Withdrawal from Aden 1967
"The last time this happened on a scale similar to this was in 1967 withdrawl from Aden"
I'm curious about that. Granted we left a load of junk behind, but the 84 Sqn Beverleys were flown all the way home (8 days in my case) to be scrapped at Bicester on arrival. And no, it wasn't to use the load carrying capacity as my aircraft had a cracked main spar and carried crew plus crew baggage and a limited fuel load, but no freight. We understood at the time it was to 'save face'!
Things have presumably changed, so bring home the troops and leave the heavy clapped out junk. (No need to tell them the oil has been drained out of the gearboxes and replaced with sand etc!)