When I have seen aircraft tails etc decorated for anniversaries, these are often the work of serving personnel and some are pretty slick. Why did the air force not have a competition and save the cash?
There was an RAF Team set up to take suggestions for the Centenary . I wrote in two mini papers,the first suggesting taking one smallish type (e.g.Hawk) and putting ten in semi -representative schemes for each ten year period of the Service's existence ( WW2 schemes for Hawk ,Tucano & Typhoon demonstrating precedent). I was given a brief reply from a Sqn.Ldr. requesting that I cost the exercise.
So I thought again and put in a second effort suggesting that, at unit level , Squadrons might like to put their own interpretation on all or part of an airframe showing a scheme from an earlier era in their history.
In the Service of old this
would have generated competiton.
I illustrated this idea by enclosing a shot of a visiting Polish P28 dressed up in markings worn by an RAF Polish Squadron Wellington from WW2.
I heard no more.
There is another contributor to this thread who also got a zero response to his suggestion.
It would appear therefore that ( Like RAFM's Peoples' Spitfire Pilot) a series of various peripheral posturing "Cake and Arse Parties " will probably be very much in evidence instead over this Summer period.