the logical place for Marshall at Wyton, and wouldn’t interfere with current southside RAF use, including the secret squirrel ops there in the new building complex.

Hangars at Wyton will be of little use to Marshalls, too small and too old.
New hangars, offices and associated ramps will be required, preferable well away from the existing and well used RAF buildings, some of which IIRC were built over the western end of the taxiway.
For those that do not know Wyton is home to one of UK’s main intelligence hubs and as such is a very secure site and is unlikely to be considered available.

Mildenhall, despite its issues, offers a great deal for Marshall’s. Location, unlimited expansion, existing facilities and happy neighbours.

One thing that seems to have been missed here is…. that being the curse of all surplus USAF bases.

They are (usually) fitted out to US 110 volt, and other systems are to US standards.

£££££££pit.

Yep, which is why the ‘hall isn’t an option for Marshall’s, plus the shear bloody size of the place means a awful lot of maintenance for a small outfit like Marshalls.

With rumours that the housing project at Wyton has been canned due to local roads not being able to cope with traffic increase, Wyton would make more sense, and wouldn’t too far away from workforce point of view. However, runway is in need of resurfacing by all accounts, and hangars have massively deteriorated, so again, substantial costs would be involved.

Duxford would need significant infrastructure work for Marshalls. At least 1500ft would need to be added to the runway to make it comparable to Cambridge’s (ideally longer if Marshalls want to service/modify bigger platforms), there’s no formal ATC provision nor runway approach lighting and no Instrument Approach Aids and procedures – all mandatory for operating certain classes of aircraft depending on insurance requirements. All of these, added to the new facilities north of the A505, plus the potential to need to “beef up” the PCN of some other taxiways, will cost a small fortune to implement. Plus, a lot of Marshalls’ work is “camera shy” so having their customers aircraft paraded in front of hundreds of daily visitors is likely not ideal. Duxford is a smokescreen, as is Wyton (due to planned redevelopment). As for other options, Scampton is knackered and too far north, Alconbury too far gone, Thurleigh a race track, Sculthorpe too far/too bare, Mildenhall possibly to stay open longer than planned and Honington is no longer active (and would need significant re-investment) and is full of Rockapes. Cranfield has a long enough runway, a recently digitised tower, an ambitious expansion plan (including an Air Park) and is investing in a number of runway and approach aid improvements. To me it’s the best option….

Good Lord Binbrook01! I had no idea that was the case. Interesting.

One thing that seems to have been missed here is…. that being the curse of all surplus USAF bases.

They are (usually) fitted out to US 110 volt, and other systems are to US standards.

£££££££pit.

Sounds good CADman! Mildenhall makes sense. The thought of that scale of development around Duxford is frankly horrifying! Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Assuming the draw down of USAF forces at Mildenhall continues, HC-130J and MV-22 to Europe and KC-135 and RC-135 to Fairford, dates vary but 2027 seems a often quoted date. Then time scale for the return of USAF operation to MOD and subsequent sale or lease to Marshalls would seem to be a convenient coincidence. It would appear to tick all the boxes, long runway, existing hangars, large parking /storage ramps and ample room for expansion. Probably the two most important factors are Mildenhall is close enough to transfer existing staff and it is probably the only place in the country where the locals are happy to live near an airfield. Many already work on the base as civilian contractors and will appreciate the employment. With the right planning and incentives Mildenhall could become an important part of the UK aviation scene.

could Scampton be a viable alternative?

If you read the associated documentation they seem to be suggesting that they’d like to (and of course it makes perfect commercial sense to) keep their existing staff. Given it’s over 100 miles between Cambridge and Scampton I think you have your answer.

could Scampton be a viable alternative?

The A505 “bypass” idea was thrown out but I hear that it may now be back on the cards along with long term plans to build houses behind the north side of the IWM site. It would make it easier for Marshall to move there but they would not be able to operate commercial flights or have large aircraft in for the paint shop due to runway length. And if the houses do appear, I would imagine that Marshall and the IWM would end altogether…….