Is he the first non FJ CAS?
A better statement would be 'he is the first rotary CAS'. Back in the day it was bomber pilots who had a stranglehold on the top job, and in no way can you equate a Lancaster with a FJ! The last non-FJ CAS was Sir Michael Beetham (1977-82), who was a Lancaster and Valiant pilot. Admittedly that's quite a while ago, so a change was definitely due.
Got to agree with earlier comments about the SH force; if we're out of Afghanistan before SDSR-2, as expected, then it will be interesting to see how much effort Pulford puts into defending his old patch. SH will look ripe for culling, and there will be knives out for FJ as usual. Who knows where he will focus?
Hopefully the results of Timo and Garwood's inter-service warfare will put our airships off such antics in future. An unmitigated failure both for them and the Service. And that applies to those on the other side of the argument as well... time to kill off some single-service dinos...
a very good Joint man (who trusts the RAF even less than Cameron does!)
I would observe that Cameron was reportedly forced into keeping the carriers because the contracts had been so comprehensively stitched-up by the Brown government and BAES (doubtless with the connivance of the Naval staff) that it was impossible to cancel them. Hardly the way to get off to a good start with the new PM. Ditto the way the RN got caught fudging the funding of its slew of one-way exchanges with the USN. Don't talk to me about trust.
(RAF told too many untruths in SDSR)
That's a great line to hang out there without any back-up. If you're referring to F35C, well, the RN wanted it too, if their eagerness for those USN F18 slots was anything to go by. If it's Harrier vs Tornado, the continued good performance of the latter in HERRICK and its star turn in ELLAMY put that one to bed a while ago (although I accept that some fanatics will never acknowledge that). What else are you referring to?
