I'm pleased that all seem to agree that:
a. The spanner-turners were never the problem.
b. They've been treated very badly.
Washington Irving
you may well be right about management errors, but (as I've mentioned before on these fora) you can't blame "retired wg cdrs and gp capts" as the last of these aged engineers (and the odd air commode!) left DARA more than 2 years ago, before the "End-to-End" study was finished. Perhaps you have emulated your most famous literary creation and have been asleep for a few years??
I still believe there was an element of "situating the appreciation" when you consider the disparity of treatment as between St Athan and Fleetlands... maybe votes at Gosport are more valuable than votes in Wales!
My engineer mates tell me the "Super Hangar" is an engineer's dream .... significantly, I know of a very senior RAF engineer who was invited by an old mate to view the facilities (informally - as an old mate). He was put under pressure by men with more stars than he NOT to visit ........
Cynical? Moi?