Padhist - I would like to apologise for my reply to your post. Put it down to tired, emotional, foul mood, old age - I glanced through it and didn't twig that it was comment on the FOI [thanks Pontius].
Those were the days when the public were told what they needed to know and few questioned 'the authorities'. It was also early days in aviation investigation terms, and there had not been many occasions where an accident had implications for both civilian and military sides of the equation. Add to that the 'prestige value' of the VIP and the 'shiny new V-Force', and you can start getting a sniff of major embarrassment for both sides; hence the desire to minimise the publicity fallout. For those of you who don't have knowledge of this accident, the link below contains details of it, written by certain very knowledgeable individuals [the events at this disastrous dining-in-night were a direct result of the crash].
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...n&pagenumber=1
I am afraid I do not know enough about the mechanism of requesting FOI info to comment [or to advise]; there will be others I hope who will come forward and provide the guidance and advice as to just how the ordinary man in the street can obtain the materiel he requires. I am sure, however, that there must be a way without putting it out of reach financially.
Once again, Padhist, sorry for that…
FJJP