Aldergrove Closure - Sad times

Location : Near RAF Aldergrove

Hey guys,

We all knew it was coming, and I for one thought it
would be all next year, but an article in this weeks Antrim Guardian
says the following:

"The long awaited run down of RAF Operations at Aldergrove has been marked for Sunday 20th September..

...
on that date the number of servicemen will be reduced from around 700
to 70, the ensign will be officially removed and it will be renamed
'Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station Aldergrove'"

Did anyone
else expect things to wind down so soon? I knew it was going to be sad
when it happened but really am shocked that it is only a few weeks
away.

Will any a/c be based over at the RAF side from now on apart from the Police helicopters and the army air stuff?

Regards
Jonny

Location : N Ireland Spotter Watch Member : No

ringo747 wrote:: Hey guys,

We all knew it was coming,

Did anyone
else expect things to wind down so soon? I knew it was going to be sad
when it happened but really am shocked that it is only a few weeks
away.

Will any a/c be based over at the RAF side from now on apart from the Police helicopters and the army air stuff?

Regards
Jonny

You answered your own question at the start.No surprise here - the countdown began with the Army base closures in 2007.

I'd imagine the AAC will relocate back to the mainland at some stage too. Sad

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-28, 10:22

I think that the army air corp will stay here with the rest of the
raf (hopefully) Crying

please stay 665 squadron of 5 regiment

Subject: Aldergrove Closure- Sad times 2009-08-28, 12:34

Is this closure all part of the peace process,that we see on the news.

Location : N Ireland Spotter Watch Member : No

lowlevel wrote:: Is this closure all part of the peace process,that we see on the news.

Yes.

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-28, 16:42

But the british army and the royal air force dont do anything in northern ireland
now so i dont know why they need to close it due to the peace
process its very sad to hear about it Crying

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-28, 17:35

daffy duck wrote:: But the british army and the royal air force dont do anything in northern ireland
now so i dont know why they need to close it due to the peace
process its very sad to hear about it

You just answered your own thing there Daffy.

"But the British Army and Royal Air Force don't do anything in Northern Ireland"

Hence why they are closing Aldergrove! Why be there when they *Don't do anything* (Even though that statement is far from the truth).

Location : Near RAF Aldergrove

lowlevel wrote:: Is this closure all part of the peace process,that we see on the news.

To be honest i think it is nothing to do with the peace process at all. At the time it was announced that the 230 squadron would be relocated to Benson purely for logistical reasons. It makes sense to have all your big helicopter units stationed together especially when the 230 sqn were only training here for foreign deployments and not really involved in local ops. They still served the army bases though transporting soldiers in and out of masserene barracks etc but not much else as far as I am aware. Obviously they wont miss them too much if they are moving. I guess it will just be the army air corps aircraft and the police choppers left now.

Location : N Ireland Spotter Watch Member : No

ringo747 wrote:

lowlevel wrote:: Is this closure all part of the peace process,that we see on the news.

To be honest i think it is nothing to do with the peace process at all.
230 sqn were only training here for foreign deployments and not really involved in local ops.
They still served the army bases though transporting soldiers in and out of masserene barracks etc but not much else as far as I am aware.

Exactly.

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-29, 13:29

well northern ireland is part of the uk and they should have an
raf base and an army air corp base here thats why razor 61

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-29, 13:34

Daffy
So we will need an RAF base on the Channel Islands too then?

Another thing to think about...
Will the LFA disappear or still be available?
A few Tonkas low level over Northern Ireland might look nice from time to time but they might get a few oversized pellet guns pointed at them from time to time !

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-29, 14:15

no but northern ireland is a bit bigger than that Laugh

were is the low flying area i get lots of gazelles
flying over time to time and lynx ah7's flying over belfast when they were here

Location : Glasgow

daffy duck wrote:: were is the low flying area i get lots of gazelles flying over time to time

you do? I thought that they were all withdrawn?

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-08-29, 14:33

yep lynx are (gazelle's are still here)

Location : Near RAF Aldergrove Spotter Watch Member : No

Razor61 wrote:: Daffy
So we will need an RAF base on the Channel Islands too then?

Another thing to think about...
Will the LFA disappear or still be available?
A few Tonkas low level over Northern Ireland might look nice from time to time but they might get a few oversized pellet guns pointed at them from time to time !

The guys who would like to pop a few rounds off at the Tonkas have alot more than a few 'oversized pellet guns'

But yea def sad times.

J

Location : northern ireland Spotter Watch Member : no

Hi folks ,
With reference to the low fly area seen this in the tele last night , heres hoping

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/lowflying-raf-pilots-could-use-northern-ireland-as-training-ground-14481443.html

Regards
Chris

Admin Location : Birmingham B17

Pellet guns lol.

Try being on the receiving end.Not nice take it from me.

I think in reality.There will be alot of overflights in the future just to keep a check on things.

The Puma P1 will be in use i guess,as well as other assets.

Jim.

Subject: Re: Aldergrove Closure - Sad times 2009-09-05, 17:30

hope that low flying does Wow

happen

Location : suffolk

it is a loss for N ireland and if razor wants to argue about nothing to do why are we still based in the falklands there is nothing to do there now apart from play with each other and a bit of training.

Subject: Puma's 2009-09-25, 07:47

I flew out of Belfast Int last night at about 18:00 and a Puma flew across us just before take off.
Splendid view of him still airbourn as we took off. I noted three other Puma's on the ground but couldn't see any AAC stuff from the air. Didn't see much near the south hanger complex either. A sharp turn south just after take off gave me a great view of Aldergrove and Nutts Corner.