Cazatou,
A some what disingenuous statement re 236 and 43 Sqns. The Gladiators were flown onboard by the FAA and then flew off on arrival in Norwegian waters to operate from ashore. The Hurricanes landed on in flat calm conditions with Glorious operating at max chat (30+kts) as the Hurricanes had no tail hook. They too just transited prior to disembarking to Bardufoss.
PUG,
What has COMUKMARFOR got to do with aviation apart from tasking embarked ships flights? COS AV is there purely because there needs to be an aviation 2* (as the "competent" duty holder in the command chain). One could argue that when Adm Zambellas takes office in Jan he could be the "competent" duty holder.
Re working with Gp capt station Cdrs....why can't the 1* be the station cdr like Yeovilton. Presumably the 1*s are coming out of the HQ?