Scampton 'will close' but Where will the Red Arrows go?

Following the break up of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s, it became apparent that there would have to be large-scale reductions in the strength of the armed forces. All of a sudden, for probably the first time since the 1930s, there was no obvious enemy and in those circumstances it was undoubtedly difficult to formulate a national defence policy let alone convince the British taxpayers that the UK military forces should continue to maintain their Cold War strengths in equipment and personnel. There was no hint of a war in Iraq to remove Saddam Hussain and the Soviets had recently vacated Afghanistan after trying and failing to out sort that unfortunate country! It would be for UK governments in the future to look again at Iraq and Afghanistan.

'Options for Change' was a UK Government plan in 1990 to restructure the armed forces. As part of the RAF's 'draw down', there was great pressure to reduce support costs so that there would be minimal effect on the front line. Indeed, a study entitled Front Line First and published in July 1994  spelled that out quite clearly. Thus, most of the RAF's money would be allocated to Strike Command while Support Command, to which the RAF Central Flying School (CFS) and the Red Arrows and the other 'non-front-line ' assets then belonged, would have to make the most significant economies. Rumours about the disbandment of the Red Arrows and the closure of their base at Scampton started to proliferate and as public relations spokesman for the CFS, the Red Arrows and Scampton as a whole, not forgetting the grave of Guy Gibson's black Labrador dog, I was kept busy.

Airfields cost a lot of money to maintain; the fastest and easiest way of saving millions of pounds in one fell swoop is to close down a whole airfield, especially if you can sell off the real estate. This does not mean that you disband all the units based at the airfield, you simply redeploy them to other bases. It's not so straightforward with the civilian staff who usually don't wish to move home. The RAF's big problem with closing down one of the flying training airfields is that it seriously reduces the runway time available to train pilots. Student pilots have to practice lots of circuits and landings and it takes only four or five going round and round the circuit to fill any given runway to capacity. On top of that has to be added the number of more advanced students who are learning how to fly bad weather instrument approaches. An aircraft practising a typical radar circuit turns onto the runway final approach heading at eight to ten miles from touch down and if the exercise is to have maximum value the aircraft must be given priority to land, or go around again, at no less than about three miles from touchdown. Fitting in everyone's requirements can become a nightmare for the air traffic controllers and for the harassed flying instructors who have to try and get as many approaches into a sortie as possible while still finishing the sortie at the scheduled time.

It is for this reason that the RAF has always made used of what are called Relief Landing Grounds. RLGs are airfields that provide a runway for students to practice on but usually have no resident aircraft. The RLG has to be within a few minutes' flying time of the main flying training school otherwise valuable time and fuel is expended in transiting between the two. In the early 90s Scampton had the use of two RLGs, the former Lightning base at Binbrook and the civil airfield at Sturgate near Gainsborough; Cranwell had the use of Barkston Heath. Both Scampton and Cranwell could also use Waddington, on the southern outskirts of Lincoln. Waddington was not an RLG but training aircraft could use it on an opportunity basis for circuit flying because for most of the time the airfield was not very busy. The Red Arrows didn't use the RLGs but the CFS aircraft operating from Scampton had to make use of them, especially during the winter months when the Red Arrows used up so much of the available flying time.

My diaries tell me that the first media story about possible closures of airfields in Lincolnshire came in July 1990 when the local newspapers reported that the Government was looking to save £600 million on defence spending that financial year. At the time there were nine RAF stations in the county, Barkston Heath, Coningsby, Cranwell, Digby, Donna Nook a bombing range near Mablethorpe, Nocton Hall Hospital near Lincoln, Scampton, the recruit training base at Swinderby and Waddington. An MoD spokesman said that any closures would not take place for another four or five years. The first media enquiry to come my way about the possible closure of specifically Scampton came from the Lincolnshire Echo, the County's daily newspaper, in January 1992.

'A rumour that RAF Scampton was to close was denied yesterday. Squadron Leader Tony Cunnane said, "Every RAF station's future is being reappraised but RAF Scampton is under no more immediate threat than any other RAF station."'

I was quite pleased by the way I had worded that statement; it managed to quell the rumour without actually saying anything useful. What more can a PRO, or his bosses, want?

Allegedly a notice appeared in the corridors of the MoD Main Building in Whitehall about this time which stated, 'Would the last person to leave please switch off the lights'. The rumours about airfield closures in Support Command really started to gain momentum in 1993. There was no question of Cranwell, the home of the RAF College, closing. That would be unthinkable. The other two large airfields in our Command, Linton-on-Ouse in north Yorkshire and Valley in Anglesey, were unlikely to be selected for closure because they were the main flying training schools and there was no obvious place for either to relocate their activities. It was, therefore, widely recognised that either Scampton or Finningley, the navigation and non-pilot aircrew training school, would have to go and most people reckoned that the axe would fall on Finningley. Accumulated wisdom within the lower ranks in the RAF was that it would be relatively easy to relocate the various units at Finningley to other bases within Support Command but that it would be well nigh impossible to relocate all the disparate flying units based at Scampton.

Bill Corke, a well-known reporter with a great sense of humour, reported in  the Sunday Sport in November 1993 that as part of the on-going defence cuts 'Britain's crack flying squadron The Red Arrows is to have its wings clipped and will be re-named 'The Red Arrow'. There will be modifications to the Team's show. A new manoeuvre will be introduced – Loop-de-Loop in which the pilot will land his plane and run around it. Diamond Formation, a breath-taking feat, will now be performed by the pilot's wife who will display her engagement ring in a marquee at air shows. For the Concorde manoeuvre the pilot will simply shout “Vive La France” as he flies past.'

Back to the top         Advance to the next part of this story