Closure of Odiham, Benson and Wallop and turning Boscombe into a heli base- my proposal

[AlexLee05]

I've long been thinking about how many helicopter bases the UK operates with not that much going on at most of them and with the renewed discussion about defence budget atm I'm just wondering what people opinions would be especially from those more knowledgeable than me on certain areas.

RAF Benson, Since the Merlin's left it seems incredibly under-utilised and even more so when most of the Puma's aren't even there anymore.
RAF Odiham, whilst it seem's pretty busy the fact that the Chinook OCU and operational squadrons are seperate doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Surely it would make more sense to move it all into one base, I'd imagine the only thing stopping it might be the lack of hangar storage at Odiham for the extra Chinooks to transfer from Benson.
Middle Wallop, another strange one when the operational Apaches and training unit's are at two different bases pretty much on the other side of the country. I think it would make sense to close Wallop and move all Apaches to Wattisham, or close both Wattisham and Wallop and move all Apaches to Boscombe

My proposal would be to move all these aircraft to MOD Boscombe Down, it's an incredibly large airfield with the only thing I'm aware of actually going most of the time being ETPS, UAS and AEF Tutors. Whilst the test units are based at Boscombe they never actually seem to operate any aircraft from there, instead its from the usual base of the aircraft.
From my outsider perspective I'd imagine most of the existing hangars are probably pretty empty and the HAS doesn't get used for fast jets except for the very occasional ACE exercise. Surely some more hangars could be built in the HAS area and maybe to the east of runway 35/17, to house all the new helicopters.

I feel it would make sense to move all the Chinooks and whatever come of the of the NMH programme to Boscombe and maybe even the Apaches from both Wallop and Wattisham. It's closer to SPTA (where the heli's spend most of the time) and not much further away from any of the ranges near Aldershot. Middle wallop could also be closed or just left as a landing ground similar to Keevil. This would almost turn Boscombe into a British version of Gilze-Rijen which seems to work pretty well for the Dutch on what appears to be a slightly smaller airfield

All the other units at the bases could all move. At Benson JHSS and Tutors could go to Boscombe and the Air Ambulance and NPAS to Oxford. At Odiham the King's helicopter could go to Norholt or Farnborough. At Middle Wallop their tutors could also move to Boscombe


Just curious to know what everyone think's about this, if they actually think it would work or not?

[Bucky P]

Putting all the eggs in one basket is rarely a good idea!

[cat1]

even better when your looking to take everything out in a few missiles instead of 100!

very economical, sure the Russians will love that.

On a serious note, that is a great logistical idea, a terrible strategic idea

[andrewn]

Sadly, Alex is totally correct, every time we make another cut to either numbers or whole fleets it just leaves more real estate looking underutilised. I think it's inevitable that one of the SDR outcomes will be a further round of base closures, across all 3 services.

[Malcolm]

Got a feeling I've read somewhere that both Odiham and Benson (and Wittering) are on land that was compulsorily 'leased' from some big land owners - Dukes or Barons or some such. And the leases state that when the MoD no-longer need them they must be returned to the original land owners in the same condition that they were in when first taken over.

If true, that means the land can't be sold off by the MoD for housing raising £Millions, and worse, it'll cost £Millions to de-contaminate the land to restore it to the original condition.

[Bilvo]

Got a feeling I've read somewhere that both Odiham and Benson (and Wittering) are on land that was compulsorily 'leased' from some big land owners - Dukes or Barons or some such. And the leases state that when the MoD no-longer need them they must be returned to the original land owners in the same condition that they were in when first taken over.

If true, that means the land can't be sold off by the MoD for housing raising £Millions, and worse, it'll cost £Millions to de-contaminate the land to restore it to the original condition.

If if they could sell the land, the money from any sale would go to central governement to spend on benefits, not to the MoD!

[22A]

If true, that means the land can't be sold off by the MoD for housing raising £Millions, and worse, it'll cost £Millions to de-contaminate the land to restore it to the original condition.

Correct and if originally it was an orchard or plain woodland, that means replanting mature trees. The Honourable Anthony Finch-Knightly was quite reasonable when RAF Brampton was closed.

[EGDR]

I think it's often not understood also that simply because a base has no aircraft, or few aircraft, assigned to it that that doesn't mean it doesn't have other value to the overall MoD. RAF St Mawgan for example doesn't even have direct access to a runway anymore but still supports several thousand personnel and civilian contractors, and hosts a significant amount of SERE training.

