Jindabyne - suggest you read High Stakes: Britain's Air Arms in Action 1945-1990
By Vic Flintham partic. page 252, amongst other sources, to see how wrong you are.
BEagle - so 75% bombs on target does not seem a good result to you ?
I would say it is streets ahead of the "successful" lone Vulcan near-disaster
PR stunt that won the Falklands war - one bomb on the hardstanding near the runway was it?
No chips on either shoulder but still a well balanced chap putting some facts before some who may not know them and many who still deny them !
Bill Mac - that place off the A19 by York because the light blues had finaigled the monopoly of all flying training. Subsequently honed into proper shape by the nautical boys to produce yet another ace of the base ahead in time of that other well loved beardie Sea Harrier solo Falklands war winner.
Herod - a full month before nightflying; more bar time acclimatisation nothing else and the accommodation details were factual; whether you wish to believe them or not is of little interest but you should not deny them.
Courtney Mil - your post # 41 - spot on lad ! Glad the veil has been lifted from your eyes at last - must be the benefit of local vino and garlic where you are.
Chances are the Senior Service would not have allowed you in, so my sympathies are with you on your second choice !
Your post # 34 - if I had the time I would participate in reasoned debate to a greater extent, but I have no desire to aim for the more than 5000 posts you have clocked up as I have better things to do with my time. The phrase get a life springs to mind regarding your prolific output; seems someone may be trying to relive their past.
I reiterate - CDS abused position by bending PM's ear privately and having previous agreed keep the Harrier decision reversed; try doing some research yourself on this
fact.
Tornado radius of action is no advantage when instead of being more than an hour away in Italy your seaborne runway is a short hop away from the target which therefore cannot disperse before you get to it. Close support means many sorties providing greater weapon load in a given time - not wasted in transit cruise from a base a million miles away and costing a fortune in the process in fuel, runway rental and expensive accommodation for all involved, instead of a wardroom and messdecks which do not require another country's agreement to use.
Heathrow Harry - and the rest of the light blue brigade who are still in denial; I draw your attention to the obituary in the Daily Telegraph of a great Admiral who died recently, Admiral Sir William O’Brien who succinctly put his view of crab knavery thus:-
" Promoted to rear-admiral in 1964, he became Naval Secretary, dealing with officers’ career planning, promotions and awards. This was the time of a “carrier battle”, of which he wrote: “That the land-based national Air Force should have supported the politicians in stripping its sister service of this essential ingredient is sad. That this Air Force should have argued that all maritime requirements could be met by shore based aircraft is dishonest; that it should have been believed is astounding”.
So I am not alone in my views and could not have put it any better myself.