Not wishing to divert this thread in anyway shape or form, but there is a historical aspect to all this, one I fear that the RAF may well be missing with its current focus on “Lean” “Rapid Improvement Events” and contractorisation.
The V-Force went centralised servicing in a very big way in around 1963, that was at a time when the V-force WAS the Air Force so there is no way it would have been some career enhancing push from someone at Group or Command level as I like to think that it was a rather different RAF then.
Now this was a change from traditional squadron groundcrew to huge centralised servicing organisations, yet, in about 1972 or thereabouts, it all reverted back to the old traditional Squadron allocation of aircraft and their own groundcrew, WHY?
Any of the old V-force types on here who post on a regular basis know?
My arrival on the frontline coincided with the Phantom, the only front line type I ever flew, when I arrived the squadrons in both 38 Group and RAFG were of what I would call the ‘traditional’ type with their own aircraft and groundcrew, yet at Coningsby there was still a whiff of controversy in the air as 38 Group, then a part of Transport Command don’t forget, where there IS a tradition of centralised servicing, had been planning to run the Coningsby wing on a centralised service basis with a pool of aircraft owned by Eng Wing, no squadron markings and no squadron groundcrew. I have to say this passed me by completely as I was rather focussed on getting to grips with flying the beast, but someone somewhere changed someones mind and pretty rapidly. This was at a time when one of the Coningsby squadrons was to have been on rotation to the Middle East yet I never heard (or cared at the time I have to admit) why this decision was reversed.
Anyone involved at the time still around?
Is the RAF in danger of really losing the lessons of history, again…………………