Originally Posted by Diablo Rouge
There was a fly off competition in 1996 with regard to both single and multi engined types for use by DHFS. ...and QinetiQ & Boscombe kept out of it which is positively advantageous.
It was in 1994 (I think, but second thoughts suggest not - '96 might be more plausible. Records not available where I am), but that final assertion is definitely incorrect.
Boscombe involvment was sought by the Project Team for the fly-off, in conjunction with support from many other units, and a small team of 2 x test pilots and engineer flew all types over the 2-3 weeks of the fly-off. There was also additonal Boscombe Down support requested at other sites over the next few months as the down-selection took place, and when the Squirrel and Griffin had been selected Boscombe Down again provided support when the civilian flight manuals etc were incorporated into a Release to Service.
QinetiQ, of course, didn't exist until many years later - all Boscombe Personnel were at that time part of MOD.