At the risk of sounding cynical, is the use of the RAF for this task not just a
PR stunt to make it look like the Government are pulling out all of the stops?
In truth the deployment of a military aircraft fo the trip to Turkey probably made it marginally more difficult from an administrative perspective, and the task could easily have been completed by the civilian airfreight sector, which is demonstrably still operational and effective if the fruit (South America) and vegetables (Africa) in my fridge are anything to go by.
Come to think of it, would it not be better to outsource the procurement of PPE to Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys who seem to be able to manage their supply chains rather well?
Ps Interesting that NHS Scotland managed to charter a 747 to bring in a load of PPE in to Prestwick at the weekend.