Arc,
The audit measures that Nutloose describes were, for all of my career anywhere near front line engineering, absolutely ops normal. They were carried out by ship, station and HQ staffs. What's more, they were exactly the same as the checks carried out on maintenance carried out by contractors. Nut's excellent question 'Didn't anyone ever audit them?' begs some really hard questions for 22Gp's staff. If any engineers in the RAF thought that outsourcing an activity absolved themselves of any responsibility they were ignorant of the content of their contracts, and of their terms of reference.
It's also all too easy to blame one's ills on lack of resources. Lack of suitably qualified/experienced manpower is (in my opinion, and thats all it is) normally down to lack of proper training and career progression. As Tuc has so eloquently said many times, if you make a management decision that you don't want engineers to run engineering projects, and then get rid of the engineers, you run out of experience and qualifications. Quickly.
The RAF has shrunk. All three of the Armed Forces have. The Civil Service has. It's the job of the senior staffs to manage the change and ensure that performance of key functions (like airworthiness) is maintained. Moreover, if you go out and buy what was, apparently, the largest fleet of government owned gliders in the world, it's incumbent on the owner to make sure that those aircraft are properly supported and looked after. These aircraft weren't.
Best Regards as ever to those sorting out the c**p,
Engines
Last edited by Engines; 27th Jun 2016 at 21:47.