TOFO
Despite 2 weeks of relentless drinking during Fincastle, I well remember the many crewroom/VPI bar/scruffs bar discussions that took place during that time on the merits of the 4 options available. From my peer group, the Atlantique was a non starter closely followed by the old P3 from the Arizona desert. I think a brand new P3 was the general favourite as the Nimrod offering was perceived as 'just an upgrade'. However, when the BAe team (Bob n Harry) unveiled the MRA4 model at Industry Day and pitched it as a brand new aircraft, many of my sqn colleagues were suitably impressed and this seemed to become the favoured choice.
Clearly, we all have our own opinions. Mine was this one:
Sadly it was never one of the options!
Kapton is right that anything that is shiny and bright and goes wup wup will appeal to most aircrew but how did the decision making process reach it's conclusion in those days? Was it a beancounter call or did aircrew actually make the decision?