I too remember " t' good owld dayz" of centralised servicing on the Vulcans of No.1 Group. At the end of day shift at Waddington one Friday, they rounded up a weary Sergeant, Corporal, two J/Ts and an SAC as we were boarding the bus at Line Serving Squadron and sent us off to 44(R) Sqn crew room. No explanation was given. We arrived in our usual filthy condition, dressed in the rags that passed for cold-weather clothing (you had to be a Storekeeper to get brand new issue) to find (to our delight - free beer indeed!) that we were representing "Engineering" at a beer-up in celebration of the squadron's victory in that year's bombing competition. One of the Flight Commanders deigned to engage Junior Magician Blacksheep in conversation and was astounded when I told him that we had no idea that there had in fact been a bombing competition. We had noticed a slight increase in the flying activity but no-one had bothered to tell us why. Also, when we sent off an aircraft we had no idea what squadron the crew belonged to either. All aircrew were one and the same to us. I've often wondered if that conversation between a smart Squadron Leader and a very dirty, dishevelled but tradesmanlike J/T had anything to do with the end of centralised servicing shortly afterwards.
Squadron spirit and pride in achievement is no accident.