BEagle,
Ah that 'proper Air Force' you constantly bang on about.
A 'proper' Air Force that had only 5 Air Defence Squadrons for the UK at the height of the Cold War, was about to ditch guns on those fighters, had a nuclear only RAF Germany, had a front line composed largely of Hunters and Canberras that a CAS of the time admitted would be like pitching Fairey battles against ME109's if they had ever been called on to fight in the air, was totally dominated in funding and doctrine terms by the V force, had FR Squadrons in Germany with 9 Hunter FR10's each and a front line force that had 4 days worth of munitions and war stocks.
Yep, I remember that Air Force, it was the one I joined and it was NOT all that misty eyed memory thinks it was it cracked up to be..............