I don't know if the Inspectorate of recruiting laid down the crew compositions for aircraft participating at Fairford, or whether the decision was taken to hire blokes from some kind of agency, but I was struck by the extremely impressive individuals (air and groundcrew alike) who I encountered at Fairford on Friday.
I was especially impressed by the 8 Squadron E-3D blokes, and by the Jag mates and their groundcrew. They certainly dispelled any worries about 'slipping standards' at least in terms of ethos and calibre, though I'm not qualified to judge their professional competence, of course.