Royal Air Force

A good point, but having served at both Marham and Leuchars during the cold war Victors reguarly had to land at Leuchars to refuel on Q missions.

If they were on a particulary long, or high fuel pass, sortie up North it would be easier to nip into Leuchars for fuel and then return to the refuelling task.

Exactly!!!!!! So the question has to be asked as to why they never looked at basing a Victor det at say Leuchars or Lossie. In the dark days of the cold war Kinloss wasnt an MDA/MEDA so Lossie would probably been a better choice.

Because basing even a det. of Victor tankers anywhere other than Marham would have required an awful lot of dedicated support equipment and personnel. It's alot easier to have them operate from one main base and to then patrol the AAR corridors, and dropping into any nearest airfield for fuel as a matter of convienence if they have to, if they were up north then I guess Leuchars was the convenient station.
Didn't someone mention in the Leuchars thread that the newer BFI there could support the tanker fleet? If so then that might be why they used there intead of Kinloss or Lossie.
Just making a suppostion about your MDA case here, but wouldn't Lossie be the last place to drop in, as Kinloss and Leuchars were 24hr stations?

For those who are interested the Official SDSR Document is online here;
www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/...DF&PLA=furl&CRE=sdsr

Cheers

Until 1989 Lossie was a MDA/MEDA, Kinloss took the MEDA on because of the Nimrod SAR cover.

And this afternoon I realised why there wasnt a Victor det at Leuchars, or anywhere else for that matter, there werent enough Victors! When we did the AAR trails to say Cyprus (at o god oo!) then that was Victor flying over at Marham for the day.

Leuchars was the Northern MEDA when I arrived in march 1990 . I had extra men on my RHAGs & Barrier etablishment so we could maintain an aestor team 24/7. To get the alternate Xmas shut down Kinloss would take over for 10 days But the published MEDAs were Leuchars & Lyneham.

TED

Ted, until 1992 there were nine MEDAs in the UK. From the top; Kinloss, Leuchars, Leeming, Waddington, Wattisham, Valley, Manston, Lyneham and St Mawgan. Wildenrath was an MDA until it closed(Ithink!). In 1992 Leuchars and Lyneham became the only MEDAs, but the others and Marham(it repalced Wattisham) became a sort of mini MEDA, they were open 0800-2359 mon-thu and 0800-1800 fri. Although Waddington was open 24/7 it didnt have a 24 hr VAS.

Pinched off another forum but a sad reflection on what looks to lie ahead for the Royal Air Force ;


FOR SALE DUE TO FORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES NINE RAF NIMROD MRA4 AIRCRAFT
BOUGHT NEW FROM BAE SYSTEMS SHOWROOM AT WOODFORD
THESE AIRCRAFT DONT EVEN HAVE DELIVERY MILES ON THEM AS THEY WERE NEVER
DELIVERED
CANT BE GUARANTEED TO WORK BUT BAE WONT CHARGE MUCH TO SORT THEM OUT FOR
YOU
IDEAL FOR A TALKING POINT AT PARTIES OR TO USE AS A STATIC DISPLAY ON THE
EMPTY AIRCRAFT CARRIER WHICH I WILL HAVE FOR SALE SOON (ANOTHER ONE FROM
BAE)
PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU HAVE FEEDBACK OF LESS THAN 5 CANNOT GUARANTEE
DELIVERY TIME BUT THATS PART OF THE DEAL WITH THIS AIRCRAFT
MAY PART EXCHANGE FOR A BACKBONE FOR THE PRIME MINISTER AND HIS FELLOW
MPS
I HAVE HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH STORAGE DONT WORRY I
WILL HAVE SEVERAL HANGARS LISTED SOON
NO OVERSEAS BIDDERS

Don't worry - be happy! Someone has also put the Bark Royal up for sale on eBay!