All the logistics/co-ordinating is good training. You raise your game when you have 12 million or so people looking at your work.
Yes the pilots 'train' for close formation work, but getting to actually
do it is a bit different.
All the money being spent on this when it could be spent on kit for the bods in the 'ghan? Sure. But then again maybe this gives the civvies a reminder as to just how good HM forces are and why it's worth pressuring our elected reps to keep giving them the best kit, keeps them in the public profile and makes sure they're not out of sight & therefore out of mind. Hence it actually works in favour of the front-liners.
If the noisy wheel gets the oil, then I hope they go over with burners on & make as much noise as they can.
I recall a few years back when the RAAF and RAN spent much time & effort locating and rescuing Tony Bullimore and Rafael Dinelli in the Southern Ocean. Some
press idiot complained to the then defence minister about the cost. "Cost?" Sir Ian Killen thundered straight back. "You couldn't pay for this kind of training!" Apparently they'd packed every ship and aircraft involved with as many bods as possible, to give them the exposure to high-intensity ops. Headline cost ain't everything. The aircraft are there to fly, not sit on the tarmac, and if Saturday's task is to make a lot of noise over London, then so be it.
I for one will be on my roof on Saturday, camera in hand (and tear in eye as the BBMF drones over!).
