Eggs in one basket
On the question of economics, I wonder what savings were in pooling all the transport effort in one type and its engineering support. I remember when I was pre-Hercs and the major exercise was Eastern something. The Argosies from Benson (on which I was) and the Andovers whined across the west of England at altitude en route for a joint force rendezvous. Towards the east the sky was blackened by the onset of darkness and the oil and smoke from the fleet of Beverleys thundering towards us out of Abingdon. Below us the Hastings were still only taxying at Colerne. All these aircraft were to join up at different cruising speeds for a drop on Salisbury plain. The Belfasts and Britannias from Brize didn't play, thank the Lord. It occurred to me then that a common plan for Transport Command might lie in the "new" Hercules of which 66 were on order. The horrors of JATFOR were then blissfully unknown. By the time of the big redundancy in 1975 all those other types, with a few exceptions had disappeared.