[toom317]

If if they could sell the land, the money from any sale would go to central governement to spend on benefits, not to the MoD!

Any money raised would go into the government coffers and be used for government business. It certainly wouldn't be ring fenced to "spend on benefits" as you claim.

[Agent K]

If if they could sell the land, the money from any sale would go to central governement to spend on benefits, not to the MoD!

What a particularly loaded, incorrect and crass thing to say. Don't believe everything the foreign media moguls would want you to believe to fulfill their agenda. It would of course go into overall government funds and budget and be used as per financial plan.

[RubyRoo]

Consolidating all your eggs (or the few eggs we have left) in one basket isn't a good idea when you have little to no means of protecting those nests from ICBM attack.

If the UK is intent in consolidation of the remaining defence estate, there has to be a credible ballistic missile defence capability to protect it.

Currently one missile at Lossiemouth and Brize takes out the UK's entire transport fleet/MPA fleet/Northern QRA ability/aerial refuelling fleet.

As per the original posters idea of consolidation of Odiham/Benson/Middle Wallop at MoD Boscombe Down, I would vehemently argue against it. I agree that there isn't sufficient helicopter mass to warrant that many bases, however as another poster succinctly put above, whilst it may be a good logistical idea, it's a terrible strategic idea.

[Steven]

Basically OP, your idea is a great one if the UK faced no current OR future threats but in such an instance what would be the point in any of the helicopters either?

Imagine you know somebody who might want to steal all of your money - the person who might want to steal all of your money knows all of the places you keep your money but also knows it will be more difficult and will take them longer to steal it all if you spread it out in different places. Alternatively you can put all your money in one place and hope they don't want to steal it...

[binbrook87]

And also not forgetting that both Benson and Odihams runways could also be used for a fast jet FOB if required. Just another thought that could be factored in to any decision?

[Motley]

And also not forgetting that both Benson and Odihams runways could also be used for a fast jet FOB if required. Just another thought that could be factored in to any decision?

A couple of Typhoons did actually do a Ace excerise to Benson not that long ago.

As someone with a current connect to Benson, it has been said that even with Puma going Benson is safe and not going anywhere. Believe the eventual plan is the NMH will be based at Benson when it ever appears

[Deramore]

Moving everything to Shawbury would make more sense.

Continuity of lead in training.

LL area away from civilian airspace.

[binbrook87]

Moving everything to Shawbury would make more sense.

Continuity of lead in training.

LL area away from civilian airspace.

I don't think that's feasible as the airspace is really busy with training flights. They don't really seem to welcome many visiting aircraft these days maybe for that reason, so I can't see them accepting anymore helos choking up the pattern.

[Phoon]

Surely Yeovilton and Culdrose must also be in the mix. I can see one base from each of the services potentially closing. Six flying bases for an ever dwindling rotary fleet is to excessive with current financial pressures. It might also be time to consolidate all helicopters to a single force, eg the RAF gains them all and the FAA and AAC are no more.

[Ghost from above]

No existing space at Boscombe or space to build the domestic side without 100's of millions being spent .Much more than would be generated by selling Benson, Wallop and Odiham. No appetite from the government to spend. Especially the compensation to Qinetiq.

[EGDR]

Surely Yeovilton and Culdrose must also be in the mix. I can see one base from each of the services potentially closing. Six flying bases for an ever dwindling rotary fleet is to excessive with current financial pressures. It might also be time to consolidate all helicopters to a single force, eg the RAF gains them all and the FAA and AAC are no more.

Culdrose's position is protected by it being perfectly located for ASW and maritime training. It is also the hub for all Merlin maintenance (even for the RAF when they had them). Significant engineering and pilot training facilities are also at the base (contracts for new £100m facilities have just been signed for). The training pipeline for both RAF ISTAR and RN observer crews is also reliant on 750 Sqn and they make use of the huge training areas off the coast. The RN's UAV squadron is well established and makes heavy use of Predannack Airfield.

Yeovilton meanwhile is, on its own, home to over 80 helicopters as well as the administration HQs for several decently sized units. NATO JEWCS is also based there.

As I pointed out in my earlier reply, a lot more goes into the planning of which bases to keep and which to dispose of than simply the numbers of aircraft based there.

[Col Nago]

With the exception of a functional large volume fuel storage facility, Leuchars is a fully functioning airfield with HAS, that’s used on an almost daily basis these days by UK and US aircraft. Mixing in its current Army residents, easy access to training grounds, I can see it becoming some kind of joint base in the very near future.