Pheasant:
I still think you are way off the mark damning "Military Airworthiness" in the round.
Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with the UK Military Airworthiness Regulations (on the whole), it is that the MOD does not fully or properly implement them. In that respect we seem to have common ground, Pheasant, for you go on to say:
In most of the (accurate) cases quoted it has been chain of command interference in the process that has been the problem not the process of military airworthiness itself.
The Chinook Mk2 was granted an "interim" CA (whatever that creature might be) in a knowingly unairworthy state, ie contrary to the Regulations! The HISL fit of the Seaking AEW Mk7 went ahead despite trials or testing, ie contrary to the Regulations. The chain of command interference of which you speak is perhaps best highlighted by an RAF 2* ordering subordinates to ignore Airworthiness Regulations but to sign them off as complied with! That is fundamentally my point, remove the implementation and regulation of UK Military Airworthiness from the MOD to an independent and professional Authority and this sad series of Inquests that result in Coroners having to tell the MOD that its aircraft lack Airworthiness may start to diminish. If the RN and the Army were remote from this process I might sympathise with their taking up the moral high ground, but I fear that in the purple hues of today we all effectively share the same backyard, tarred or otherwise. Rather like operating a brand new car exactly via the handbook, servicing it likewise, only to find that it is ridden with shortcomings that can kill!