davejb:
Ultimately this is about money and backbone - nobody failed to do things through malice, although stupidity is another matter....
Historically this isn't really that unusual - it's only the advent of instant worldwide chat via the internet that has allowed the dirty washing to be displayed so readily and that has allowedgeneral revulsion to be expressed at the apparently callous attitude to the loss of life...the guys bombing the Belgian bridges in Fairey Battles got a few gongs and the odd barrack block named after them...
Sorry dave, but I can't agree with you there;
1. When a Senior Officer hounds a subordinate and attempts to get him dismissed for carrying out his legal obligations to enforce the MOD's own Airworthiness Regulations because he has ruled that it is an
offence to comply with the mandated rules that ensure compliance with JSP 553 (Military Airworthiness Regulations), I call that malice.
2. The Fairey Battles were shot down in their droves because they were no match for the Me109s given that there is only so much that one LAC gunner armed with a Lewis gun can achieve, not because they lacked for airworthiness per se. Oh, and there were no gongs either for said LAC gunners, as I was bitterly reminded by one at a Squadron reunion recently!
3. Agree your point about the Internet though, thank God for that and also for the 800 year old institution of HM Coroners.
