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No more Barkston Heath.


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That's rather sad news and effectively spells the end of the NATS permanently. Not many non-MOD venues around and looks like we won't be able to use any MOD property now. 

 

Big thanks to the Station Commander for what feels like a rather arbitrary decision. 

 

 

 

 

 

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I was reading the "other airfields" as being civilian ones. I can't imagine that other RAF airfields will be forthcoming when BH is not. Closed ranks and all that, if someone else says yes, doesn't it undermine the BH decision somewhat? 

 

Hopefully you are right, but it just feels a bit terminal, especially as the "excuse" was Covid last time, now all of a sudden it is "operational". 

 

 

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Realistically, the best option would be a civilian airfield/airpory of a reasonable size, but I suspect that would come at a rather high price. 

 

Nottingham City Airport or something of that sort of size would possibly work for a more "compact" NATS.  Nice layout as well. 

 

Screenshot_20220304_194633.thumb.jpg.b4c88a7dac922913ed1565c65dbda25c.jpg

 

 

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Bruntingthorpe is an excellent idea, but is it not used as a storage facility for car sales places? Looks that way on Google, but could be way out of date. It is absolutely massive though... 

 

In terms of RAF, I think Syerston would be a good option. Used mostly by glider training units, it has a decent amount of space and is pretty centrally located. 

 

CL might be difficult to arrange but not impossible, and FF would be amply catered for with all that grass. 

 

Screenshot_20220304_211859.thumb.jpg.eccfe3f83ed86561b26b583e9d369989.jpg

 

Edited by Matt Carlton
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11 hours ago, Matt Carlton said:

Hopefully you are right, but it just feels a bit terminal, especially as the "excuse" was Covid last time, now all of a sudden it is "operational". 

 

 

I'm lost for words reading this.  The entire world is incredibly nervous about "sudden" extremely destabilising events in Eastern Europe (think August 1914, September 1939, August 1945, the 1961 Cuban Missile Crisis, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, Adi Amin, Osama Bin Laden, Super Covid, the Spanish Flu, the Black Death, and the extinction of the dinosaurs 60 million years ago all combined into one very nasty "terminal" possibility), and you think an RAF Station Commander is just looking for excuses to stop a bunch of British children in adult bodies having fun with their pretend aeroplanes this summer.

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My tongue was rather firmly in my cheek about that. It probably didn't come across that way, but it was sarcasm. 

 

Obviously I am entirely aware of the global political situation and the rationale behind the decision, I'm not a complete idiot. 

 

 

Edited by Matt Carlton
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I completely understand and I think we are all, to some extent, rather bewildered and concerned about the state of the world. 

 

Maybe it is part of our British stoiscism to underplay the seriousness of things.

 

Poe's law is definitely an issue online, and the lack of nuance or body language is definitely the cause of more than a few raging arguments. 

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Nobody should be surprised at the RAF's position and TBH, I find in quite understandable given the current situation. Nothing stays the same and the Nats as they were and as we like to remember them are not immune from outside influences. The event has been refreshed by coming away from the notion of it being only competition based, and the introduction of the showline has been a great success. For me, the loss of the indoor flying and evening entertainment in the hangar has put me off from spending a full weekend at Barkston and of course the trade area has been a shadow of its former self for a number of years now - but that is true of many other model shows as well.

Sadly, I fear that we've lost the Nats as we have come to know them because of a number of factors that the BMFA simply don't have control over. I get the impression that many younger modellers don't go in for the old weekend away camping break that those of us of a certain age would enjoy. Certainly the wonderful Modelair events at OW have become smaller and 'greyer' over recent years. Perhaps the time has come to return to the original competition focused Nats format that can be held over a number of smaller suitable venues but  develop a more general showcase event or events along the lines of that which is being tried out with IWM.

I'll be visiting the IWM BMFA events this year if all goes well, but I do feel the cost of entry to the venue is going to be too expensive for many and in particular for families at £22.50 per adult and £12.50 for a child 5-15 years (IWM should have waived the child entry fee on this special event IMHO).  Obviously not everyone is interested in looking at static airframes in a museum setting but might like the idea of a model aircraft show - but at seventy quid for two adults and a couple of kids at a time where many ordinary households are struggling with rising costs,  I do wonder at the numbers who will attend and especially from just the target audience that we need to attract to keep the hobby going into the future.    As an IWM member I get in FOC.

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