Then & Now. RAAF v's RAF
alisoncc. I spent 23 years in the RAAF, about 11 in total in the Engine trade. I trained as a C130A Flight Engineer and thereafter spent the rest of my RAAF career in the F/E role before joining the civil airline industry. I also spent almost four years as a ground engineer at a joint RAF/RAAF facility where we operated a mix of RAF and RAAF aircraft, all under the RAAF maintenance system. I can assure you that weekly "A" servicing and monthly "C" service's were, at times, carried out on aircraft which may not have flown at all and in most cases had flown few hours. During my ten years on the C130 aircraft I was responsible, as were all Squadron F/E's, for any maintenance required away base short of major component changes such as an engine or prop change. We very rarely had the luxury of any ground crew assistance. As for your comments regarding the inability of being "assured of actually making it, then it is an incredibly poor show" , I'm sorry to say, is a nonsense. No aircraft, of which I am aware, which can be assured of never suffering a defect has yet been produced. As for the taking of "war" seriously, I think both our countries of birth have earned the right to hold our heads high in terms of military worth. But then what would I know, I'm a mere Colonial.