Help us Raise Funds to save RAF Bicester!

I too hope the new owners do justice to the site. Just to be fair though, the Bomber Command heritage bid was never for it to be just a museum – far from it.

I have a vested interest here, in that I have two aircraft currently based on the airfield.

I have spoken with the new owners and I think that their aspirations are realistic. In addition to their business record, the two prime movers in the project are known and respected in both the vintage car and aeroplane worlds.

Of course, they have to gain a return on the site in the long term, but they are both respectful of the heritage of the site and realistic in what they plan to achieve. They are also patient, and aren’t rushing too quickly into fundamental changes.

As many have pointed out on this page, a museum alone will not, no matter how well run, generate the resources to arrest the MoD’s ‘controlled neglect’ over the past decades. The new owners will inevitably mean some change, but they are committed to maintaining the omni-directional grass airfield as a going concern and I remain cautiously optimistic I can keep flying old aeroplanes from the airfield for the forseeable future!

Looking at a cost of 35 million in the long term its not credible to get a return on that kind of investment from a museum project of this kind and I am not sure where you could get anything to display that is appropriate and interesting enough to draw visitors in.

I agree with that David.
You’re going to have to have some heap big medicine on show to recoup that sort of investment.
Have BCH actually got a Lancaster–their website shows one??
I sometimes wonder how people think the heritage/leisure industry works.
‘ON SMALL MARGINS’ is the one I commonly hear.
And unless the weather improves–smaller ones yet..!

My guess is this. That there isn’t actually enough money around at the moment to sustain the stuff that is preserved nationally. If it wasn’t for huge injections of private money, I reckon the old aeroplane trade, and by definition many airshows, museums and probably this forum would cease to exist.
Sadly, I rate this one alongside ‘The Peoples DH.98’.

I thought his point was very clear; Bicester was never an operational Bomber Command base but a training airfield.

Mike J, RAF Bomber Command was in control of the aerodrome for a period so can’t understand the relevance of the point being made.

Capel Le Ferne was never a Fighter Base….nor was the Air Forces Memorial located on an aerodrome, nor is where the RAF Bomber Command Memorial is situated. The list goes on…

Let’s all agree to disagree in regards to the point in question. 😀

Re 10 & 25

Especially 10

I might have missed something – entirely possible – but I can’t find any answer to Francisco’s very relevant questions concerning finance. Everyone appears to be ‘shooting in the dark’ until we know, by way of an example, how much the MoD wants for the site.

The site has been sold by the MoD to a company called Bicester Heritage Ltd. http://www.bicesterheritage.com

No shooting in the dark here. The site HAS been sold, so no doubt the finance obtained by the MoD will come apparent in due course, or may even be mentioned by the company that won the bid, similar to the situation at the time of the sale of the Domestic Site.

So sorry, obviously missed your point, which I apologize.:confused:

I thought his point was very clear; Bicester was never an operational Bomber Command base but a training airfield.

bc heritage, thanks for that but what you highlighted backs my point rather than contradict it.

Stating facts Sir for you, as you did say in your Post No. 40 “..to my knowledge“, so I kindly helped you out with the history issue, being the kind chap I am.

So sorry, obviously missed your point, which I apologize.:confused:

Bicester 1975

Good luck!

bc heritage, thanks for that but what you highlighted backs my point rather than contradict it.

Re 10 & 25

Especially 10

I might have missed something – entirely possible – but I can’t find any answer to Francisco’s very relevant questions concerning finance. Everyone appears to be ‘shooting in the dark’ until we know, by way of an example, how much the MoD wants for the site.

There is a big difference between websites and social media bites and actually making a site work! Looking at a cost of 35 million in the long term its not credible to get a return on that kind of investment from a museum project of this kind and I am not sure where you could get anything to display that is appropriate and interesting enough to draw visitors in.

Obviously heritage centres and preserving former Bomber Command airfields is the in thing at present http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=123188

RAF Scampton has a similar pedigree according to the English Heritage report that is available for that site! 😉

Not one to let the truth spoil a good story then? Bicester was never a bomber station other than as a conversion unit to my knowledge. .

mike currill. Research is the KEY to historic aviation. To save you some time, if research is not your thing read the following:-

Question 1: How is RAF Bicester related to RAF Bomber Command?

RAF Bicester is mentioned by English Heritage as being the best preserved of the Bomber bases built in the Expansion Period of the 1920s. Bomber Command No 7 Operational Training Group was formed in July 1940, and the Group’s Headquarters located at RAF Bicester. 13 O.T.U (Operation Training Unit) was formed at RAF Bicester, to train crews for 2 Group and Middle East squadrons. Many aircrew trained at RAF Bicester in the early years, and served with heavy bomber squadrons in the latter part of the war. One notable Airman was Air Vice Marshal Sir Hughie Idwal Edwards, VC, KCMG, CB, DSO, OBE, DFC (1914–1982).

Question 2: Why an aerodrome in Oxfordshire for the Heritage/Education Centre, as during the War, Lincolnshire was home to the largest Bomber Command Group ?

