USAF at RAF Mildenhall bye bye

[Mr_B]

Looks like they are off

[Eric Mc]

Link?

[Shar2]

Just saw this on the news. USAF are pretty cagey about it in a sort of "we cannot confirm or deny" press release.

[baldy1926]

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/raf_mildenhall_to_clos...


Hope that works

[Lincsblokey]

Alconbury too!

[Scotty2]

Will this solve the "New Airport" required for the south problem?

[tuffer]

Scotty2 said:

Will this solve the "New Airport" required for the south problem?

Hardly, you have to drive past Stansted to get to it:

[snowy]

So just as the British Armed Forces have moved out of bases in Germany, back to the UK, the yanks now think it is better to be in Germany

Wonder if our Armed forces will move back

[Mutley]

tuffer said:

Hardly, you have to drive past Stansted to get to it:

Only if you're coming from the south, up the M11

[FunkyNige]

Must be a blow for the local economy, also a shame as I liked seeing the interesting things the special lot there had (think it was Pavehawks and Ospreys) flying around, much more than the F15s from Lakenheath chasing each other round the sky for hours on end!

[Scotty2]

Mutley said:

Only if you're coming from the south, up the M11

Exactly,

Us living above Watford would rather go a little less south to get to a "hub". Humberside doesn't have too much international choice unless you go through AMS.

[tuffer]

Scotty2 said:

Mutley said:

Only if you're coming from the south, up the M11

Exactly,

Us living above Watford would rather go a little less south to get to a "hub". Humberside doesn't have too much international choice unless you go through AMS.

So develop Standsted, its right on the M11 as opposed developing a new site from scratch (only the runway would be of real use) that has poor local infrastructure.

[Eric Mc]

Sorry to hear this. Went to a number of Mildenhall Air Days and they were always well run.

Lakenheath is remaining - the last active US air base in the UK now.

[Simpo Two]

Molesworth is closing too, so 3 out of four gone.

Eric Mc said:

Lakenheath is remaining - the last active US air base in the UK now.

And to get two squadrons of F35s, the local TV news said.

[BLUETHUNDER]

Despite what you have heard in the news. Their is also a question mark over Lakenheath as well.

[muckymotor]

Javelin track days will be ordering more cones as I type

[Mutley]

tuffer said:

Scotty2 said:

Mutley said:

Only if you're coming from the south, up the M11

Exactly,

Us living above Watford would rather go a little less south to get to a "hub". Humberside doesn't have too much international choice unless you go through AMS.

So develop Standsted, its right on the M11 as opposed developing a new site from scratch (only the runway would be of real use) that has poor local infrastructure.

No! London airspace is almost at capacity. Airports need to be built further north. Why not develop Birmingham, or East Midlands?

[Boatbuoy]

snowy said:

So just as the British Armed Forces have moved out of bases in Germany, back to the UK, the yanks now think it is better to be in Germany

Wonder if our Armed forces will move back

Maybe I've taken your point the wrong way, but it's not about the USAF moving to Germany, it's about continued draw-down in Europe. The moving of the tankers to Germany is just consolidating it's European assets from one existing base (Mildenhall) to another (Ramstein(?)).

[eccles]

BLUETHUNDER said:

Despite what you have heard in the news. Their is also a question mark over Lakenheath as well.

So the news says they're getting 1200 new people and a couple of new squadrons of F35's, both confirmed by the Americans and you somehow know different?

[NelsonM3]

Eric Mc said:

Sorry to hear this. Went to a number of Mildenhall Air Days and they were always well run.

Lakenheath is remaining - the last active US air base in the UK now.

Me too. I was waiting impatiently for the shows to restart as they stopped after the 9/11 attacks

I occasionally work in Mildenhall and you don't have to look hard to find an American. I'd say every 1 in 8 cars are American and there are even a couple of American specialist Dealers in the area. Very sad news to see they are leaving.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the base. Hopefully they won't turn it into another housing estate. Far too many WW2 air bases in Suffolk have been lost already to developers. It's about time we started to preserve some of our history.