Originally Posted by
racedo
Pit winding wheel is a great example BUT not such a good one if every single Pit held one rather than having a central holding stock which equated to average replacements in a year.
Individual sqn stores with holdings that the sqn technical officer thought appropriate was the system in place in the 50s. It made sense when sqns may have had to be mobile, ie only attached to main bases, and the supply chain was slow - huge air force and slow communications.
The revolution in the 60s with stocks held back was more economical and stores had to return holdings to the depot. This had the unfortunate consequence that 'good' stores lost their ability to do over-the-counter deals whereas the initial training units had regular stocks for initial issue. It took time to settle down (I think
). At one time I held all the spare nav bags out of the stores system.