And in answer to your question, a catastrophic crash at Hendon would have destroyed a tiny proportion of the RAF and anyway, new aircraft would be introduced tomorrow anyway.
Today a similar crash could knock out the entire AEW force, or Sentinel, or both, with replacements due a generation away.
Eggs, baskets, one-off, doors, bolted, stables etc.
Ah yes of course, but the reference to Hendon was to highlight just how long the RAF have been holding airshows, E3Ds have been parked on dispersal at Waddington at every show since 1995 and they've now realised the danger? Before that, Vulcans and a Nuclear Bomb dump just the other side of the road. By the way, the RAF IN 1920 had most of its assets based overseas and had been whittled down from about 180 squadrons at the end of the Great War to about 27 in 1920. I haven't got the exact figures to hand but I always take an interest in how history often tells a different story when examined in detail compared with the wider understanding.
I'm sure I've mentioned this somewhere here before, in 1965 on Battle of Britain at home day, 45 Lightnings took part in the flying alone, including; six formation display teams, five solo aerobatics pilots and a diamond nine flypast formation. This covered 12 locations, however, the entire lot were drawn from just five squadrons and the OCU. There was one more squadron unaffected, 56, which had just returned from an overseas deployment and offered a 4-ship to a station nearby which was holding a display. The only one which didn't already have a formation display by Lightnings was St Mawgan, which would require an overnight deployment and they needed to be at Wattisham for the Sunday flypast, requiring 10 aircraft, the next morning then preparation for an ADEX in Malta, therefore they declined.
Its a different mindset today, and not just where airshows are concerned.
FB
PS: 19 and 92 were on the point of deploying permanently to Germany but still took part.