Another Airfield Lost?

[Tomliner]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-26643691
The developers have been after this site for some time according to a friend of mine who works for RR here.
If RR's Merlin Flying Club still operate from Hucknall I wonder if they will have to relocate. EricT

[Garry Russell]

Sad, and also the indications at the moment is that Manston will close. It was recently sold.

So much history getting lost.

[dodger]

Hello Chaps,

Yes it does look like Manston could close within 3 weeks,

It makes me cross that these MP's who are suppose to run this country just can't seem to get their act together over our airports, i thought when KLM went into Manston they would not be there long, it has been the same for many years with different airlines, although they still do some freight and of course we have had the A380 and the Boeing Dreamliner for crew practice last year and other airlines have used the airport for crew touch and goes for many years.

Manston has the 4th longest runway in the UK and all that is needed is a fast rail connection as the airport is not that much father than Stansted from London but it will not happen i am sure which is a shame,

I could keep on ranting about all this so i better Shut Up!!

I am going down to Manston this week as i take any aircraft books i have finished with to the Museum there so i will hear a bit more as to what's on.

Roger.

[cstorey]

Very sad about Hucknall. I used to go there for tea on a Sunday afternoon, and the RR people were very friendly

[Garry Russell]

Places like Hucknell should really become museums. That is where a lot of history was made and far more suitable than a exhibition in a city.

There is little chance of ever relaunching an aviation industry if the sites keep on closing. The skill has gone elsewhere and the infratructure is ripped up.

Ther is no reason why there couldn't be a future. The Brazilians and Canadians have made it big during the times when the British wound down because there was 'nothing'.

All it takes is will...yes and money, but, will drove it in the past and could do again although hopefully if it did re arise, without Government interferance.

[cstorey]

I think Garry's view is rather too gloomy. A visit to the EADS factory at Broughton would not suggest that the skills have been lost, and similarly to visit RR at Derby is to see skills in the highest of high tech environments. The plain fact is that aerospace now is collaborative and international , and there is hardly any manufacturer who makes complete aeroplanes , rather than assembles them from parts made in other nations. Embraer as cited is a possible exception to this, although the engines all come from elsewhere , but sadly the Embraer experiment does not look as though it is going to have a happy ending, with the 135/145 series being delightful but aimed at a market that now does not really exist , and the 170 /190 ( although it has sold well to third tier airlines ) not really able to stand up to comparison with Boeing 737 let alone Airbus, particularly as Brazil is now running into the difficulties caused by a strengthening currency and the product internationally is thus not as cheap as it once was