RAF Scampton

[Oldtimeram]

Turning RAF Scampton into a immigrant camp is an absolute disgrace and a disservice to the members of 617 Squadron that gave their lives for this country during WW2. Guy Gibson and the rest of the heroes of the Dambusters raid would be wondering what they were fighting for?

The base should be preserved as a monument for the bravery of the men that gave their lives for this country . N1gger would be turning in his grave, as would the crews of the Dambusters Raid that gave their lives for this country.

I feel sorry for the immigrants but why do we have to home them in such historical sites?

Why can't the bloody French house them?

This country is a soft touch and a bloody disgrace toward the British people.

Many will not agree with my views but I say what I think and believe

My family fought for this country during WW2 and I know what they would be thinking if they were here today

Rant over

[MadAmster]

My family fought for this country during WW2 and I know what they would be thinking if they were here today

Rant over

Ditto.

Dad was in the RAF and spent over 4 years in the Western Desert, much of it behind enemy lines. Mam was in the WAAF. They'd both be horrified at this idea.

In 2018 the Ministry of Defence announced the closure of RAF Scampton and the relocation of the Red Arrows to RAF Waddington as part of this closure. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) were instructed to close the site and facilitate its sale during the first half of 2023. Many of the barracks will be unfit for human habitat as only a part of it was "lived in" when the Red Arrows were there. It's a huge piece of land. Who's going to buy it? What would they do with it?

My guess is a developer would buy it and build houses on it. All the original buildings would be demolished, there's be nothing left of it.

Using it to house refugees until the asylum requests have been heard preserves the site as is in the short term. It will see buildings that need it get refurbished. Once the mass influx of refugees stops, the site will be in a better condition and in a more fittin state to be preserved. Not saying that will happen but it's a possibility. Another is that it will still, eventually get sold to a property developer who will demolish it and build masses of houses on the site.

It is not in the government's plans to keep the site as a memorial to 617 Squadron. Commendable as your emotions are, you are wishing for something that isn't going to happen.

The plans they appear to have for old military barracks seem to fit in with Government plans. They have called it an "invasion". They are merely placing their "invaders" somewhere secure whilst asylum claims are dealt with. Those successful will be allowed to move into the country. Those denied asylum will, theoretically, be deported. Deported where is a question that requires answering by HMG.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Sorry OTR, we cannot live in the past as regards land and buildings. That does not mean we cannot continue to honour and respect those who sacrificed their lives in conflicts past. If we extend your logic, Leicester wouldn't have a car park as it was reusing Richard 3 burial site etc etc

Like it or not the boaters will keep coming and better to house them in this sort of place than using hotels etc. It is however ironic to be housing people fleeing warfare (if indeed they are,) in an ex military compound

[ramAnag]

1. This is obviously something you feel passionately about OTR, so I’ll reply with respect although, imo, your comment last week about a ‘destroyer’ firing warning shots at people in rubber dinghies was a genuine ‘disgrace’ and unworthy of you.

2. Maybe it should be...but if, as MA suggests, that isn’t going to happen and the most likely alternative is demolition then why not put the site to good and compassionate use now?

3. Possibly because it’s a cheaper more practical alternative. There are many such sites across the country suited to the provision of cheap, practical and temporary accommodation which is, I suppose, what they originally for.

4. The French, and others across Europe, are playing their part...as should we.

5. This country is indeed a mess at the moment but I think you need to look elsewhere to attribute blame other than at refugees and migrants.

6 & 7. Ditto. Most people’s families fought, or played some part in the World Wars. My Grandad was deafened and shell shocked in WWI and yet during WW2 he came across some German PoW’s ‘housed’ near Chester and befriended one PoW in particular. He had every reason to hate the Germans but I’ve never forgotten his example.

I think the answer is...times (and purposes) change. I regret that a favourite sports ground from my childhood is now a housing estate and that my old primary school is now a pile of rubble...at it’s most personal it seems like an attack on our memories, but none of these places are ‘shrines’...and if RAF Scampton isn’t to be repurposed as a monument/museum, then using it to temporarily house the latest in a long list of vulnerable ‘escapees’ seems quite appropriate imo.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Well done rA (NB I agree with all you say) 7 paragraphs and you managed to do it with no mention of Johnson and only an oblique snipe at the government 😁

[Geoff Parkstone]

Well apart from the negativity towards warning shots, as you know I'd sooner sink them

[SithHappens]

All feels a bit like Sanctuary Districts from DS9 from the episode Past Tense.

[Andy_Faber]

I sympathise OTR and can’t ‘share your pain’ as I have no direct link to the location. If you’re angry in a wider sense at the irony of a beacon for the repulsion of a 20th century invasion now accommodating what many see as a 21st one, we’ll I can see that POV too

What I do observe from some of the local and national news yesterday is there are a lot of folk who were happy to say ‘migrants welcome here’ ie ‘somewhere in U.K.’ are less happy, in fact dead against, ‘migrants welcome HERE’ ie on their doorstep.

[ramAnag]

Well done rA (NB I agree with all you say) 7 paragraphs and you managed to do it with no mention of Johnson and only an oblique snipe at the government ��

Stop bringing Johnson into it. He’s nothing to do with this thread.

[MadAmster]

I sympathise OTR and can’t ‘share your pain’ as I have no direct link to the location. If you’re angry in a wider sense at the irony of a beacon for the repulsion of a 20th century invasion now accommodating what many see as a 21st one, we’ll I can see that POV too

What I do observe from some of the local and national news yesterday is there are a lot of folk who were happy to say ‘migrants welcome here’ ie ‘somewhere in U.K.’ are less happy, in fact dead against, ‘migrants welcome HERE’ ie on their doorstep.

Nimby's rule OK!