RAF leave Lyneham

lyneham WW2 paint?

Spoke to an retired dispatcher today, don’t know if this is correct but he says the Dakota from Lyneham has had a paint job using some WW2 paint discovered in one of the hangars – can anyone confirm or deny this?

I still go to RAF Honington where I was based in the 80’s (mates aircraft is based there), and even though it’s still an active Army/RAF base the place is still very sad looking and run down. Our old aircraft pan now has barrack blocks on it and the HAS sites are all overgrown and used for storage etc.

For my day job I work on another ex RAF station that is now Army, that to, is quite run down and scruffy looking. There’s just no budget to keep the place looking nice any more, also the Army don’t seem to ‘care’ about the place. 🙁

After being into aviation for a long long time and visting many an old WW2 RAF station that has long turned in to dust or used for farming, with grass growing through the runways and the buildings being deserted and empty of glass in the window frames, Its bizarre reading some of the reports from various members visiting Lyneham.

The very same things happening to this airfield to which i was stationed in the 1990`s are making me feel very old. I feel as though i must buy a blazer and have my unit badge stitched on to the pocket of it. A strange attatchment of pride to a major passing of history 🙁

RAFM Cosford, http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=114039&highlight=lyneham+comet , though I’m not sure how those plans are progressing.

Thanks, great news. I’d heard the airframe had some corrosion and was under the impression it didn’t have much of a future ahead of it.

I doubt the airfield will be kept usable. When I was there in the summer with the Air Cadet VGS I was horrified just how much grass was already growing through the apron and runways. If you add the oil and fuel spills (inevitable during REME training) which will further ruin tarmac, the airfield is already lost forever. 🙁

I visited the VGS there in August last and had a guided tour of the base, bringing back fond memories of two tours I did there with the RAF during the ’70s and ’80s. I was also horrified at the weeds growing between the cracks on the main apron, but I thought the taxiways and runways looked still in remarkable operational condition. The ATC tower and main terminal building are like a ghost town, once a hive of activitity and now with all equipment removed. I took lots of photos recalling my days in those buildings.

however with the current vogue of increasingly combined multi service tech training I’m open minded about an RAF presence of some sort returning there.

“The Defence site at Lyneham in Wiltshire will not be closed, as it is to be remodelled into a training establishment as the Defence College of Technical Training.” So you may well be right in the longer term, with others following REME….

Due to change into a Defence Training Centre according to this news item http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-20873865

… see associated links on the BBC site!

Are there any plans for the Comet to move elsewhere?

RAFM Cosford, http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=114039&highlight=lyneham+comet , though I’m not sure how those plans are progressing.

We had a brief at Saints some time ago that RAF Tech training won’t be going to Lyneham, however with the current vogue of increasingly combined multi service tech training I’m open minded about an RAF presence of some sort returning there.

As long as someone is there looking after it. You never know when they might be needed again.

I doubt the airfield will be kept usable. When I was there in the summer with the Air Cadet VGS I was horrified just how much grass was already growing through the apron and runways. If you add the oil and fuel spills (inevitable during REME training) which will further ruin tarmac, the airfield is already lost forever. 🙁

planes over Lyneham

Yes it has been very strange, having grown up in the town of Wootton Bassett got used to the sight and sound Britannia’s, Comets and Hercs coming over, when they stopped it was really strange. But saying that a couple of weeks ago a Herc came over very low, dropped it’s wheels and went into Lyneham which I thought strange so I had a word with an ex-Herc pilot now flying commercially. He said he was probably doing a few bumps but he thought the runway had grass growing up and it wouldn’t be much of an exercise because the runways so long.

Are there any plans for the Comet to move elsewhere?

As long as someone is there looking after it. You never know when they might be needed again.

Saying that, it’s unlikely the RAF will ever have enough aircraft to re-populate
the airfields which have been closed down.

Ahh, right… I thought RAF Technical Training!!

Yes it is – I was referring to it’s closure as an operational RAF base. The new occupants in 2015 will be REME.

I thought Lyneham was being retained for technical training… :confused:

The end of yet another piece of RAF history but something we are going to have to get used to over the years to come!:(