Originally Posted by
Martin the Martian
I think I'm fairly sure in saying that while the Atlantic was a good political option, the RAF were set completely against it as it only had two engines.
And as for whether or not we'd currently be operating MPAs if the Navy ran the show, when I see just what the Navy have happily got rid of to have two new aircraft carriers, I think there is no guarantee of that.
That's what I thought, but once you get in amongst the DEFE and AIR 2 files on the subject, it turns out that RAF opinion was not what's often been portrayed.
This can all be discovered in the piece by Flt Lt Tom Yonge in Air Power Review:
http://www.airpowerstudies.co.uk/sit...prvol16no1.pdf (pp 92-109)
Which is what prompted me to have a look in the relevant files; the article is a distillation of a chapter in the MPhil thesis he did at Birmingham (which, if you're really keen on reading about the subject of MPA can be found at:
http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/3985/1/Yonge12MPhil.pdf)