Ormeside, your account of RAF maritime ops emphasises the close relationship you had with your principle customer, ie the Royal Navy, and perhaps implies a certain separation therefore from the rest of the RAF.
I'm not trying to be divisive here, but having never served in Coastal Command I can only draw on impressions gathered over the years. As a Captain for instance you sat in the LHS, but I understand that the a/c captain can/could (?) be not a pilot at all, but one of the rear crew. Is that right? The only time that ever applied to me (as an ex-Transport Command captain) was if the Nav Squadron Cdr was part of the crew. He would invariably forgo the privilege, content for a change to let someone else spell out what was to be done and what time to report for briefing, transport, etc.
In short, I wonder if the Coastal life was more akin to the RN, or were the differences with other RAF Commands merely determined by the role? To be fair, there were differences between many transport squadrons, mainly reflecting a boss's preferences. Some liked to crew up their aircrew for instance, others to roster crews as individuals so that SOPs were adhered to rather than let any crew familiarity breed contempt for them.
Given the parlous situation today, whereby the RN is denied this essential support from the air UFN, should it have had possession of land based Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft all along? Might it have taken greater care therefore to see that such aircraft were up to the mark, rather than ending up as recycled parts from a previous existance?
Sorry, contentious stuff I know, but the RAF seems to have made a right pig's ear of this essential component of Air Power, particularly for an island nation!