Now I've been told the same as Tapper's Dad - fuel unions undone and twang! (not sure about 9 inches though). This was from a couple of officer engineers close to the project at HQ Air and also from someone in DE&S. Also, most of the same issues were explained by these people as iRaven wrote about.
Now either there is the greatest spoof going on from 2 RAF engineers and 1 DE&S engineer to at least 3 unconnected individuals (Tapper's Dad, iRaven and me) and a fake "Restricted" letter from DE&S to the Sunday Times, or something fishy is going on.
Sounds like time for an Public Inquiry to me. We need to know the definative facts so this is settled once and for all; and that we
never make the same mistake again with the company/contract/project management (delete as applicable).
LJ