RAF Bomber Command of the WWII period operated all over the World. The land that many aerodromes once occupied in the United Kingdom reverted back to agriculture, or were sold off to developers for housing or industrial uses. Many were altered to cater for the Cold War years, and some are still in use today. RAF Bicester remains in a visual time capsule since the 1920s, hence it is unique, and it just happens to be located in Oxfordshire!

Question 3: RAF Bicester is a grass aerodrome, Bomber Command stations only had concrete?

It was not really until the advent of the Heavy Bomber that concrete runways were used. Even the “Dambusters” of 617 Squadron, in 1943, operated from a concrete-free runway at RAF Scampton.

Avion Ancien. This is what you are looking for:

http://www.bicesterheritage.com

David Burke – Check our website and social media sites. Our Youtube Channel might assist.

http://www.youtube.com/bchjourneytogether

I rest my nagging! 😀

Happy Holidays Everyone:)

I find it interesting that ‘BCH’ are considered an essential part of the site development -do they have a track record on any previous project or have they rescued anything?

There is a danger that the former RAF Bicester, the last intact WWII RAF Bomber Station, will be split up and lost to “mixed development” as usually happens to all historic aerodromes unless Bomber Command Heritage (BCH), in partnership with Cherwell District Council, can acquire the Site and restore it back to its former glory for use as Heritage Centre and major UK visitor attraction with tremendous benefits to the local economy. BCH need to purchase the site immediately from the MoD as well as undertaking wider work to help raise awareness of the importance of the subject and its relevance in the 21st Century.

You can help! Please donate any amount, no matter how big or small, to our “Fighting Fund” by either:
going to our website www.bc-heritage.org and simply downloading a Donation Form;
or contacting us via email: [email]donations@bc-heritage.org[/email] ;
or sending directly to our Telford Road office.

http://www.facebook.com/bombercommandheritage
http://www.twitter.com/bc_heritage

Not one to let the truth spoil a good story then? Bicester was never a bomber station other than as a conversion unit to my knowledge. All the Oxfordshire airfields were training stations with the exception (possibly) of Harwell which even then was responsible for some kind of research (Rubber runways to do away with the weight of an installed undercarriage). Anyway at that time Harwell was in Berkshire.

Yes thanks arm waver 🙂

It does seem unusual that there is so little in the public domain on any of the the bids as I would have expected some sort of public consultation to be visible on the Cherwell District council website.

Our aim is to bring together the UK’s cottage industry of specialists on this important and atmospheric campus in order to promote not just the preservation but, specifically, the use of vintage aeroplanes and motorcars.

In doing so it brings a modern, sympathetic use to what is considered to be the UK’s most important Bomber Command site and a national heritage asset.

Comprising a former RAF Technical Site of more than 50 buildings (of which 19 are Grade II listed) totalling over 350,000 square feet, and a substantial operating grass airfield. It is situated on 348 acres next to Bicester, Oxfordshire’s fastest growing town.

This from the BHL website sounds like they aiming to develop something along the lines of Goodwood or Duxford and BCH have an essential part to play in this. As the registered address of the business in in Mayfair it also suggests they have access to money and the owners appear to be enthusiasts. It needs to stack up commercially and if it allows somewhere for the city traders and fund managers to store and maintain their toys then so be it. At least it should secure a long term future and stop the site falling into the hands of housing developers.

My pleasure.
I agree I hope it comes to fruition.

I wouldn’t mind a job there to be honest. Working airside at an airfield would be great again.
ATVB
G

Thank you, Arm Waver. I’ve looked at that website (and wonder why Google didn’t link to it). The image it projects is heartening. Thus I hope it is more than spin and, in the fullness of time, will prove to mirror that which results. But it’s a brave vision in the current economic climate and I hope that it stacks up commercially.

http://bicesterheritage.wordpress.com/
Here you go.
Won’t work today from my phone…

Maybe I should simply wait to see if the sale to Bicester Heritage Ltd. goes through

Judging by what appears at http://news.cision.com/defence-infrastructure-organisation/r/mod-sells-raf-bicester-site,c9393091 the sale has gone through!

When I googled Bicester Heritage Ltd., I could not find a website for that company. Can you provide a hyperlink, Arm Waver? However it does not appear to be a company with much heritage of its own in that it was incorporated as recently as 30 October 2012. This is what appears on http://companycheck.co.uk/company/08273333 concerning the company:

“Bicester Heritage Limited is an Active business incorporated in England & Wales on 30th October 2012. Their business activity has not been recorded. Bicester Heritage Limited is run by 4 current members. It has no share capital. It is not part of a group. The company has not yet filed accounts. Bicester Heritage Limited’s risk score was amended on 05/03/2013”

Those “four current members” appear to be Daniel Geoghegan (appointed director 30.10.12) and Bob Meijer, Dominic White and Andrew Galashan (appointed directors 01.03.13). Do these names mean anything to anyone?