Think you’ll find I already mentioned this previously. New Hawks are already on order but not nearly enough of them to properly equip the flying training system, let alone an aerobatic team. Clearly, there will be insufficient aircraft to re-equip RAFAT and even if there were, I doubt if anyone would have the appetite for arguing that brand new aircraft should be issued to an aerobatic team. Clearly, it’s not going to happen. As I’ve said before, there are people already waiting for an excuse to dispose of the team and a fleet of exhausted aircraft will be their perfect excuse to dump the Reds without being accused (in typical Daily Mail style) of killing them off.

As has been said above, the RAFAT move to Waddington was announced ages ago. Likewise, the move was already known to some people before that, so it’s been on the cards for a long time. It’s also obvious that the MoD has wanted to get out of Scampton for a long time, so when the RAFAT do move, they will have their opportunity. I agree that although various parts of the station are protected by law, the rest isn’t, and although housing must be an option, I suspect that in reality the airfield will simply be abandoned and agriculture will develop around it. The existing domestic site has already become a rather grubby council-esque enclave and I doubt if anyone would be keen to construct a brand new development anywhere near it, and in the current climate, it’s obviously a non-starter in any case (but maybe not in the long-term future). Likewise, while there’s even a remote chance of the airfield actually being used, nobody will want to invest in new property development next to it. The land is just a little bit too far out of Lincoln to be all-that attractive, I suspect.

It must be much more likely that, like so many other places, it will simply be abandoned. Sad, wasteful, but probably inevitable. I remember the plan from many years ago to develop the airfield as an “outpost” for the IWM – a sort of “Northern Duxford”. How wonderful that would have been – an opportunity to preserve the site, keep the historic hangars, and acres of space, plus a huge runway which could handle lots of aircraft which Duxford’s runway no longer can. But like the proposed move of XH558 to Scampton, it came to nothing. I just hope that whoever does finally purchase the land, doesn’t have quite the same appetite for digging-up concrete as the owners of the former RAF Binbrook!

Oh well, another load of rubbish. Ninety minutes and all they told us is that the RAF comprises of fighter and bomber pilots and that they dropped bombs in two wars, dropped a bigger bomb in the ‘fifties and then ended up back in the desert, bombing “wogs” precisely where they started ninety years before.

What garbage. I could have written a better script on the back of a beer mat whilst having a cr*p!

Quite agree, it would be complete folly to keep a base open just for the sake of history. But of course it’s not simply a case of closure – it’s about shuffling assets from one base to another. I’m not necessarily suggesting it would be an obvious candidate for direct exchange but you have to marvel at how – for example – two large bases are maintained on the Moray Firth just a few miles apart. And why? Politics of course. The obsession with the “Superbase” concept has already caused more than a few cynics to coiin the phrase “RAF Lincolnshire” so it would probably make economic sense to shove even more assets into the region, rather than taking some out. But of course logic never has anything to do with MoD policies! In many respects it’s just a sad affair which was probably inevitable but it’s still a great shame, not least because there doesn’t seem to be any prospect of the airfield surviving once the RAF leaves. Given its location, Scampton must be doomed to either return to agriculture, or more housing.

Nashio – short answer as to what the RAF will use when the Hawks run our of hours is – more Hawks! The first ones are test flying already. But there won’t be nearly enough for flying training, let alone equipping an aerobatic team. It’s just not going to happen. Once the RAFAT Hawks run out of hours, the bean-counters have their perfect excuse to dispose of the team without being seen as the proverbial “axeman” – they can simply say the aircraft are clapped-out. You can see it coming from a long way off, well, not that far actually!

Well the Reds are going to Waddington – that much has been officially announced now, and OC RAFAT said in private before the announcement that accommodation was being prepared at Waddington many months ago, so one can only assume that it’s going to happen, and probably by the end of next year if my informants are correct.

I think the sad truth is that the MoD/RAF have wanted to get out of Scampton for a very long time, so it’s only ever been a question of when. Given that a great deal of the admin/domestic site is already either sold-off or abandoned, and that the RAFAT is the only obvious reason for the airfield to remain active (everything else can simply be moved elsewhere), it looks like a no-brainer and has done for years. It’s all very well the RAF claiming that the Reds will continue to use the airfield circuit for display training but once the station is sold-off, the airfield will follow, and that will be the end of it. Tragic, considering the historical importance of the base and the fact that it’s a big, well-equipped airfield, but the RAF is patently obessed with the “Superbase” mentality now, and Scampton just doesn’t fit in.

Incidentally, there was a plan to base XH558 back at Scampton some time ago so the idea wasn’t as wild as it sounds. Shame it didn’t happen!

… and as for the Reds “remaining” – you can be pretty sure that their time will also run out when their airframes do. There clearly isn’t anything to replace them.

I spent a lot of time sat outside St.Mawgan over the years from the mid-‘seventies onwards. Never did catch a Mirage IV (I had to head to Wyton to finally see one fly by) and it’s true that there was always endless banter from the locals about how one had “just missed” a Mirage or a Sea Vixen – they seemed to be infamous for turning-up when you weren’t there. The closest I got was on a cold october morning when a French 135 turned-up, but without a Mirage in tow!

Still, can’t complain. St.Mawgan yielded more fantastic sights than any other airfield I ever frequented. The mass arrival of 19 Squadron’s Phantoms was a nice surprise one day, as was the arrival of twenty-plus Atlantics one Sunday afternoon. Then there was “Arctic Fox” (the RP-3) on detachment, French and Dutch Neptunes, and those magnificent CAF Arguses, plus 104’s, Ginas, Etendards, Crusaders, F-111’s, Vulcans, Victors, Lightnings, Jaguars, A-10’s… the list goes on and on. But despite all the exotic visitors, I’d be happy to be able to just see 7 squadron’s Canberras again, plodding around the circuit, especially the lovely grey/dayglow T19’s. I still pop over to Newark Air Museum occasionally to give the T19 a pat, and try to remember when she looked less battle-worn (and without those fictitious wingtip tanks), up in the air over Newquay.

It’s a sad day indeed. St.Mawgan will always be a fond memory. My mom died recently and she was a great fan of the area too, and she commented that she’d love to have her ashes spread at St.Eval Church, up amongst the Shackleton dispersals. So that’s my task for my next trip down there. It’ll be doubly sad to see poor old St.Mawgan masquerading as a lowly airport – if the Council ever manages to get it running of course.