If we want to look at
PR, for £8M we could offer 6x 30 minute air experience flights in small aircraft like a Grob Vigilant (which can be operated at around £100/hr at most flying/gliding clubs) to
every single one of our ~25,000 schools each [U]year[/U ]in the UK. Now how's that for
PR?
For £8M we could do sooooooo much more than a bunch of 40 year old jets burning red, white and blue kerosene for 10 minutes over a crowd's heads. As for the Olympics, we could have used Typhoons (without all the worries over single engines flying over London). Even a four ship arrival followed by a 90 nose up zoom climb in full burner over the Olympic Stadium would have been a great spectacle as well (IMHO). Also, for HM Queen's Jubilee, the best thing I thought was the "EIIR" formation and that didn't cost £8M.
Genuine question: Other than flying 9x Hawks and a spare in formation, what else would anyone else do with £8M to provide a
PR spectacle for the RAF?
LJ