Just to clear up the MDA/MEDA question that was posed. I am reliably informed that there are no longer any declared MDAs, or MEDAs.
Brize Norton, Waddington, Kinloss, Manchester and Prestwick are the diversions of choice (those airfields are 24/7). However, if a military a/c is armed (even chaff/flares) then only the first three are used.
HTH
Resmoroh

I spent a couple of happy years working on TAHS (later VASS) at Valley in the mid 80’s.
Being a MMEDA we used to hold basic ground equipment/tooling for just about every military type of aircraft in europe, also starter cartridges and engine oils.
The list of aircraft types i’ve stuck a bit of petrol in, or packed a brake chute into is quite long, but sadly most of those types have now been relegated to museums.

[QUOTE=pagen01;1260715] He probably got through multi jet training hoping for Phantom or Tornado, only to be told he would be passing on fuel in a truck.
/QUOTE]

Somebody was telling him porkies if he was expecting to get on phantoms or tornados after doing multi jet training!
He wouldn’t even have been doing ‘heavy’ training unless he’d asked for it, or got chopped from fast jet training.

My Biggest wonder, is if Valley were dumping aircraft remnants back in the 1980s, Crikey, what were they like after the 2nd world war ??

I am being honest, but i dont know the history of Valley, but being so close to the sea, I wondered if Valley was a Maritime,Coastal Command Base during WW2, Liberators, Whitleys halifax, B17, Hudson, That sort of thing, and what if “Anything” happened to those aircraft that crashed or were scrapped During and After the war, I know a team of a few good men who are a whizz on the Forster Magnetometer,

WW2 pits at Valley, mm possible, its out back and beyond, and i reckon warrants some investigation,

MM, I might be having a trip to Kew/Hendon at this rate, I bet the Sqn ORB’s
are VERY interesting :D:diablo:;)

The lake at RAF Valley was a dumping ground after the war. Allegedly trucks, vehicles, ammunition, and all sorts of other stuff was dumped in there.
When i stationed there in the 80’s it was still off limits for swimming (although i’m not saying no one ever swam there after a few too many beers in the No.10 club!), and you weren’t allowed to fish in it. Apparently the fish were thought to be contaminated with chemicals from the dumped stuff.

I also seem to recall that over the years there’s been a few aircraft crashes into the lake, and that not all the wreckage has been recovered as it was tangled up with all the crap at the bottom of the lake.
Whilst i was there a Gnat and a Vampire (Venom?) were kicking around the hangars, and eventually they were tarted up and put on the gate.

I was a Valley in early/mid eighties and flew from mona a few times in light aircraft, and we went there working on Hawks a few times when there were problems at Valley.
I seem to recall going in the main gate, and there being one large scruffy hangar, an air traffic tower (?), and a couple of other smaller buildings.
We had a couple of Hawk have ‘incidents’ there one crashing after hitting birds (xx180), and another doing a wheels up landing after the pilot cocked up….he then ejected after the aircraft came to rest!.
I also recall several near misses when lorries went through the traffic lights on the A5, and approaching aircraft having to pull up to avoid them.

I had a ride in a Dakota yesterday at Southend – for the first and last time, unless I emigrate outside the EU. It was a great experience and I am very grateful that the Classic Flight exists to allow us to experience such delights.

I have to say, though, that the thinking behind the rules which are forcing it out of passenger carrying service were also in evidence yesterday at Southend. Would you believe that we had to go through full security for a 20 minute joyride? This seemed more than I have experienced in the last few years – we all had to remove our shoes (I can’t recall when I last did that at a UK airport) and had to produce our ID for a second time at the gate. Surely there is meant to be some commonsense in assessing the risk etc? (Oops – I just used “security” and “commonsense” in the same paragraph…)

These are the times we live in, a DC-3 is still quite a lump of metal, and from southend, sizewell isn’t too far away. And whilst it may not actually damage the reactor, just imagine all the fuss it would create.
Arguably a 20 minute check in and showing a bit of ID is a small price to pay.

RAF Barnwell, Suffolk, accomodation camp and training area near Thetford.

That’ll be BARNHAM then, lived there for a few years, used to have a good mess.

A couple of pictures of me and the occupants of RAF Valleys fire dump in appox 1984/5. (i posted these in the anglelsey/vulcan crash thread as well, but i thought they be easier to find here in the future if required.)